People

The vendors at Tbilisi's Dry Bridge Market offer an interesting and ever-changing mix of crusty old flea-market treasures from their grandma's basement and the usual tourist "happy crap" (as my mom would describe it).

Sunday afternoon I spent several hours feeling my fingers grow progressively more numb as I scanned piles of old Soviet junk, tested toy accordions and admired some of the handicrafts that were worth taking a closer look at.

I wound up buying a doll from among the collection pictured above. The artist models them on the traditional dress of people from across the region. Larisa was mildly horrified that I spent 10 lari (about $6) on it.

Myself, I was horrified later, when I realized I had accidentally spent nearly 30 lari ($18) on ground coffee. Excellent coffee, mind you. But still. (In case you're wondering, 500 grams may not sound like a lot of coffee, but it fills up a pretty big bag.)