Georgia. Tbilisi

So after first 4 exhausting days in Georgia (see Day 1, Day 2 - parts I & II, Day 3 and Day 4) we decided to take a little break and spend a leisurely day in Tbilisi.

It was possible to go to the city center by subway, but our host Inga explained the taxi was not expensive - 4 lari (approximately 2 euro) to metro station Rustaveli on Rose Revolution Square - so we decided to travel in the comfort of car rather than pushing and squeezing in subway.
Inga advised to start the journey from there and walk along the Rustaveli Avenue towards the Freedom Square and then to the Old City.
Rustaveli is like Broadway in New York, Champs-Elysées in Paris or Nevskiy Prospekt in Saint-Petersburg: a showy street, the main thoroughfare of Tbilisi, full of governmental, public, cultural, and business buildings - churches, theaters, museum - and of course, boutiques. It is named after the medieval Georgian poet, Shota Rustaveli.
Soon we were on Freedom Square (თავისუფლების მოედანი Tavisuplebis moedani) - the spiritual heart of the city. The mere fact that during the Communist rule it was named Lenin Square attests to that: some marginal suburban square did not deserve to bear such name. The square had different names throughout its history. It was first named Freedom Square during the First Georgian Republic in 1918 but as the republic lasted only 3 years the name was soon changed to Beria Square (after the infamous bloody KGB chief originally from Georgia), then Lenin Square. Here mass demonstrations took place - calling for independence from Soviet Union as well as during the famous Rose Revolution.

Fountain on Freedom Square

Of course, as during Communist rule the square bore name of Lenin himself, it accommodated his large statue. It was symbolically torn down in August 1991 when Georgia gained its independence from the Soviet Union.  In 2006 the Liberty Monument depicting patron-saint of Georgia - St George slaying the dragon, was unveiled in the same place.

Liberty Monument

Past the Freedom Square we walked by Dadiani street towards the famous sulphur baths. On the way we peeked at famous Tbilisi inner yards.

Tbilisi inner yards

Old Tbilisi is known for its distinctive balconies of various colors with carved ornaments - blend of European Neo-Gothic with Oriental influence.

Balconies of Old Tbilisi

Soon we were by Kura embankment enjoying the view of Metekhi cliff with residing on it Metekhi Church of Assumption dating back to XIII century. The district was one of the earliest inhabited areas in Tbilisi. The name Metekhi dates back to the XII century and literally means "the area around the palace" as one of the first buildings here were a church (that did not survive) and a fort that also served as  king’s residence.

Metekhi Church of Assumption

And here we are - in the Old Tbilisi. Even though it is called Old, the district is not really old by Georgian Standards. Most of the city did not survive to the devastating Persian invasion of 1795 and therefore when Russian army came over their goal was to quickly restore as many residential buildings as possible. Therefore most of the nowadays Old City dates back to XIX century - baby age by Georgian standards compared to Mtskheta or Gelati, for example. When something is done quickly it is usually not done properly, so recently Georgia faced a hard decision: how to restore the buildings that were not built to last? Numerous boards of historians and architects have debated the matter for quite a while and now an extensive renovation is ongoing. The renovation on the brink of rebuilding. It was a hard decision, but looks like it was the only way to keep the city's identity. At the end of the day, many cities that were almost smashed during World War II - such as Warsaw or Gdansk, for example - were rebuilt using ancient technologies and keep attracting tourists, so why not?

Soon we were by the famous Tbilisi Sulphur Baths. We were told by Inga that after a bath you would like a newborn but at the same time incredibly exhausted. So we decided to leave it to the last. Running ahead of my story, we never got to experience the baths as we were too exhausted by walking an entire day in the city heat - that's another thing we had to leave for the next visit. But surely it is one of unforgettable and unique experiences in Tbilisi so if you want to learn more we refer you to Jennifer's blog about Georgia. She is a freelance writer specializing in travel and art who spent a few months exploring Georgia.

But we did what we are good at: took pictures, and plenty of them.

I guess, here will be a good moment to tell the legend how Tbilisi was founded.
Legend says that in the middle of the V century the territory of present Tbilisi was covered with forests and King Vakhtang I Gorgasali (buried in Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta where the capital was located at the time) was once hunting here. His falcon caught a pheasant and both of them fell. When the King approached he discovered that the birds fell in the nearby spring which was so hot that the birds boiled alive. These springs impressed King Vakhtang so much that he ordered to built a city on this location. The new city was named Tbilisi coming from the Old Georgian word "Tpili" (თბილი), meaning "warm" because of numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground.
Vakhtang himself died before the capital was moved to the new location. But his eldest son Dachi of Iberia (given a territorial epithet Ujarmeli - from Ujarma - the fortress we will see the next day) completed his father's wish.

Of course, the healing powers of the spring have long been used and sulphur baths were erected on the location. The baths from the eye level looked good but we were looking for a higher point. We walked up the hill by Grishashvili street (it also happened to lead to the bath recommended by Jennifer so you can have two pleasures in one). Of course, carpets may not be drying anymore but look for the signs depicted on the right (they will be one your left hand though). Once you see them, turn right and you will find yourself in a courtyard. Look around for stairs leading up: they are not easy to spot so here are some pictures to make it easy for you to find. 

The stairs will take you to the roof top. Walking around the cupolas of the baths you can find some unusual views, such as below. Or use your own imagination. 

By then we were already quite exhausted and were looking for nothing more than a carafe of cold white in a dark cellar. Well, any shade would do.
We looked at some French Brasserie - it looked neat and air-conditioned, but we were not here to taste French cuisine. In search of a more authentic experience we walked into a cellar that promised Georgian treats. We sat down and even placed our orders when we found out that the restaurant did not have any wine. A couple of nights before we had visited a simple 24/7 restaurant and they served nice house white, how could they not have it in the tourist city center? How could this happen in Georgia at all? Still a mystery to us.
We kept looking for a shady place on Shardeni street (sometimes also called Chardin, in a French manner). First we though that the Georgians are simply trying to show off and named the street in a French manner to give it more gloss. In fact, it is named after Jean-Baptiste Chardin - a XVII century French traveler. Due to his protestant origins he had little chance in his native France so he traveled the territories of contemporary Turkey, Crimea, Georgia, Iran (then Persia) and even India. He left a 10-volume book The Travels of Sir John Chardin that describes among others life in Georgia, and is considered on of the brightest minds of Enlightenment Age. No wonder the street was named after him.
Shardeni houses multiple cafés, boutiques, galleries and cute city sculptures.

In the plethora of cafés some were too noisy, some allowed hookah smoking so eventually we landed in a Bio-Café that seduced by its quietness, shady terrace, view over Metekhi Church with the equestrian statue of Vakhtang I Gorgasali and Georgian cuisine (more about it later).

Metekhi Church with the equestrian statue of Vakhtang I Gorgasali

A pleasant surprise was the presence of cute ducklings grazing next to the restaurant. We still did not understand whether they were a part of interior design, future fois or just got there by accident.

Cold white wine worked its magic and soon we were cooled down enough to continue our journey. The next stop was Narikala fortress. Perched on the hill overlooking the city, it is visible from everywhere but we knew from other bloggers that it is not that easy to find the way up. As suggested by Inga we opted for the cable car. Mind it, cable car station is on the opposite side of Kura river so you can cross it either by Metekhi Bridge or by newly opened bow-shaped Bridge of Peace (მშვიდობის ხიდი, mshvidobis khidi).
Rumor has it that at first Tbilisians were resistant to the appearance of such a modern bridge and pejoratively called it "female sanitary napkin". Nowadays, more than a year after the bridge was opened, people seem to get used and even enjoy it.

Bridge of Peace - mshvidobis khidi

We easily found cable car station but were puzzled by the sign below: we could not figure out whether we were supposed to pay 1, 2 or 3 lari. Eventually, we just gave money to the cashier and received 2 plastic cards (of course we never returned them as recommended by the sign). If you were able to figure it out - please let us know.

As the cable car goes up we see Narikala walls along with recently restored St. Nicholas Church.  

The fortress was originally called Shuris-tsikhe ("Invidious Fort"), but later the Mongols renamed it Narin Qala ("Little Fortress"). Most of extant fortifications date from the 16th and 17th centuries.

In 1827, parts of the fortress were damaged by an earthquake

Another attraction visible from most of the old city is Kartlis Deda (ქართლის დედა - Mother of Kartli), erected on top of Sololaki hill in 1958 when the city celebrate its 1,500 years.
It is a twenty-meter aluminum figure of a woman in Georgian national dress. She symbolizes the Georgian national character: in her left hand she holds a bowl of wine to greet those who come as friends, and in her right hand is a sword for those who come as enemies.
Oh, these Georgians, they just cannot do without a bowl of wine!

Kartlis Deda - Mother of Kartli

It is hot, and street vendors are in full spread offering cool drinks from such unusual "fridges" made of cardboard boxes wrapped with packaging tape stuck on top of baby-carriage carcasses. From its look, I don't even want to think what they could have used as insulation. Why not to invest in a proper cooler for your everyday business? Another mystery.

Narikala gives another opportunity to look inside Old Tbilisi inner yards...

...admire the view over Kura (Mtkvari) with  Metekhi cliff and eponymous bridge and church...

...the newly-built Holy Trinity Cathedral (commonly known as Sameba (Georgian for Trinity) built to commemorate 1,500 years of autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church...

...and simply enjoy the view.

You can also enjoy the views of Thabori monastery built on the next hill.

It is not interesting to return same way we came so we decided to walk down: the sun was already lower and most of the walkway was in the shade of the hill. On top of us tireless cable car cabins were gliding across Kura.

Another view - this time with 3 churches: Metekhi, Ejmiatsin Armenian Church and Sameba.

Walking down we find ourselves in front of Cathedral of Saint George - Armenian church and the seat of Armenian archbishop in Georgia.

In the yard we found carved marble slabs with bas-reliefs and inscriptions in Armenian characters. For an unexperienced eye Georgian and Armenian letters might look same but they are different and languages belong to separate language groups: while Armenian language is classified as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family, Georgian language along with the entire Kartvelian group is not known to be related to any other language group, making it one of the world's primary language families.

Marble slabs in the yard of Armenian Cathedral of Saint George

Interior of Saint Georga Cathedral 

We go down towards Sioni cathedral dating mostly to  XIII century version with some changes from the XII to XIX centuries. It is Saturday evening and the mass is on. There are so many people (or is it just too hot?) that a lot are standing outside and the speakers spread the unbearably beautiful polyphony over the empty streets: everyone seems to be at the mass.

Even though Sioni also boats beautiful frescoes, we do not feel like going in -  who are we, two tourists with clicking cameras if there are people who are there to pray?
We only photograph reliefs on the cathedral walls...

...and the cross behind it. Another thing to do next time.

On the way back we stop by "Tamada" - it is a sculpture modeled after an ancient Colchian statuette found at Vani in Imereti region. Archaeologists claim that the first settlements in Vani date back to XVII-XVII cnetury BC while the small statue of a man holding a wine glass (again Georgians and their wine!) dates back to V century BC. Georgians took it as a testimony of the importance of viticulture in their lives since antiquity and erected a sculpture in the middle of Tbilisi. They named it Tamada - the person who conducts the Georgian feast (but more about Georgian food later). No wonder, the Georgian annual national award in wine-making is also called Tamada and the trophy looks like... of course, another copy of this ancient figurine.

It is getting darker as we walk past the doll museum and admire the nearby sculpture.

Last look at Tbilisi - Sameba lights up, slow and lazy river Mtkvari surrounded by parks with kissing couples reflects the lights and the darkness hides the kisses.

Tomorrow another early wake-up: our last day in Georgia will be spend in wine-making region of Kakheti...

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