Tour Day 5: “Say goodbye to Armenia this morning as you board a public bus to Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia. On arrival, you’ll have time for your own discoveries of this vibrant city. You may like to wander the old districts, which are structured like terraces, take a walk along the river, visit the Tbilisi Concert Hall and Public Service Hall, or grab a great coffee and check out the artist pop ups at Fabrika.”
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That’s right…we rode a public bus from Dilijan across the Armenia-Georgia border and on to Tbilisi. Here we are starting to gather after the trek up the hill with our baggage to load into said public bus.
The border crossing went smoothly and although the bus was more crowded than our previous bus, all in all it wasn’t bad. (Hilda’s picture)
A thing along most roads we traveled in both Armenia and Georgia.
And trucks, oh my goodness. There’s an interesting and controversial story about the Chinese building a massive tunnel to alleviate some of the congestion on the Georgia Military Highway. The trucks tear up the roads so terribly that all the other vehicles are paying the price.
The tour hotel was up the hill past that church and statue. The river, the Kura, I heard was dirty from the muddy flow and that the river rides were not worth it, but I might throw advice to the wind and do it anyway.
The Tree of Life installed in 2016. One website said the locals call it The Tree of Wishes because you can leave coins in the base of the tree. You’ll see more of the train car later.
Those domes are Georgian spas – sulfur soaks, hammam style scrubs, and even massage. Oh you know it, that’s for ME!
The Bridge of Peace, opened in 2010, designed by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi, transported from Italy in 200 trucks, “a message in Morse code “that renders the periodic table of elements goes across two parapets every hour. The lights designer Martinaud considers this communication celebration of “life and peace between people”.”
I’m liking the look of Tbilisi.
Merlyn, Hilda, and I came out for a very light dinner having eaten and eaten until we thought it was impossible to eat again. But no. It was possible.
A balloon ride rising like the moon above a bar and snack place on the river.
I’m going to be doing this! That’s the Bridge of Peace in the lower left.
Tour Day 6: “Stock up on brekky and embark on a sightseeing tour of Tbilisi with a local guide. Tbilisi is a city of colour, of old and new, and your tour this morning will give you a glance at its history from the early centuries AD to now, through its sites and diverse architecture. You’ll also pass by the renowned 19th century houses of multicoloured balconies, synonymous with the Tbilisian skyline.
“Take a panoramic cable car ride from Rike Park up to the Narikala Fortress, then wander down to the sulfur baths, which are set on the thermal springs that give the Georgian capital its name. After your guided tour, have a free afternoon to relax, perhaps with a spa treatment!”
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OK, a city walking tour, Let’s Go! Here’s the local guide.
I’m going to put these in the order we walked in hopes of figuring out what’s what.
On the way down the hill from our KMM Hotel, passed by every day to get anywhere, the Virgin Mary Assumption Church of Metekhi.
Continuing down the hill, I like the look of these buildings.
Into Old Town Central.
The tamada, or toastmaster, an important role in Georgian social life.
This Sioni Cathedral, one of those churches that has been refurbished a number of times. (First built in the 6th–7th century, renovated in the 13th century, and again in the 17th–18th century. The belfry was added in 1812.)
Strolling down the pedestrianized Shardeni Street, packed with restaurants and shops.
This is the The Anchiskhati Basilica of St Mary, the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi.
Cool, right.
Copied from gabriadze.com “In 2010 Rezo Gabriadze built a unique clock tower next to the marionette theatre in Tbilisi old town. Every hour an angel comes out to ring the bell with a small hammer. There is a small mechanical puppet theatre inside the tower and twice a day at noon and at 7pm you can see the show – “The Circle of Life”. Rezo decorated the tower with hundreds of tiles which he designed himself and it instantly became a major architectural attraction of Tbilisi.”
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The group took the cable car ride from Rike Park. These are views in every direction.
At the top end of the cable car, when you disembark, on the left is the Narikala Fortress (currently closed) and the St Nicholas’s Orthodox Church. We didn’t go that way. Turning to the right is the Mother of Georgia, also on the right in this picture. On the left is Mother Armenia. Notice the differences. They are both poised to protect the homeland at any cost but Mother Georgia also holds a cup, of wine according the guide, to welcome guests.
And on our way to lunch we passed through an underground tunnel overflowing with Things. Our guide has an expression she uses because we have among us some serious shoppers. She says ‘now is not time for shopping, free time is for shopping, now is time for getting there’. It’s funny.
I don’t remember the name of the restaurant. Too bad about that because the food was great and the lighting and the wallpaper were cool.
Ksenia usually ordered the food and we shared. It was great because everyone was happy with the arrangement. This is the Georgian specialty, Khinkali, available in most restaurants. Here they are in three slightly different shapes because each shape is different. We have cheese, mushroom, and meatball. This is my first chichi of the trip, a kind of grappa, made in many flavors. I like it.
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After lunch Merlyn and I caught the funicular for a ride up to the Natural Wine Festival Zero Compromise. Hilda wanted to do something else and didn’t join this time. There’s a whole amusement park up there but the wine festival was so gigantic we didn’t even think about looking around.
They fill these cinnamon and sugar delights with ice cream and various other treats. I better get one before I leave Georgia.
Notice the umbrellas on the right are the wine pavilions where they will pour all the wine you want to drink. On the left of the walkway are other things no one wants when there’s free wine to be had. The guy in the second picture was a real charmer. We stood around visiting for long while and learned a lot about his winery.
I have that toothpick in my mouth because I was using it to pick up the bits of bread, cheese, olive, dried fruit, etc that were also on offer in the wine booths.
Oh the intoxicating smell. We decided to have some food up here.
Here was a large table for sharing and this sweet family was so kind and generous. We had a great time.
And then we took the funicular down and walked the 20-30 minutes back.
Later that night, at the hotel I was hearing this crowd outside my window and noise that went on and on, so I got up. Oh Look! The demonstrators (I learned this later) were on their way to the metro stop. All the 10s of thousands were passing under my window! It went on for hours.
Interestingly not one family member or friend or even a friend of a friend asked me about the demonstrations even though so so many people know I’m in Tbilisi. What does this say about our connection to the world, I don’t know, probably nothing, being such a small sample…
Here’s a youtube from Radio Free Europe that has some good pictures.
The tour is over, the group has dispersed, and I’m staying in Tbilisi for several nights on my own. Here is the story of the Intrepid Armenia and Georgia tour. I was also in Yerevan for five nights before the tour started. It’s been amazing and here I am catching up on Tbilisi 10 days after getting home from Georgia and heading right out to The Ranch. No doubt I’m going to be struggling to remember.
You might recall this was the time of the large demonstrations in Tbilisi over the “Russian Law” and Georgia’s hopes for admittance to the EU. Flags were going up around the city as you can see in the above picture.
Below is my new accommodation, a fine 1 bedroom flat on the top floor in a different neighborhood across the river from our tour hotel and in a perfect central neighborhood for a solo traveler. Absolutely everything was less than 20 minutes away by walking.
The neighborhood felt a little rough-and-tumble but not in the least, for even one moment, less than safe. The nicely refurbished buildings and the abandoned buildings lived side-by-side. This is an alley short-cut to my place and the mural I walked past often.
Merlyn and Hilda hadn’t left yet, they stayed one extra night, and we were out for a walk together when the skies opened and rain fell in buckets. We ducked into this place which turned out lucky for us because it was cozy and the food was delicious.
Continuing our walk after lunch and after the rain stopped, we went in search of a sweet treat and soon found ourselves in a large very nice enclosed mall with all the mall stores and plenty of sweet treats.
Cookies, my favorite, honey cake, Merlyn’s favorite, and tea, Hilda’s favorite. Everyone’s happy.
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We came upon a cool collection of murals in an underground passage, these plus plenty more.
And more from my new neighborhood.
Another view of the Peace Bridge from “this” side of the river.
And then I went shopping for coffee, milk, granola, fruit, and yogurt, which is all I really need to be happy. But also of course I bought some pastry delights because there they were, right on the street, hot and calling my name.
This morning I walked back to the old neighborhood to make a reservation for the spa and to walk up to the prominent Virgin Mary Assumption Church of Metekhi that I’d passed so many times before. In the above picture you can see more of the graduates that were out and about for the last few days, here taking advantage of the venue for photos.
Below is a picture from the church patio. I talked about all the EU flags before and how the demonstrations were against a law that would complicate Georgia’s acceptance by the EU, a controversial issue for the people and the government.
You’ve seen this building in the background of many photos. It’s the Presidential Palace and there are administrative offices in that oval building.
More flags large and small.
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The sign on the box says “Cats Arrived in June 2020” and I found several others in my new area but not further afield. You know I love it! The artist has a website and instagram. She’s gosha art and what a cutie.
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Heading into another kind of neighborhood approached from an underground tunnel. Check out those images.
I went into the door below, curious as to where it would lead.
And it led to a bar/lounge/art studio and a book that was the inspiration for all the tunnel paintings. I had a delightful visit with “the guy” in the bar who told me at some length about the great Georgian myth illustrated below.
More from the tunnel.
And here we are.
A lot of the dogs just lie on the street waiting for someone to put food in front of their nose. Sometimes they’re just too full to notice even left-over steak. When they can rouse themselves they like to put their head against your leg. One of the tour ladies thought they must be sick, they were so lethargic. I tried to find out but failed.
My destination was this handsome pedestrian street (Agmashenebeli Street..if I remember, and that’s a big IF) full of halal restaurants, hookah bars, and music from Turkey and India and Iran pouring out of the open doors, although you can’t tell from this picture.
At the end of the several blocks that make up the pedestrianized zone, was this sweet little place run by a grandma who was entertaining her guests. She took 30-45 minutes to cook the best version of the eggplant appetizer yet, called nigvziani badrijani, and we’d had it almost every day of the tour. She also made the best version of the mushroom soup so YUM!
And then I took the long trek home to spend some time on tour pictures.
Below, here’s a view of part of the spa complex. The blue building on the right is the one I used, the fanciest (read most expensive) one according to the guide. The domed buildings to the left are each individual spas with different features. (I had better pictures of the domes on previous days.)
I took the deeelux package with a private room, a big private sauna, a hot and cold sulfur pool, and a bench for the scrub.
And below is the walk to the massage room arranged like a western-style massage. Yup, it was good. Better than the Korean spas in LA? I don’t think so really, more luxurious for sure, but not better. A joy nonetheless.
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You never know what you’re going to find when wandering around a capital city.
I thought I was going to the National Art Museum but somehow I ended up in the Georgian Museum of Fine Arts, a very different place! Here there were four or five floors all similarly laid out each room containing the work of one Georgian artist, none of them had I ever heard of before. It was interesting and I’m not sorry to have given it a go.
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Across the street from the museum is the Parliament Building where the protested have gathered almost every night these last couple weeks. People were starting to appear on the steps and police cars were parked along the side streets. I decided to leave the area.
You can see the Parliament Building in both these pictures which have been widely distributed on the internet.
The main statue in the center of Freedom/Liberty Square. Protestors have been marching from the Parliament Building into this square that is now being boarded off by municipal workers and the police.
I am a big fan of food dispensed from a window.
Here’s where I turn to get back to my flat. It makes me smile every time despite the broken hearts.
The above photo is of a bracelet from The Treasury of the Georgian National Museum. The collection looked interesting and important so I got a private English speaking guide since they didn’t have an English language group tour that day. The guide was lovely and the information was detailed. I very much enjoyed the experience and remember very little.
This cameo was about the size of a quarter.
This guy was about two inches in length. One source says c. 2300-2000 BCE: and that Georgia’s got one of the oldest gold mines in the world, c. 3400 BCE. The guide told the story about how they believe this lion inspired the legend of “Jason and the Golden Fleece” because they would use a ram’s fleece to capture the last of the gold washed into a river and end up with a Golden Fleece.
Showing half the displays in The Treasury. Most of the items are in those windows.
There was also (among many others) a display called Museum of the Soviet Occupation, seemingly much more to the point than the adoration of Stalin at his museum in Gori.
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I decided to walk to a specific restaurant that the tour guide highly recommended as did the people where I was staying as did the guide books and online, so yes, let me go there. The walk took me on a fascinating bridge to get across the river. Looking up about this bridge now, 2 weeks later, I see that the traffic layer, above the pedestrian walkway, has some very cool statues that I didn’t see. Oh well, we can’t do Everything much as we wish we could.
Here at the pedestrian level of the Baratashvili Bridge are these amazing documentary photographs from the Kolga Tbilisi Photo Exhibition. All the pictures are particularly strong and have a decided political and/or social point of view. I wish I could find them on the internet but the website and facebook page only have a few and you can’t read the titles. The photos have faded and the plastic covering was reflecting like crazy.
As a reference to the Museum of the Soviet Occupation, the title of this photo reads “Forever alive: The Unwavering Devotion to Stalin in Gori.”
I saw these costumes many times throughout the day and more than once on the bridge.
Here’s a picture from the internet of the bridge at night.
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Making it to the neighborhood of the restaurant, I came to the exact point where google said I should find the restaurant. But I did not find the restaurant. So I asked in a near-by pizza place and the sweet woman there shook her head in a knowing way and said “follow me”. So I did. She led me through an unmarked door, down some poorly lit stairs, through a deserted hallway, and into the restaurant. Oh thank you thank you kind soul!
Down the hall to the restaurant on the left, and that’s the unisex bathroom on the right.
The name of the restaurant is Salobie Bia and what an exceptional treat. I got the semi-sweet Georgian clay-pot red wine, determined to develop a taste for at least one of the Georgian wines, and the absolute best chacha of the entire trip. I’d had the bean dish before but this one was better. The vegetables on the side were all lightly pickled and mixed with the beans, oh my mouth was happy. The bread was made with corn, so like some tasty corn bread to go with the beans. Perfect!
This picture was above my table. I haven’t figured it out entirely, but I like it!
I realized a little late in the game that tomorrow was my last full day and the ladies at the flat wanted me to pay in cash. I’ll take this opportunity to note again one of my favorite travel-tricks. If you need anything at all go to a fancy-schmancy hotel. They will speak English and they will help you. Guaranteed! I was able to safely get the cash here without the least problem.
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A few pictures from my walk home. You might remember this Chimney Cake that I first noticed at the wine festival. That line outside one of the shops is always there, always crowded. I wanted one, I had one, I don’t need another one.
This is a wishes tree, you tie a ribbon and make a wish. That guy in the chair told me all about it.
Yup.
So many of the streets are like this, so leafy green.
These things were like 15″ long and perfect. They made them like they made lavash in Armenia but with a different shape and different thickness/leavening. You roll out the dough and whack it against the side of that scorching hot brick oven. I saw people walking away with armloads.
Here’s my flat again, a sweet one-bedroom on the top floor. The stairs were narrow and steep so thankfully the ladies took up my bag.
I have to leave at 2:30am this very night. I asked the ladies to get me a taxi, so a known person would help me with the stairs. Turns out that was an excellent idea since at 2:30am it was pouring rain!
For the picture above I am standing at the gate of the park below. Wow, what a great park and just across the street. There were benches, crossing paths, and so many birds. What a pleasure.
In the center of the park.
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Today was my last chance to try the metro. A woman at one of the shops was very encouraging. “It’s good”, she said, and “everyone here uses it.” So yes, I want to use it too! This is the station nearest me, a five minute walk to Liberty Square.
It’s not a huge system, just one line, but bigger than Yerevan’s, and it does go to the suburbs.
Down down down.
Just a reminder that every subway system I’ve ever used includes English on the signs.
I was headed to the fancy street.
And fancy it was!
Back to my neighborhood early to eat what was left in the fridge, pack up, and try to sleep a little before my 2am alarm. Ahhh, a long long travel day ahead and then, time for Home Sweet Home.
