Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018

Caucasus 2018

 

The weather forecast for today was not great – skies mostly cloudy becoming overcast by mid-morning for the rest of the day.  The day did indeed start mostly cloudy, but rather than becoming overcast the skies cleared to a bright sunny day with temperatures rising to 30 degrees Celsius.  In some cities, spending the day walking in such warm conditions might be a bit onerous, but in the case of Tbilisi, there was plenty of shade that make walking a real pleasure, despite the steep hills and cobble-stoned laneways in many places. 

Tbilisi is a very different city from Baku, but both are wonderful in their own ways.  Whereas Baku is mostly flat and laid out in a grand style with broad avenues and larger-than-life buildings, Tbilisi is smaller and more intimate, less grandly designed and with more preservation of ancient buildings.  And of course, whereas Baku is a largely secular city in an Islamic nation, Tbilisi is very clearly and explicitly a city with a strong and active Christian character.

We had a new guide, Mariam, to lead us through the walking tour of Tbilisi as the guide we have had since Baku, Anna, needs three days off to see her surgeon.  Under Mariam’s guidance, we took a short bus trip from the hotel to the old centre of Tbilisi just a few kilometres away and climbed the hill to the Metekhi Church.  This church was built at the top of a cliff that forms a high rocky outcrop on the left bank of the Mtkvari River overlooking the main part of the old town across the river on the right bank.  The church was built (and partially destroyed) during and after successive invasions over the centuries beginning in the 5th century.  Major destructions occurred during the Mongol invasion of 1235 and the Persian invasion of 1795.  During Soviet times, the church as closed as a place of worship and converted into a prison in the 1920s, and then a theatre in 1974 before being reconsecrated in the 1980s.  Mariam gave us a very detailed (hour long!) description of Tbilisi’s history in front of the church before we went inside (but only briefly because a service was underway), and then walked down the hill to begin our walking tour.

It was evident during this walk that Tbilisi is an explicit blend of old and new.  Perhaps controversially, Georgia’s post-Soviet governments have tried to modernise the city by erecting very modern glass, steel and aluminium buildings amongst the historical buildings of the old city.  In most places, this would ruin the character of an old city, but in Tbilisi it seems to work well, perhaps because the new buildings are generally free flowing designs that reflect rather than dominate their surroundings.

We stopped briefly at a section of the Berlin Wall that was given to Georgia, or more especially its then-President Eduard Shevardnadze, in recognition of Shevardnadze’s work when Soviet Foreign Minister under Mikhail Gorbachev in bringing down the Berlin Wall and ending communism in the USSR.  In that context, it has been surprising for me to hear the negativity towards Shevardnadze by many younger Georgians, who see his as inept, power-hungry and corrupt.

It was just a short walk from the Berlin Wall monument to Europe Square and the cable car station where we boarded cable cars for the short trip across the river and up the hill on the other side to Narikala Fortress.  The top cable car station gave wonderful panoramic views over Tbilisi, exposing the vast array of architectural styles spreading over the steep hills on both sides of the river.  The hill was topped by a 20 metre high aluminium statue of a woman holding a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other, officially known as Kartlis Deda (or Mother Georgia), but apparently known unofficially as “Tin Tits”.  A church within the fortress walls had a service underway, which meant we couldn’t go inside, but a short walk down the hill led us to Tbilisi’s one and only mosque.  We were welcome to enter and photograph the mosque which, interestingly, is a place where Sunnis and Shi’ites worship together in harmony.

Walking further down the hill we passed a lovely waterfall – not a large one, but the only one in the city of Tbilisi – and then we followed the river past beautiful old houses and many of the city’s famous sulphur baths.

We stopped by a couple of Tbilisi’s older churches before taking a one hour break from 1:00pm to 2:00pm for lunch.  There are so many little restaurants and cafes in Tbilisi’s old town that offer amazing food at low prices that we were spoilt for choice.  Meeting again after lunch, we continued walking northwards through the old town, diverting briefly to take a walk across the very modern Peace Bridge and back, and finally stopping by what looked like an ancient collapsing clock tower that was in fact built new in 2010 using discarded materials from various other old demolished buildings.  In addition to the main clock face, it also contained Tbilisi’s smallest public clock, being what looked like a tiny wrist watch set into the stonework near the base of the tower.  At 3:00pm, an animated wooden angel emerged and struck the bells at the top of the tower three times to the delight of onlookers.

Our six hour walking tour concluded soon after that, and we returned to our hotel for a break for a few hours before departing at 7:00pm for the evening’s special event, a dinner of traditional Georgian food at the Mill Restaurant, hosted by the travel company (Advantour) that was organising our trip.  The dinner included Georgian music and dancing, and video samples of the dancing can be seen HERE and HERE, while a sample of the music can be seen HERE.

Day 7

Tbilisi

Sunday

9 September 2018