Hidden Pearls: Tbilisi

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We just arrived in Armenia, after six days in Tbilisi.
We were pleasantly surprised by the quiet, relaxing beauty of this town and the overwhelming kindness of Georgians, their sense of hospitality and their neverending patience.

We arrived in Georgia on Saturday 6th, after a 27-hour bus ride from Istanbul. Needless to say that we were exhausted and as this wasn't enough we found ourselves at Ortachala station, exactly on the other side of the city from our guest house.
After a quick walk to Gulia Square we crossed a taxi driver who offered his help, though he didn't have any clue about the directions to our destinations.
But he took us anyway close to Marjanishvili Square, which was only a couple of minutes from the guest house.
The manager waited for us until late at night and the morning after he gave us a map of Tbilisi with his recommendations for the best place to visit or for lunch.
So we headed to Rustaveli Avenue, one of the principal arteries of the city, and Freedom Square, where we had khinkali for lunch.
Khinkali are some sort of dumplings with various fillings inside, and the shape reminds vaguely of Japanese nikuman.
They cost nothing (averagely 0,60 lari, 27 eurocents each) and they're extremely good!

Later on we visited the Georgian National Museum, with the famous collection dedicated to the Soviet Occupation era.

It was really touching and it taught us a lot about the Georgians' determination for a free country, their massive efforts and the suffering they bore even after the declaration of independence in 1991.
I will write a further article about it later on.


We loved it so much we didn't resist and we went back there a couple of days later to see the rest of the museum, which includes a wide collection of jewellery from the 3rd Millennium b.C. to the 4th century AD, prehistoric exhibits from the Bronze to the Iron Age, and an Oriental Art wing with paintings, crafts and other various objects mostly from Iran, China and Japan.

Another great spot is the Narikala fortress uphill, which you can reach either with an intricated staircase from the Old City quarter or via ropeway from Europe Square.
Stefano and I are quite afraid of heights so you can imagine the tragicomical situation as soon as we were drifting in the air!
But the sight of the gigantic Kartlis Deda (Mother of Kartli) from a very close distance, and the view of the hills behind the city, were definitely worth the effort.

There is not much up there too apart from the old semi abandoned fortress though, so we descended by foot and we found ourselves in the freshly restorated Sulphur Bath area.

The sad thing of Tbilisi is seeing dozens of casinos and luxury hotes popping out from everywhere like mushrooms, in a desperate effort to appeal the West more and feeling accepted as a potential EU State.
Georgia always felt more European than Asian from the cultural point of view.

In my opinion is good for Georgia to get rid of everything concerning their old status as "Soviet region" and make space for a brand new era, but they constantly risk to lose their true identity for the sake of conformity with the West.

Despite this, Georgia really is a place to discover and I hope to come back here soon to explore it even better.

Next time I will tell you about Armenia and Yerevan, I personally cannot wait to see the house of one of my favourite composers ever, Aram Khachaturian!
See you soon!


(ugly pics by me, good pics by Steve Genzo)