Day 17 Georgia, Tblisi. Wedding Anniversary in the Botanical Gardens and the Plight of Old Buildings

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Day 17 Georgia, Tblisi. Wedding Anniversary in the Botanical Gardens and Beyond



Old Tblisi Five Rooms, our hôtel, is in area on the east bank of Tblisi, just beside the presidential palace with its modern glass dome. Today we set off on foot to reserve our marshrutka back to Yerevan in five days time.

There has been some renovation of the buildings here like the posher 3 star hotel 50m away, where we eat breakfast, there Quarter is yet to be extensively ‘done’.

The very nature of elaborate balcony structures in wood is that they warp and rot when gutters fail and water gets to them. So there are many tumble-down examples.

There are few tourists in the back streets as we negotiate our way to the bus base. Rather, the area is thronging with Tblisi folk buying fruit and veg from a series of small shops, there a booths with women making alterations to clothing withold sewing machines, and rough and ready surfaces on road and pavement.

We find the office, book tickets with a women who is very efficient and astute, and a spit for Barbie herself.

Marion’s navigation brings us directly downhill to Metekhi Bridge. Soon we’re climbing through the smart newly renovated hotels of the west side of the River Kura past the Mosque and into the Botanical Gardens.



The Botanical Gardens is a large, leafy park extending for about 1.5 Km up the Tsavkisis-Tskali Gorge on the southern foothills of the Sololaki Range above Tblisi. There are flower garden parcels of dahlias, canna lilies, and roses; rocky outcrops with cacti and prickly pears, but chiefly it is and arboretum which boasts a history of three centuries of planting species from all around the world. There are academic programmes for preserving rare species, e.g. the Megrelian Birch, only found in a few isolated spots in Georgia.

The crowd pulling central attraction is a waterfall beneath a gazebo and white bridge from which there’s a panorama of Cyprus trees licking up through the lush green of the valley back towards the city.

Beyond, there is a bamboo glade leading to a the head of the garden where new Grand Design hotels with glass and sweeping curves of steel are being built.

On our return we come upon the Orangery, that we saw signposted but failed to find in 2016. It’s a modest rectangular green house, steamy and well kept with sub tropical plants in pots enjoying the elevated temperature.

And everywhere, here I go again, there are gardeners tending to this great municipale / university resource ........... we must value our public green spaces where ordinary folk can afford to go.



We walk past the Mosque which is thronging with men, some of whom are still praying on carpets laid outside as well as in. At the bottom of Botanical Street we stop in Casa José’s, a Carmen quote, where Marion orders a homemade flan expecting a pastry, but instead, she receives a caramel custard....... which is delicious.



The Rough Guide recommends an new art project gallery which M has in her sights. We walk up from Freedom Square taking the wrong exit from it and getting off course. But it is a happy accident because we fall upon some 19C/20C brick and stucco render buildings different to the usual Georgian style, much more in line with European banks, insurance buildings of the late Industrial Revolution. And some carry Art Nouveau motifs even Deco influences. Like elsewhere in Tblisi, many need saving before it’s too late. It’s like in Havana, Zagreb, Vilnius, Sofia etc, etc, beautiful buildings have been left to decay, crumbling render and decorative mouldings revealing the brick underneath....... through the long-term ingress of water from leaking roofs, gutters and downpipes.

The Art Project, in one of these broken down buildings, carries a modern sign but is clearly had its moment.



After a break back at base, we celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary and 27 years together at the Blue Fox restaurant. Marion has trout on black rice, I have a slowly braised ox cheek on mashed potato. All washed down with Saperavi wine ..... we forgot to ask for a bottle at room temperature, it’s a bizarre fashion to chill red wine here, the flavour is entirely different to our palates, not what we’re used to. We place the bottle and huge goblet glasses by the tea-light candle and restore normal service.

Happy Anniversay

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