Tbilisi

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Three days of exploring beautiful, hectic Tbilisi in the sun. Phew!

It's a most attractive, place with some quaintness, lots of run down dusty sad places and elegant, cobbled streets overhung with lacework wooden verandahed balconies and interspersed with tall flame shaped cypresses at every turn. The first morning we walked down to the river and across to a quite new park with a heavenly fountain consisting of many spouting arches And gardeners gardening! We walked back across the curving new peace bridge and then along a shady paved side street between assorted houses and a very ancient church. The descriptor shady tells of the importance of just that......SHADE. It's hot here, but they seem to have planned well for that. All the wide streets have wonderful avenues of tall plane trees, and the narrower streets generally provide their own shade or the balconies lend it to us.

On our walk we came across the Tbilisi marionette theatre which looks great with wonky clock tower and an angel striking the hour twice a day. But unfortunately it is closed for repairs at the mo. We wandered on up the main streets of Pushkin and Rustaveli, past all the upmarket shops - Gucci etc. it is 1.5 kilometres up Rustaveli street alone, so we were pretty footsore after that. Near our hotel there is a street paved with restaurants, with delicious mozzarella and roast asparagus salad, Georgian bread and lobiano, with fairy lights and jazz saxophonist who is pretty good. So we have eaten there three times.

Other good things have been the hotel itself where we have our own balcony overlooking cypresses, the National Gallery, the Museum of Georgia, and the Botanical Gardens.

The National Gallery has several rooms with some modern and some early 20th-late 19th century Georgian artists. There seems to be a particular heritage of black outine, bright colour and caricature which is appealing. There was a separate gallery with a number of18th and 17th century Iranian pictures which seemed to use the same style. We then went to the Georgian Museum of Soviet Occupation. That told the whole sad story of the struggles for Georgian independence since a takeover by Tsarist Russia in the early 19th century. Included of course are the recent wars over South Ossetia and Abkhazia... Still points of discord.

Today the highlight for me was a visit to the botanical gardens. Up to the new enormous Holy Trinity Cathedral first, then down to the river and up to the Nakhali fortress and giant aluminium Mother of Georgia statue, then down into the green valleys, flowers, waterfall and fountain of the gardens. Lovely place, but poorly sign posted. We never did find the Orangery for which we had paid an extra lari(30p!). We walked back into the area of ancient hamaan baths and collapsed into a cafe to watch the world over beer and pizza. Today we have seen many more women in headscarves and some all in long black burka type gowns, but with faces unveiled. Wiki says the vast majority here are Georgian Orthodox Christians and only 10% Moslems. I have not seen or heard any mosques here so far. if we went further east to Armenia and Azerbaijan I think that would change.

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Comments

[Jane]

what is lobiano?
those hamaan baths remind me of our visit to Malaga and those wonderful Arab gardens... xx love you wonder mum xx happy times for you and Ken xx

[Marianiwine]

Lobiano
It's a wonderful sort of paste made with French beans and walnuts and other spicy things. Very yum! Xxxxx