After a very full day of exploring the Georgian mountains we headed into Old Tbilisi around sunset. Our guide, Zura took us up to overlook the old part of the city and it was gorgeous! The buildings all climbing up the rock face with Mother Georgia looking over them and protecting them was quite the sight. It was really beautiful!
Looking across you can see the Bridge of Peace that was built after the last war with Russia in 2008. Also, that odd shaped tower in the middle is a hotel built by a Prince from Dubai. It is gaudy and modern and doesn't fit at all with the rest of the Georgian architecture. Michelle joked and said that it was "very Dubai" and Zura loved that and kept chuckling over it. Middle Eastern modern architecture with all its glass, clean lines, and lights is very beautiful in its own right... but when paired with Eastern European old stone? It just sticks out like a sore thumb!
That domed building in the center is their white house
Looking down over the river we saw a water taxi!
After a few minutes of taking in the sunset and the city we made our way down into the city itself to explore on foot. Our first stop was the Sulphur Baths.
Legend has it that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia came across a beautiful forest and he set his falcon out to hunt. The falcon caught a pheasant during the hunt but both birds fell into the hot springs and died. The king was so impressed with the springs that he decided to clear the forest and build the city around them. Tbilisi means "warm place", thus its name! Walking up to the bath houses, the smell of sulphur permeates the air and while its a little overwhelming at first, you get used to it and its not terribly bad.
Here you can see the old, original bath houses that were built.
We walked around and behind the bath houses and tucked away sort of behind the farthest of the city buildings is a waterfall! Its not a hot spring water fall, but the Georgians love it and have preserved and built the city around it.
And when I say around it, I mean over it too. This was standing by the waterfall, looking up. Those are buildings just hanging over that ledge! Eep!
From there we walked up into the city proper, crossing over a small bridge where people have placed locks holding onto wishes that they hope to come true. We asked Zura if he'd done it and he replied, "No. That lock will cost me twenty lari and for twenty lari I can buy four pints of German beer, which is better than any wish I could make!' And we carried on.
We climbed some spiral stairs and found ourselves sort of in the middle of all the buildings. Everything is connected with walkways and stairs. It was really neat! Zura told us that balconies are a big part of the old Georgian culture and they were a way for neighbors to hang out and exchange gossip and news and that they would take their carpets and hang them over their balconies and whoever had the largest and brightest was the most wealthy.
We climbed down out of the middle of the buildings and continued our tour. There are multiple bath houses where you can go and soak in the sulfur springs, some fancier than others. This one was the premier bath house in Tbilisi and it was gorgeous! It had recently been renovated and the persian influence was obvious. The tiles and designs were just gorgeous!
We walked past shops and restaurants and headed towards this steep road to make our way up to the top to get a view of the city all lit up for the evening. Along the way Zura pointed out the Muslim Mosque that was tucked away and he said that its the only mosque in the world where the Shiite and Sunni Muslims pray together. He explained that they had fought hard to keep the mosque standing when the Russians wanted to tear it down and to honor the fight and sacrifice they prayed together as a symbol of unity and to honor the importance of the mosque still being there. I thought that was really neat... especially being in Bahrain and regularly exposed to the separation of the two sects of the faith.
We climbed and climbed this incredibly steep hill and were rewarded with a spectacular view of Tbilisi! We were out of breath and exhausted, but it was worth it!
We made the arduous climb back down (why is it always worse going down than going up!?) and Zura showed us an open air museum in the middle of the city. It was closed for the evening, but you could look over the walls and see some of the displays. It was excavated and they found clay wine pots and tools for making wine from the 4th century!
One final stop before we were finished with our tour and it was the I ♥ Tbilisi sign!
Also at the sign was a statue and tribute to a musician who wrote a song about Georgia and with it was a pomegranate tree! There were pomegranates every where in the country and I asked Zura if they held any significance but he just told me about the song. Either way, my little pomegranate loving heart was happy here!
We headed back to the hotel, tired and cold and called it an early night! We'd eaten a late lunch so we skipped dinner all together in favor of a hot cup of tea and warm blankets to thaw us out. It may have only been in the 30's, but after leaving a balmy Bahrain, 30 degrees was pretty chilly!
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