Day 11: Touristing in Tbilisi

We were lucky enough to get a four bed dorm to ourselves that night and slept wonderfully. Feeling refreshed we decided on a productive day of sightseeing and laundry. It was the first chance we had to do laundry and we took advantage of the 5 Lari per bundle price and shoved half our backpacks in before hanging them to dry on the hostel balcony.

As Tom was finishing his laundry, Katie and Paul decided to move the van from the paid car park to the hostel car park for ease of accessing our things as we were going to be staying for two nights. This didn’t go to plan though. The narrow streets are just about wide enough to fit our van down, but this doesn’t take into account parked cars and random holes in the road along the unevenly laid cobble streets. Despite some honks from the traffic we persevered and tried to find out way the 400 metre distance between the two parking spaces. Every road seemed to be one way, and of course the opposite direction to what our maps said. After about 20 minutes we decided it was easier to just put the car back where it was originally parked. Much to the amusement of our hostel receptionist.

Unperturbed by our pointless drives around the miniature roads we headed out to explore them by foot. It was beautiful and we headed in the direction of the natural sulphur baths the city is famous for. We decided against actually having a sulphur bath most because of the smell but the dome roofs sticking out from the ground was really nice to see and explore. We then headed straight for the cable car which would take us up to the fort on the hillside overlooking Tbilisi. A view that did not disappoint. We could see across the whole city and see the old style red roofs mixed with the very modern and arty glass and steel buildings spouting up like mushrooms among the city. On top of the hillside was the “Mother of Georgia” statue – a towering silver woman with a glass of wine in one hand (for friends) and a sword in the other (for enemies). The fort ruins were also quite impressive as whilst Katie checked out the church next to the fort, Tom and Paul climbed the rather high and strep ruins to get the best view of the city!

We walked back down the hill into the town and up the other side towards some interesting buildings we spotted from the fort. There’s an imposing cathedral on the east side of town so we headed towards that through little streets filled with shops and street vendors.

We arrived at the small side gate to the orthodox church and felt the heat of the day reflected back at us from the new polished stone. At the doors of the cathedral was a signatory the dress code and two boxes of scarves and shawls for women to cover up with. Shorts also weren’t allowed technically but some people were walking around with knees uncovered so the lack of cover for Paul’s legs didn’t seem to be an issue. The cathedral was very new, with much of the interior still unpainted, but plenty of historical artifacts on display already. The air was cool and there was a silent respect among the visitors.

We exited the cathedral and headed downhill towards the shopping mall where we had a recommendation from the hostel receptionist for a good coffee shop on the same street. We paused outside a hotel with a large police presence and figured that it’s must be the Italian visit to Tblisi causing it as we’d seen a lot of Italian flags around the city. After walking past the entrance to a generic but unsignposted opera House we found the coffee and wine bar and sat down for a drink and a rest from the walking we’d already done that day.

Katie had forgotten to bring trousers to wear in the more conservative countries so we popped into H&M for a few things. Whilst there Paul received an email from the Turkmen embassy with our Letter of Invitation attached! Conveniently they had grouped our three applications into one letter but had only emailed it to Paul. With two days before we were due to arrive in Baku it was getting a bit too close for comfort, but now we had everything we needed to get into the country.

That evening we decided to take a walk to a little avenue lined with outdoor seating and lots of tourists. After eyeing up a few menus we decided to eat at a popular place with a German feel, but with good priced Georgian food. We set up indoors first but decamped to a table outdoors when one became vacant, which happened to be right next to a small folk swing band playing a range of covers. After a good varied meal we then made our way to the famous Peace Bridge. A thin foot bridge covered by a rolling framework that creates a kind of glass and metal shell, at night the peace bridge is lit up along its entire length and height with white light creating many different sequences and pulses. The show inside the bridge is mesmerising, and we frequently needed to pause for a couple to take a romantic photo in the glow of the lights.

It was getting late and we’d pretty much exhausted the list of things we wanted to see in Tbilisi, so we headed back to the hostel to take in the view from the balcony again for a few minutes and then head to bed.