Tbilisi
10/01/2025 - 10/08/2025
On October 1st we transitioned from Kutaisi Georgia to Tbilisi Georgia which is about 3 hours east. The transfer was interesting. About a week in advance, we had booked a transfer with a tour company, but they cancelled on us the day before. So we ended up using the public bus which we were trying to avoid due to the mixed reviews. The bus arrived about 30 minutes late, and about half way through the journey it pulled over for engine issues. We assume it was overheating as they gathered up all the water that was supposed to be available for passengers to purchase and took it all out to the engine. Eventually we got going again and made it to Tbilisi.
Tbilisi is the largest city in Georgia with a population of about 1.1 million (about a third of the entire country). It is still a little “3rd worldy” but much more modern than Kutaisi (where we just came from)! It has an amazing old town with all kinds of cool streets loaded with great restaurants and random markets and historical buildings. There are also a lot of fantastic random statues everywhere. There are definitely some areas that are pretty run down, but overall it is a cool city.
We visited a market (Meidani Market) that ranks up there among my favorites (and we have seen A LOT of markets). This one was completely underground and had something of a wine cellar feel. It is one of the oldest business centers in the region dating back to the 4th century!
This little statue is of a tamada which is a Georgian toastmaster. Georgian have these incredible feasts called supras typically for big events and parties and the tamada is typically the most respected person at the event, but they must also possess strong speaking abilities (and drinking abilities!) There is a specific order of the toasts (God, peace, life, health…) and a whole long series of toasts. Each toast is a full on speech.
At the end of each toast, everyone drinks “bottoms up” – their entire glass of wine! They progress to drinking out of other “vessels” that are often larger than a typical wine glass. Giant goat horns are commonly used. After everyone drinks (chugs) their wine, they must tip the horn upside down to show that not a single drop comes out. It is not uncommon for people to each drink 3-4 liters of wine at a supra!
We saw the 6th century church where the original St. Nino cross is maintained. St. Nino brought Christianity to Georgia in the year 320. When she arrived, she made a cross out of the first thing she could find… grape vines and her own hair. Needless to say, the cross section of the cross droops. You see this version of the cross all over Georgia. It is also the church where Joseph Stalin (who studied seminary in Tbilisi) married his first wife.
There is an enormous statue high on a hill overlooking Tbilisi called the Mother of Georgia. She holds a cup of wine in one hand to welcome friendly guests, and a sword for the enemies. She was pretty impressive!
The bridge of peace is a pedestrian bridge, which stretches 490 ft over the Kura River connecting Old Tbilisi with the new district. There were vendors and street musicians along the walk across the bridge.
We decided to try the sulfur baths. Actually, Grady booked it as part of his full day lineup of fun-filled activities for our 10th anniversary! The history of Tbilisi's sulfur baths dates back to the city's founding in the 5th century. The city's name, Tbilisi, is derived from the Georgian word "tbili," meaning warm. The water is geothermal—naturally heated underground and rich in sulfur as it rises to the surface, fed by a river that runs beneath the bath district. Supposedly soaking in these waters helps with circulation, joint pain, skin health, and detoxification.
There is a whole historic bath district. From the outside you see the rounded brick domes lining the street— these are the tops of the underground bathhouses. We rented a private VIP room with private hot and cold sulfur pools, a sauna, and a massage area.
We had “kisi scrubs” done … holy crap, what an experience! Especially for Grady! We were hanging out in the bath for about 15 minutes, then this old Russian guy came in to do Grady’s scrub. I seriously wish I had videoed it!! I was laughing my butt off! He had him lay on the table (actually a slab of stone) and threw a bucket of water on his back then started scrubbing! And lord did he SCRUB. He was using something equivalent to a Brillo pad and would scrub then dump buckets of water on him. Starting with the back of his body, then kind of brutally have him flip to do the front.
After scrubbing, he broke out the bubbles. It was sort of like a giant blown up pillow case full of bubbles and water that he would squish down on Grady’s back (then legs, chest, arms…). After several times, Grady was COVERED in suds (he looked like Mr. Bubble from those old commercials!). Once he was thoroughly bubbled up front and back, he sat him upright and dumped multiple giant buckets of water right over his head. Grady looked a bit traumatized by the end of it all!!! 😊 My version was much more gentle and didn’t involve water over the head.
All in all, it was a really fun experience. We had a whole little room to ourselves attached to our “baths” that had a table and chairs, so we were able to bring some food and wine in there to eat/drink between being scrubbed and sitting in the baths.
After the baths, we did an amazing anniversary wine tasting at Karalashvili Cellars which has been around (and in the same family) since 1396!! It is the oldest cellar in Tbilisi. From there we went to a pretty incredible dinner followed by a final wine bar where the sweetest cat ever decided I was its person! 😊
While Tbilisi is an extremely safe city, there have been ongoing protests going on every night from 8pm-midnight in front of the parliament building since November. So super easy to avoid, just don’t go to that area at that time. They are typically peaceful, but have gotten violent a few times… one such time was when we were there, but we were no where near it. Basically, the young people of the country want progress, innovation, forward movement, true democracy and to be part of the EU and NATO. But the government is still pro Russia and passed some type of legislation this past November that will impede with their chances of being accepted into the EU. So the young people are PISSED. And they are doing exactly what they should… they are peacefully protesting daily.
It got more rowdy last week because it was an election day and the police showed up enforce with riot shields, tear gas, and water cannons just in case… which kind of inspired bad behavior. The protesters left the parliament building and headed to the presidential palace a few blocks away and were trying to storm the doors. NOTHING like our insurrection, but there were definitely some arrests (35ish) and injuries, but no deaths. Below is the parliament building the next day… all calm. But there was definitely some wreckage and a police presence at the presidential palace. We decided not to take photos at the palace and just moved along. There is some pretty spectacular footage of it on BBC if you want to check it out!
There is a clock tower in old town that looks old, but it actually isn’t. But it is still fun to watch. It features moving figures representing different stages of life, from childhood to old age - similar to the one we saw in Gdansk Poland… but that one was the real deal and VERY old.
We had dinner one evening at a restaurant that has nightly shows of traditional Georgian folk music and dance. It was good, but those musicians and dancers are some kind of LAZY. They would play for about 5 minutes at a time followed by about a 20 minute break! I actually counted and we saw 18 minutes of performance in the hour and a half we were there. Emma and Dan might enjoy being musicians here!
The Chronicle of Georgia is a monument located about 30 minutes north of town on a big hill overlooking the Tbilisi Reservoir and the northern part of the city. There are 16 pillars that are between 30–35 meters tall (so really stinking tall!). The top half features kings, queens, and heroes and the bottom part depicts stories from the life of Christ. There is also a large grapevine cross of St. Nino, who first brought Christianity to Georgia. This monument is freaking huge!
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