Tbilisi - Caucasian summer 2024 - 6
from Tbilisi via Mzcheta and Gergeti to Gudauri
from Gudauri via Gori to Kutaissi
from Kutaissi to Batumi
from Batumi via Borjomi to Achalziche
excursion to Vardzia
from Achalziche in Georgia to Yerevan in Armenia
excursion to Etschmiadsin
excursion to Garni and Geghard
from Yerevan to Goris including visits to Chor Virap and Noravank
excursions to Chndsoresk and Tatev
from Goris to Sewan
from Sewan via Dilijan to Haghpat
from Haghpat in Armenia to Tbilisi in Georgia
Tbilisi and back home
21.07.2024 - Tbilisi
Our tour guide has organized a German-speaking local for a city tour today. I've already made my plans for the day at home, so I don't join them.
Contrary to the original plan, I go to the Peace Bridge [↗] first. It was so crowded last night that I want to get there early. There are only a few people there now: a few cleaners and a young woman in a red dress taking selfies with her friend.
I pass the Sioni Cathedral [↗], which we've visited already yesterday evening. No photos are allowed inside and as it's Sunday morning, there are lots of worshippers waiting outside the cathedral.
I'm heading for the Sololaki quarter [↗]. Here are a lot of old houses from the late 1800s. You can still see the former beauty, but most of them are in various state of decay (but still inhabited).
I have addresses of houses where the old decorations of the staircases should still be visible.
You can enter the vestibule at the first address, but then there is a sign saying that you should not open the door to the stairwell. Somehow understandable, as these are not really the absolute insider tips anymore.
The second address seems to be wrong. Maybe it's next door where now the Smirnov Museum [↗] is. Unfortunately, it's still closed, so I can't check it out. Their homepage is not very helpful either.
I only took a fraction of the pictures I wanted to take, but it's still interesting to look behind some of the doors and backyards.
From here, I walk back to Rike Park to photograph the Rike Music Theater and Exhibition Center. These are two connected buildings. From the outside they look fully functional, but the interior work has not even begun. The buildings were constructed in 2016 on the orders of former President Mikheil Saakashvili. As the next president didn't like the style, he halted completion and so the entire complex remains unfinished to this day.
I return to the old town via the Bridge of Piece, walk through the alleys, visit a couple of the churches, and take pictures of the clock tower, nearby statues, and the small graffiti that can be found everywhere.
From Liberty Square, I start to the next part of my excursion. The Sky Bridges are located some distance from the old city near the university. To get there I have to change the metro at Union Square. It's all very easy, you can hardly go wrong, especially as I only have to get off at the terminus.
Leaving the station on the right side, I just continue towards the hill in front of me and turn right again. The Sky Bridges connect three old Soviet high-rise buildings on the top floor. I follow the road that leads up the hill behind the building. When you are level with the bridge, you can simply walk onto it and head towards the buildings.
The bridges and the buildings themselves have seen better times and with the university and the metro connection around, more modern buildings are being built. But the old Soviet houses are still in use.
Meanwhile, they are a kind of tourist’s attraction. Just two or three years ago it was possible to walk down the stairs. Now the access is closed, and you are asked to take the lift for 7 Euro Cent. I prefer to turn around and use the skybridge and the street. My confidence in the technology used is limited after all.
I return to another metro station near the old town as I want to see the old Bath quarter [↗]. The sulfur-containing springs are used since more than 700 years for bathing houses. Most of them are built in the Persian style, with the semi-circular domes being the only part you can see from the outside.
I still have some time before the light improves for the last item on my agenda. So, I go for a late lunch in the alley with all the (tourist) restaurants. Of course, it's quite pricey by local standards, but still cheaper than in Germany.
It's late afternoon now and the sun is low enough to bathe the facade of the Sameba Cathedral [↗] in warm light. It is a large new church, less impressive than the old ones as most of the frescoes are still missing.
As said, this was the last stop on my agenda. I head back to the hotel and call it a day. Almost 10 hours and 19 km (although I used the subway diligently) are enough.
