Location: Tbilisi Georgia
Tbilisi is Georgia’s capital city and has a lot to offer. The country Georgia shares borders with Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and the Black Sea. This small strip of countries between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea connects Asia with Europe and is sometimes referred to as Eurasia.
Tbilisi was fascinating to me. It was a city of major contrasts – it’s ancient, windy streets are nestled against a very modern looking bridge with a curved glass top that lights up at night with the country’s flag. It has evident Soviet era buildings and influence, but the city has renamed everything to show where they stand. Take Liberty Square, Freedom Bridge, and the Bridge of Peace for example. Tbilisi fully embraces the old and new in a wonderful way. If you’re interested in visiting Tbilisi, here’s what I recommend.
1. Take the funicular to Narikala Fortress, Kartlis Deda statue, and stunning views.
Catch the funicular from the city center, and in mere minutes you’re standing high above the city enjoying gorgeous panoramic views of Tbilisi down below. You can also explore the Narikala Fortress and admire the Kartlis Deda statue. Order fresh squeezed pomegranate and orange juice from local vendors to quench your thirst. There is also a nice cafe perched on the edge where you can grab a liter of local red or white wine and take in the vista.
2. Enjoy the ancient sulphur baths
The sulphur baths have a bit of history with the city. Supposably around 400 BC, the then-King of Iberia was hunting in the wooded area here and discovered the hot springs. He enjoyed them so much, he decided to cut down the forest and build a city around the springs. He named the city Tbilisi, which means ‘warm location’ in Georgian.
You can still visit the sulphur bath houses today right along the river. They vary in price points, and if you enter one and ask to look around they will usually give you a small preview. We chose the beautiful Orbeliani bath house which was a higher price point than others, but was reasonable to us, gorgeous, and worth every penny. We opted for a private room that included a warm pool, cold dipping pool, a marble bed where you get scrubbed, sauna room, and a separate lounge and WC. You can order waters, drinks, anything you want from the front desk. It was pure relaxation!
After we finished at the bath house, we grabbed a delicious dinner at Culinarium Khasheria just nearby. The menu was small plates and we ordered a bunch to share amongst our group. I loved that we were able to sample a little bit of everything and the Georgian food was fabulous. It paired well with a few bottles of Georgian wine (more on their unique wine below).
Next to us was a group of four older men from Georgia and Uzbekistan. They were so friendly and shared multiple bottles of vodka between themselves. As the night went on they started offering us shots of their vodka (what bottle were they on by this point? I don’t even remember) saying ‘Welcome Georgia!’ to us in English. We chatted with them in broken languages and it turned in to a great night. When we went to pay, the waitress told us the kind gentlemen next to us already paid our bill! We were shocked by their kind generosity and that they expected nothing in return whatsoever. We paid it forward to a group the next night.
3. Drink wine in Kakheti, the oldest wine region on Earth
We took a full day wine tour to the Kakheti region, less than 2 hours from Tbilisi. This was one of the events I was most excited for on our trip. Georgia’s wine scene has been around since at least 6,000 BC and hasn’t stopped to this day, which is why Georgia is considered the birthplace of wine. 6,000 BC. No, that was not a typo. Re-read and let that soak in! I figured if they’ve been making wine for 8,000 years then they must be on to something, and I would gladly test (and taste) their methods and share my findings with all of you lovely people. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it!
The traditional method of Georgian wine making is by fermenting the grapes in qvevri, or a type of clay pot that are buried in the ground where the grapes ferment for about 6 months. The grape skins and seeds are removed from the qvevri and are used to make ‘cha-cha’, Georgian’s version of Italian Grappa. So if you get asked to cha-cha, they aren’t asking to dance with you. ; )
This ancient method using qvevri is unique to Georgia, and therefore the wine tastes like nothing else I’ve ever had. Georgia is slowly starting to export but generally their wine is kept within the country. We loved it all but usually prefer dry reds and our favorite varietals were Saperavi and Mukuzani. You can bet we brought an extra suitcase specifically for our wine box and stocked up ; ) .
4. Get out and explore the Caucasus Mountains
We did this as a day trip but I recommend doing it in two days in you have the time. It’s about 300km roundtrip from Tbilisi and the roads are all one-lane and mountain roads so driving is a bit slower than I had anticipated. But with that said, you go north from Tbilisi to the Caucasus Mountains, get to explore an ancient fortress Ananuri along the way, and take a (quite scary exhilarating) four-wheel off roading adventure to Trinity Church high above the town of Kazbegi. It was an adventure! We were so far north that on the other side of the mountains is Russia.
Georgia is a relatively conservative country and some churches require women to wear a head scarf and skirt. I wore my own scarf and used it to cover my head when entering the churches. Trinity Church offered skirts and scarves to wear while visiting the church.
5. Eat as much Khinkali and Khachipuri as possible
The local food is pretty great. My favorite was Khinkali, a dumpling shaped like a large Hershey’s kiss and filled with a uniquely spiced (to me) meat. You grab the top of the dumpling, bite a hole in the side, and slurp out the broth inside. Then you can eat the meat and usually leave the top of the ‘kiss’. They originate in the Caucasus Mountains, and of course my favorite were from a small mountainside restaurant. They are so good! I ordered them at every meal and don’t regret it!
Khachipuri comes in a few different forms. Imeritian Khachipuri almost looks like a sauceless pizza or cheesy bread, made with local Georgian cheese. The other version, Adjaran Khachipuri, has bread surrounding a mixture of local cheese with a cracked egg on top. You mix the egg and cheese together before eating and use the bread to dip. It’s probably not the best thing for ladies who are looking to keep a slim waistline (ahem) but a must-try local specialty at least once ; )
Get there:
Georgia is 2 hours ahead of Western Europe and in-between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. We flew Turkish Airlines but many airlines service Tbilisi.
Visas are NOT required for American passport holders. Enjoy!
Stay:
We stayed at the GT Georgia Tbilisi hotel. It was the perfect location in the old town and had a killer rooftop bar. The rooms reminded me of a basic European hotel room (read: small to some people). It was perfect for us as we try to spend our money on experiences, and the location couldn’t be beat.
Eat:
I can recommend the Culinarium Khasheria near the bath houses (see #2 above), and Duqani, right next to the Opera in the new town. Go downstairs and order as much as you want (make sure to order their Khinkali!). The food is delicious. Three of us had 1L of wine, water, 2 appetizers, khinkali, and 3 mains and the total equaled 30 USD. Can’t beat it!
Drink:
Wineries in Kakheti, specifically Twins Old Cellar and Shumi Estate Cellars. Wine bars throughout the old town. Grab a beer at KGB Bar in the old town. Their motto is ‘We’re still watching you’. Georgians are happy to be free and have a sense of humor.
Know:
Most flights from Europe arrive and depart very early in the morning. We arrived at 03:50 and reserved our hotel for the night before so we could sleep for a few hours in the beginning. Our return flight left at 04:55, but arrived in time for a full work day.
Georgian is it’s own unique language. The alphabet is like no other, and speaking it won’t help you to understand any other languages. Thankfully most people speak English and have it written on almost all menus as well!