Are there any positives about travelling to the former Russian Republic of Georgia? In my previous posts I have written about some pretty negative experiences I had whilst I was there. Well I would say the best reason to visit Georgia is to spend time in Tbilisi.
Tbilisi was the reason I’d wanted to visit Georgia for all those years. I’d wanted to go ever since I saw Juliet Morris go there on the Travel Show in 1999, it looked like a fascinating city. And it turned out that it was.
I’d ended up in Kutaisi in Georgia because it was the cheapest way to get into the country. The low cost airlines were flying there rather than into Tbilisi. However, after the theft of my iPod and my bizarre experience with the Georgian police, I got out of Kutaisi the next day and I arrived in the capital city, Tbilisi.
My journey to Tbilisi was not pleasant. I got one of the collective minibuses from Kutaisi which were cheap, but they were also cramped and dirty and uncomfortable. The owner of the first hotel I stayed at in Kutaisi took me to the place where the minibuses to Tbilisi leave from, but he ripped me off, which was a common occurrence in Georgia. I was viewed as a rich Western tourist and most of the taxi drivers and tourist establishments charged well over the odds and did their best to rip me off. In this instance, the owner short changed me, it didn’t amount to much, but even so, I don’t like being cheated and was determined he wouldn’t get any more money out of me; when I returned to Kutaisi, I’d be staying elsewhere.
Anyway, the minibus to Tbilisi only cost 10 Lari, which is the equivalent of about £3. So it was definitely cheap. After my poor experience in Kutaisi, I was thankful that my next guesthouse was much better and this was also the only place I stayed during my entire time in Georgia, where the owners didn’t attempt to rip me off.
I was overcharged by another taxi driver to get to my guesthouse. I was told by the guesthouse owner that the taxi driver Mafia is the only thing the government haven’t managed to stamp out yet. The guesthouse owner took me into the city in his car one morning, because no taxi would come and pick me up because they were only looking for extortionate fares from tourists and if it’s from a local guesthouse where the owners know how much taxis really cost, they won’t pick you up.
I subsequently used the Taxify App, basically the Georgian version of Uber, where they call a taxi for you, tell you the driver’s name, car and registration and the cars are fitted with trackers so they can’t cheat you. Unfortunately this App was only available in Tbilisi. But I used Taxify for the rest of the time I was in Tbilisi and found it to be an excellent service. I was also so grateful to finally find honest taxi drivers, I always gave them a big tip.
Yes, my guesthouse in Tbilisi was lovely. The beds were so comfortable. They had a layer on top of the mattress that made it really soft, the only other person I know who does that is my mother! Initially it looked like it was way off the beaten track and a long way out of the city. In reality it was only a 20 minute walk to anywhere you needed to be, although it was up a steep hill. It was actually very close to Mtatsminda Hill, the highest point in the city, so you did have a climb back up to it at the end of your sightseeing day. Despite that, if I ever did go back to Tbilisi, I would definitely stay there again.
I can’t say Tbilisi felt the safest place in the world to me when I first ventured out to explore, and it is a big city, 1.5 million population. But after spending a fair bit of time there, I felt more comfortable, even when I was walking back to my guesthouse at night in the dark.
I had 3 plans for my time in Tbilisi, the cable car to Narikala Fortress, one of the sulphur baths in Tbilisi, which I covered in a previous article, and the funicular up Mtatsminda Hill.
First was the cable car. I bought myself a transport card for 60p and loaded it up with £1. That was more than enough to get me up the cable car and back. Then I headed up the hill. First off I went to see the statue of the Mother of Georgia.
Then I followed the signs to get to the Narikala Fortress. The fortress was the location I remembered seeing on the Travel Show, I recalled it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1827 and has only partially been restored.
I could see some people at the top of a tower with a cross on the top and also people at some other towers. I could see there was no proper path to some of the towers, it was just a scramble. My view was slightly obscured, but I assumed the tower with the cross would be different because it was the main tower of the fortress.
I walked down the pathway to find the entrance where I assumed there would be properly delineated signposted footpaths with steps where appropriate and a handy printed map. Seriously had I learnt nothing during my time in Georgia? A handy printed map? What was I thinking?
The Narikala Fortress was exactly the same as just about every other place I’d visited while in Georgia, stone and sand, rough paths of varying degrees of difficulty, which I presumed were graded on how brave you felt. There were steep steps with no handrail and a feeling of, “should I actually be climbing this?” but you see that everybody else does. And there are no rails to stop you, so you do too.
I climbed one part of the fortress wall, at this point I was still suffering from the delusion that there might be a proper footpath to the tower with the cross on top, I searched for one, but of course, it didn’t exist. So I followed the easiest of the rough, stone paths to the tower and then there was nothing for it but climbing the walls as best you could to get to the top. It actually was okay, I found the slippery sandy path a lot more difficult than the climbing up and down, there was plenty to hold on to on the tower walls.
There were 3 lasses from Iran travelling together and they offered to help me in my climb up the tower, but I managed fine on my own. Once at the top, they took a couple of photos of me and then they went to take a selfie. I was going to offer to take a photo for them, but they invited me to join them in the shot and emailed me the photo later that afternoon. Fortress done.
I went and had my traditional sulphur bath and then headed across the road to the wine shop and did a free wine tasting with an enthusiastic sales assistant from Belarus who was eager to let me taste everything she had open. I said I liked reds, so we started on reds, then I had a shot of chacha, which is grape vodka and had a strength of 55%. I was then persuaded to try the white wines too. I didn’t take a lot of persuading, it has to be said!
In order to try and soak up some of the alcohol, I tried a khachapuri, which is the traditional cheese pie they made here. Puff pastry filled with a salty cheese, but not plastic string type which I was unfortunate enough to try later. However, the khachapuri was actually really nice. They charge quite a lot for them in restaurants, but I’d noticed a bakery on my way to the baths, so I called in there and got a fresh one and ate it while I was walking, it was still warm. I did really like it.
And finally, was I going to be able to fit in the funicular up to the top of Mount Mtatsminda today or not? It was starting to get dark, I didn’t know how late it ran. I didn’t need to worry. It only closes for 4 hours a day. Between 4am and 8am. And it was really close to my guesthouse, so I could walk there in 10 minutes. There’s a restaurant on the top of Mount Mtatsminda and the hill is home to Mtatsminda Park a fun fair with a ferris wheel and rollercoaster. The TV Tower is also located at the top of the funicular. The TV Tower is covered in satellite dishes so it’s not one you can go up inside like in some places, however, it is all lit up in pink lights at night, so it looks very pretty.
I rode the funicular right to the top and I had a walk to the ferris wheel to start with. It looked like was still going even though it was dark. The same transport card I used for the funicular was also the card I needed to use to go on the ferris wheel. No one else seemed to be interested in going on it and I did wonder if it was closed after all, but it wasn’t, so I got an enclosed carriage to myself and some lovely views of Tbilisi all lit up at night as I went round. I could see the rollercoaster from the top of the wheel, unfortunately that definitely was closed at this time of night or I would have certainly given that a go.
After my ride on the ferris wheel, I headed back to the restaurant for a cocktail in the bar, took a seat on the terrace and had a cocktail. The cocktail I ordered was a peach martini made with a Georgian vodka which completely overpowered everything else. I didn’t have a second one. Even so, it was quite nice on the terrace overlooking the lights of Tbilisi. The only drawback was the locals are big smokers and even though it was outdoors, it was a smoky atmosphere on the terrace. As a non-smoker who has got used to everything in England now being smoke free, I find smoking antisocial and unpleasant. I just sat as far away from the smokers as I could and it didn’t bother me too much, I could enjoy my cocktail and the view. It was a lovely evening at the top of the highest peak in the city.
The following day, I decided I didn’t want a further battle by attempting to take any more transport out of Tbilisi, so I opted to stay local.
I had a wander to Freedom Square and then into the old town. There were lots of statues in Tbilisi, I saw one of Tamada, the Georgian Toast Master and another of a man up a ladder lighting a lamp. It was very quiet this early in the morning, there was no one much around.
I continued my walk and found the Peace Bridge. Tbilisi’s Bridge of Peace spanning the Kura River is a wavy, bow shaped pedestrian bridge made of steel and glass and is one of the iconic features of the city. I crossed the bridge and took some photos and crossed back again into the old town.
I then went to the National Gallery which had a permanent exhibition of about 50 paintings. At least I wasn’t completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of artwork. The temporary exhibition only had about half that number of paintings. But I enjoy art galleries and so I found it quite interesting. I went to the National Museum too, that wasn’t very exciting. I concluded the Russians must have got all the good stuff to exhibit in Moscow and St Petersburg.
I headed back into the old town walked around where the Leaning Puppet Theatre Clock Tower of Tbilisi was, although unfortunately the museum was closed.
After my wanderings around the city, I decided now was the time I should probably have something to eat. I went in one place with interesting chandeliers made out of wine glasses and they had an extensive wine menu. I tried a couple of qvevri red wines, the first one was a bit feeble for my liking, so I had a glass of the stronger second one. It wasn’t exceptional, but it was okay.
The qvevri method is the traditional Georgian way of making wine, instead of oak barrels they use clay pots that they bury in the ground and they don’t add any sulphur or anything. I ended up getting quite a taste for the qvevri red wine, but it took a while to grow on me. Initially I didn’t think much to it.
This place also had rare Georgian cheeses and as I like my cheese I decided to give it a try. You should have seen what I got. This cheese that looked like silly string and tasted like salted plastic! They brought me a cheese that was like smoked Gouda, except I’d already told the waiter and I didn’t like smoked cheese and he said they’d bring me an alternative and they forgot! So I sent that back. The replacement was tasteless, and probably the best was a soft cheese quite like Brie except nowhere near as good. I wasn’t impressed. If this was a representation of the best the Georgian cheese industry has to offer, then after this sample, my conclusion would be that the rest of the cheeses they produce in Georgia must be absolutely revolting!
I wandered back to my guesthouse after my drink and horrible cheese meal and sat in the living room watching the Mentalist on telly that had been dubbed into Georgian. They only seemed to have one actor dubbing all the male characters from what I could tell, all the male voices in the programme were identical! The guesthouse owner brought me a glass of red wine and I had a drink.
All in all, I did enjoy Tbilisi, it was a very nice city. However, had I known when I arrived in Georgia what I knew when I left, I would have done things differently. I think the best way to organise my trip to Georgia would have been to base myself in Tbilisi, give myself a day or so in Tbilisi to enjoy the sights there and then to just do day trips from Tbilisi on organised tours. They’re not expensive, you get to see everything and you don’t have to battle with taxi drivers and other people trying to rip you off all the time.
But it had been an experience that I wouldn’t forget. I think maybe my expectations were too high, I wasn’t prepared for how little there was to do in reality and how difficult it would be to get around. My impression was it was a poor country still trying to find its way after all those years of Soviet occupation and it was still a long way off at that time.
There were a couple of highlights, Davit Gareja was very good, the Caucasus Mountains around Kazbegi are beautiful and I did generally enjoy Tbilisi. I do have some positives to look back on. I can’t see me rushing back, but I never say never and, if I take my own advice, I believe any return visit will be infinitely more successful.
I travelled to Georgia during the first half of October 2016.
I stayed at Guest House Formula 1 in Tbilisi with breakfast included.
Narikala Fortress is at the top of Narikala Hill. You can get to the top of Narikala Hill in a modern cable car which is part of the Tbilisi public transport system. You need a public transport card to ride in the cable car which is available from any transport station in the city.
Narikala Fortress is free to walk around.
Mtatsminda Hill is accessed by the steep inclined funicular. A Mtatsminda Park card is needed for the funicular. This is a different card to the Tbilisi public transport pass card. The Mtatsminda Park card is also needed to go on any of the rides at Mtatsminda Park
I tried qvevri red wine at G Vino in the heart of Tbilisi Old Town. They have an extensive wine menu. I don’t recommend the cheese!
Tbilisi is located approximately a three and a half hour drive from Kutaisi. Collective minibuses run frequently between the two cities.
I flew to Georgia on a Wizz Air flight to Kutaisi from Budapest, Hungary. This was a cheaper alternative to flying to the capital, Tbilisi.
I flew to Budapest from Manchester Airport with Jet2.
Read about my other experiences in Georgia.
Traditional Sulphur Bath Experience
Davit Gareja Cliff Monastery Complex
Into the Caucasus Mountains – Kazbegi Region
If you ever are in Georgia – take care! Read about my encounter with the Georgian police when I was unlucky enough to be the victim of a pickpocket.
Reporting a Theft – A Cautionary Tale
