The weirdest experience we had in Tbilisi was at the mercy of an intimidating man with his well-worn stick; a stick which had beaten its fair share of ideas into people for many decades and now pointed authoritatively at a wilted photograph of a surprisingly
handsome man in his early 20’s.
handsome man in his early 20’s.
But first... The Hospital
We had an urgent mission to undertake as soon as we arrived in Tbilisi: the bruising inside Pete’s foot had began to spread rather artistically, and he could barely manage to hobble. We jumped in a battered taxi driven by a man who looked like an extra from a Cold War spy movie - the one who silently sits in the background of a bar, chain smoking for the entire scene. Over the next few days we realised that this simply was the Georgian taxi driver look, de rigour.
Pulling up to a nondescript, unaddressed crumbling facade, the hospital was run out of a collection of rooms, across various floors in a mixed-used building. It may have not inspired confidence, but clearly the money went where it mattered most: brand-new equipment, sparkling white lab coats, and attractive receptionists.
And a quality doctor who earned his stripes overseas in the UK. He laughed at the advice our guesthouse owner insisted upon for Pete’s swollen foot:
“Hot water and salt. Will fix everything.”
We were pretty sure that keeping it iced and elevated were the key things. But the doctor revealed that general medical education in Georgia is stuck in the dark ages. There is still a prevalent dependence on family wisdom and grandmotherly care. A woman he treated a few weeks earlier stuffed charcoal into an open wound on her wrist and chose to visit the doctor after a week as it wasn’t getting better. It now needed antibiotics, too.
Pulling up to a nondescript, unaddressed crumbling facade, the hospital was run out of a collection of rooms, across various floors in a mixed-used building. It may have not inspired confidence, but clearly the money went where it mattered most: brand-new equipment, sparkling white lab coats, and attractive receptionists.
And a quality doctor who earned his stripes overseas in the UK. He laughed at the advice our guesthouse owner insisted upon for Pete’s swollen foot:
“Hot water and salt. Will fix everything.”
We were pretty sure that keeping it iced and elevated were the key things. But the doctor revealed that general medical education in Georgia is stuck in the dark ages. There is still a prevalent dependence on family wisdom and grandmotherly care. A woman he treated a few weeks earlier stuffed charcoal into an open wound on her wrist and chose to visit the doctor after a week as it wasn’t getting better. It now needed antibiotics, too.
Crumbling Old Tbilisi
Thinking we were going ‘north’ and therefore ‘it would be getting colder’, imagine our surprise when Tbilisi consistently put on a roasting 40+ Celsius show. Perhaps it wasn’t all that bad that Pete spent most of his time sitting around the air conditioned guesthouse.
That left Emma to sightsee on her own. A casual glance at a map would have one believe it was relatively easy to just wander between Interesting Thing 1 and Interesting Thing 2. But not in Tbilisi. The town planning has ensured that highways run along the riverside, pedestrian crossing are noticeably absent from where pedestrians would usually cross, and connections to major public amenities are, well, disconnected.
In fact, getting beeped at by men in cars may as well be a national pastime here.
And eating cheesy bread.
But it’s difficult to not fall in love with historical Old Tbilisi, an area which may as well double as a film set; it really is that atmospheric. The backstreets here have a dirt-under-the-fingernail charm that the hippest of cities can only dream of. Amongst the quiet, crumbling facades, life continues as normal as the 10 cent ice-cream that hasn’t changed price (or flavour) for decades.
It’s a treasure of Tbilisi - putting the map away and just wandering these streets.
The inevitable gentrification here is kindling, however: the heavily renovated areas around the Bridge of Peace are slowly bringing in the tourist dollar. Time will tell if Old Tbilisi will be an artist, cafe and single-speed bike zone of the future - it seems to be heading that way.
Location: The Old Tbilisi part of Tbilisi has plenty of hotels. Kote Afkhazi Street has plenty of restaurants and shopping, with things becoming less compact from Liberty Square to Rustaveli.
How it works: Cheaper accommodation spreads up the hill, is quieter and can involve a long walk.
That left Emma to sightsee on her own. A casual glance at a map would have one believe it was relatively easy to just wander between Interesting Thing 1 and Interesting Thing 2. But not in Tbilisi. The town planning has ensured that highways run along the riverside, pedestrian crossing are noticeably absent from where pedestrians would usually cross, and connections to major public amenities are, well, disconnected.
In fact, getting beeped at by men in cars may as well be a national pastime here.
And eating cheesy bread.
But it’s difficult to not fall in love with historical Old Tbilisi, an area which may as well double as a film set; it really is that atmospheric. The backstreets here have a dirt-under-the-fingernail charm that the hippest of cities can only dream of. Amongst the quiet, crumbling facades, life continues as normal as the 10 cent ice-cream that hasn’t changed price (or flavour) for decades.
It’s a treasure of Tbilisi - putting the map away and just wandering these streets.
The inevitable gentrification here is kindling, however: the heavily renovated areas around the Bridge of Peace are slowly bringing in the tourist dollar. Time will tell if Old Tbilisi will be an artist, cafe and single-speed bike zone of the future - it seems to be heading that way.
Location: The Old Tbilisi part of Tbilisi has plenty of hotels. Kote Afkhazi Street has plenty of restaurants and shopping, with things becoming less compact from Liberty Square to Rustaveli.
How it works: Cheaper accommodation spreads up the hill, is quieter and can involve a long walk.
The Sights & Streets
To visit Tbilisi is to discover there is far more here than destitution tourism. Plenty of progressive love-it-or-hate-it structures are brilliant conversation starters for any awkward first-time dates. For instance:
And where to even begin with the plethora of sculptures? Gigantic piano - check. Man playing saxophone triumphantly while emerging from a wall - check. Oddly proportioned and contorted figures doing everyday things as though completely normal? Check, check and check.
Tbilisi also has traditional architecture aplenty. The whole complex of the Tsminda Sameba Cathedral was one of our favourites, but there are days of entertainment here all over the city: Mtatsminda park, the Mother of Georgia statue, a marionette theatre, thermal baths, and more churches than you can poke a stick at.
Location: The main sights are mainly concentrated around Old Tbilisi but do spread around town.
How it works: Entry is usually free or minimal. Don’t miss the cable-car from Old Tbilisi up to the Narikala Fortress. It’s then an enjoyable walk back down the mountain. The 2-line metro system makes for a cheap and easy way to get around.
- Honey, what do you think of the Bridge of Peace? Is this latticed, technicolour space butterfly recruiting earthlings for its interstellar mission to another dimension, or do you think the government officials are secretly hard-dance DJ’s who want to throw a really wicked party under its psychedelic light-show to bring in the new year?
- Or what of the nearby half-built Rike Park Theatre? It’s amazing the space butterfly can leave such large, metallic excrement just here and no one seems to mind. If it were me, I’d turn this thing into an exhibition hall!
- Let us not forget the Public Service Hall. Inspired by a handful of melting mushrooms when the architect fell asleep in the forest after drinking too much ChaCha (the local moonshine). This could even be the humble abode of Her Majesty, the Queen of all Praying Mantis' we saw nearby.
And where to even begin with the plethora of sculptures? Gigantic piano - check. Man playing saxophone triumphantly while emerging from a wall - check. Oddly proportioned and contorted figures doing everyday things as though completely normal? Check, check and check.
Tbilisi also has traditional architecture aplenty. The whole complex of the Tsminda Sameba Cathedral was one of our favourites, but there are days of entertainment here all over the city: Mtatsminda park, the Mother of Georgia statue, a marionette theatre, thermal baths, and more churches than you can poke a stick at.
Location: The main sights are mainly concentrated around Old Tbilisi but do spread around town.
How it works: Entry is usually free or minimal. Don’t miss the cable-car from Old Tbilisi up to the Narikala Fortress. It’s then an enjoyable walk back down the mountain. The 2-line metro system makes for a cheap and easy way to get around.
Visiting Stalin’s Printing Press
(or, how a Communist drill sergeant forced us to sit on Stalin’s bed)
(or, how a Communist drill sergeant forced us to sit on Stalin’s bed)
The weirdest experience we had in Tbilisi was at the mercy of an intimidating man with his well-worn stick; a stick which had beaten its fair share of ideas into people for many decades and now pointed authoritatively at a wilted photograph of a surprisingly handsome man in his early 20’s.
Josef Stalin was born in 1878 in Gori, a small town 40km west of Tbilisi, and spent a fruitful educational period of his life in the capital establishing his ideals and garnering support for a political movement which whould shape countless lives for decades, if not centuries.
The cornerstone to spreading his word was a humble printing press - a solitary, now-heavily rusted machine, hidden in a secret room down an impossibly decayed, spiderweb-tangled staircase. A fossil so unloved by the passage of time that it lies beyond any hope of restoration.
The warm glow of the single exposed lightbulb threw harsh shadows as we moved around the eerily quiet, underground tomb.
Well, it would be quiet if it wasn’t for the commanding boom which reverberated out of our crazy guide. Our lack of understanding in either Georgian or Russian didn’t dampen his spirits - he triumphantly roared and bellowed with the energy of a dozen bears and pointed at newspaper clippings, flags, paintings and aged photographs with his fearsome stick, pausing only to lick his lips and declare: “Now. Photo.”
Fearing being locked up and converted to Communism (this is the headquarters of the Georgian Communist Party after all), we played it safe and took the photos he deemed important. But he was only getting started.
Grabbing our camera, he instructed us to sit at a multitude of scenes, either holding an issue of the Russian-language ‘Pravda’ (‘Truth') newspaper or sitting on an auditorium stage, while golden busts and wistfully dreamy portraits of Lenin and Stalin surrounded us like religious monuments, the royal red silk of Communist flags pinned in perpetual flow.
Herding us into a small wooden house, with heightened blood pressure and increasingly widening eyes, our Communist drill sergeant had one final treat for us: The bed of Stalin himself. Moving aside the bollards, he barked ‘Sit!’ and we gingerly looked at each other. Ethical questions raced through our head. The air buzzed with anticipation.
It was hard, and rather small. The bed that is. We posed for a few awkward photos in the bedroom of one of histories most infamous dictators and hoped we were done with our tour. The crazy man raised his chin proudly, pleased with himself at another job well done.
Outside, we gasped for air as we stumbled down the nondescript residential street, unsure of what had just happened. But it’s testament to any experience that can leave you with a feeling, no matter how bone-chilling. Stalin, today, became very real to us.
Location: Kaspi St, 7, Tbilisi, Georgia
How it works: As it is a kind of unofficial museum, we just turned up and knocked on the door. The man agreed to show us around. He doesn’t speak English. We paid around $15 for two people, but suspect this varies greatly.
Josef Stalin was born in 1878 in Gori, a small town 40km west of Tbilisi, and spent a fruitful educational period of his life in the capital establishing his ideals and garnering support for a political movement which whould shape countless lives for decades, if not centuries.
The cornerstone to spreading his word was a humble printing press - a solitary, now-heavily rusted machine, hidden in a secret room down an impossibly decayed, spiderweb-tangled staircase. A fossil so unloved by the passage of time that it lies beyond any hope of restoration.
The warm glow of the single exposed lightbulb threw harsh shadows as we moved around the eerily quiet, underground tomb.
Well, it would be quiet if it wasn’t for the commanding boom which reverberated out of our crazy guide. Our lack of understanding in either Georgian or Russian didn’t dampen his spirits - he triumphantly roared and bellowed with the energy of a dozen bears and pointed at newspaper clippings, flags, paintings and aged photographs with his fearsome stick, pausing only to lick his lips and declare: “Now. Photo.”
Fearing being locked up and converted to Communism (this is the headquarters of the Georgian Communist Party after all), we played it safe and took the photos he deemed important. But he was only getting started.
Grabbing our camera, he instructed us to sit at a multitude of scenes, either holding an issue of the Russian-language ‘Pravda’ (‘Truth') newspaper or sitting on an auditorium stage, while golden busts and wistfully dreamy portraits of Lenin and Stalin surrounded us like religious monuments, the royal red silk of Communist flags pinned in perpetual flow.
Herding us into a small wooden house, with heightened blood pressure and increasingly widening eyes, our Communist drill sergeant had one final treat for us: The bed of Stalin himself. Moving aside the bollards, he barked ‘Sit!’ and we gingerly looked at each other. Ethical questions raced through our head. The air buzzed with anticipation.
It was hard, and rather small. The bed that is. We posed for a few awkward photos in the bedroom of one of histories most infamous dictators and hoped we were done with our tour. The crazy man raised his chin proudly, pleased with himself at another job well done.
Outside, we gasped for air as we stumbled down the nondescript residential street, unsure of what had just happened. But it’s testament to any experience that can leave you with a feeling, no matter how bone-chilling. Stalin, today, became very real to us.
Location: Kaspi St, 7, Tbilisi, Georgia
How it works: As it is a kind of unofficial museum, we just turned up and knocked on the door. The man agreed to show us around. He doesn’t speak English. We paid around $15 for two people, but suspect this varies greatly.
Tbilisi: The weird architecture
Tbilisi seems to be some kind of incubator for eye-catching architecture, existing buildings inspired by some kind of decades-old space-age view of the world. Perhaps it’s just a humble design aesthetic (this retro-futuristic style spreads across much of ex-Soviet Europe, or perhaps their creators simply watched too many episodes of The Jetsons.
The Bank of Georgia runs its headquarters from perhaps the most striking of all the existing buildings - resembling long rectangular blocks stacked on top of each other. It employs the ’Space City Method’ whereby foliage is encouraged to grow underneath and around the structure. A few hundred meters further up the river, the blocky Radio Fortuna is also worth noting.
The CIA originally thought the Palace of Ceremonies was the headquarters of the Soviet army, when, naturally, it was used for weddings. With curls and curves rising to a bell-adorned tower, it’s only a wonder what the inside must look like. It’s now a private residence owned by the awesome sounding (but deceased) Badri Ptarkatsishvili.
The History of Georgia monument is also worth a mention. Looking a little like Stonehenge, its more traditional panels would make some interesting perspectives while wandering inside the narrow alleyways. It’s far out of town - on a hill overlooking the ‘Tbilisi Sea’, so we didn’t make it on this visit.
The abandoned-looking constructivist Archaeology Museum features a giant slab with an embossed exhumed body over the main entrance. It’s actually being renovated and will be re-opened in the future - according to the shirtless security guard who was lounging around. But then, who knows if was just saying it - he barely reacted when we mentioned a nearby apartment block was catching fire and perhaps it was time to call the fire department.
Nearby, the striking religious monument of St Nino is also worth a mention - a similar wavy ribbon design in the background was used elsewhere in Tbilisi as a standalone sculpture over 20m’s high.
Vintage postcards available for sale show many more buildings and monuments of these styles all around Tbilisi, but sadly many haven’t stood the test of time.
There are plenty more of these buildings, but we had a schedule to keep. Our next stop - Batumi, by the sea, then up to the mountains to explore the Svaneti National Park.
Locations
How it works: Most of these buildings require a taxi to get to, otherwise it’s a 20+ minute walk from nearby metro stations.
The Bank of Georgia runs its headquarters from perhaps the most striking of all the existing buildings - resembling long rectangular blocks stacked on top of each other. It employs the ’Space City Method’ whereby foliage is encouraged to grow underneath and around the structure. A few hundred meters further up the river, the blocky Radio Fortuna is also worth noting.
The CIA originally thought the Palace of Ceremonies was the headquarters of the Soviet army, when, naturally, it was used for weddings. With curls and curves rising to a bell-adorned tower, it’s only a wonder what the inside must look like. It’s now a private residence owned by the awesome sounding (but deceased) Badri Ptarkatsishvili.
The History of Georgia monument is also worth a mention. Looking a little like Stonehenge, its more traditional panels would make some interesting perspectives while wandering inside the narrow alleyways. It’s far out of town - on a hill overlooking the ‘Tbilisi Sea’, so we didn’t make it on this visit.
The abandoned-looking constructivist Archaeology Museum features a giant slab with an embossed exhumed body over the main entrance. It’s actually being renovated and will be re-opened in the future - according to the shirtless security guard who was lounging around. But then, who knows if was just saying it - he barely reacted when we mentioned a nearby apartment block was catching fire and perhaps it was time to call the fire department.
Nearby, the striking religious monument of St Nino is also worth a mention - a similar wavy ribbon design in the background was used elsewhere in Tbilisi as a standalone sculpture over 20m’s high.
Vintage postcards available for sale show many more buildings and monuments of these styles all around Tbilisi, but sadly many haven’t stood the test of time.
There are plenty more of these buildings, but we had a schedule to keep. Our next stop - Batumi, by the sea, then up to the mountains to explore the Svaneti National Park.
Locations
- Bank of Georgia HQ - 29a Iuri Gagarini St, 41.735787, 44.771063
- Palace of Ceremonies: 41.684882, 44.827870
- Statue of St Nino & nearby Archaelogical Museum: 41.762474, 44.767578
- History of Georgia Monument: 41.770575, 44.810529
How it works: Most of these buildings require a taxi to get to, otherwise it’s a 20+ minute walk from nearby metro stations.
Where we stayed
We visited Tbilisi twice, so stayed in different areas to mix it up a little. First, the Honey Hostel in Marjanishvili was good for its huge clean rooms (with shared bathroom). It was a 5 minute walk from the metro, and had plenty of shops nearby.
On our second visit, we chose Hope Guesthouse in cooler Old Tbilisi. Although difficult to find, with smaller rooms and no easy public transport nearby, the rooms were clean and great value for the location.
Getting around
The metro system is cheap and easy, but doesn’t get you everywhere. Taxi’s fill in the gap. They’re all unmetered and haggling for prices is the norm.
To give an idea just how unregulated the taxi system here is, we turned up to the bus station, ignored the touts and insisted on a real taxi. We finally found one that looked official and as we raced off, realised it was just some dude who imported one that looked official.
We visited Tbilisi twice, so stayed in different areas to mix it up a little. First, the Honey Hostel in Marjanishvili was good for its huge clean rooms (with shared bathroom). It was a 5 minute walk from the metro, and had plenty of shops nearby.
On our second visit, we chose Hope Guesthouse in cooler Old Tbilisi. Although difficult to find, with smaller rooms and no easy public transport nearby, the rooms were clean and great value for the location.
Getting around
The metro system is cheap and easy, but doesn’t get you everywhere. Taxi’s fill in the gap. They’re all unmetered and haggling for prices is the norm.
To give an idea just how unregulated the taxi system here is, we turned up to the bus station, ignored the touts and insisted on a real taxi. We finally found one that looked official and as we raced off, realised it was just some dude who imported one that looked official.