05 Jun 2015

Tbilisi I - Arrival and doing not much

Ah, yes: the writing. The writing which I promised to do regularly. That writing…

After finishing the above three sentences in an agonizing fifteen minutes, I got up and fetched myself a cup of coffee. Then I groaned to myself a little and pulled my own hair for a bit. But now I’m good. Excited to continue the tale!

I left off - I remember distantly - when I took a coach from Batumi to Tbilisi. Metro, the coach company I had used so frequently in Turkey, offered a comfortable 5-hour trip to Tbilisi. Being the lazy sort I had a relaxed breakfast in Batumi first, and then got on the coach in the early afternoon. We drove up north along the coast for about two hours before turning east and driving into the country, towards the capital. I’ll spare you the details, but here is the summary: Georgia is beautiful. Really, really beautiful. That’s about it.

We reached the outskirts of Tbilisi in the late afternoon. Remember what I wrote about Batumi looking pleasantly post-apocalyptic? The outer districts of Tbilisi looked worse. Within half an hour we went from “Oh, pretty hills!” to “Oh, a rat!” to “Oh, a guy…barbecueing a rat”. This surprised me, since I had heard very positive things about Tbilisi in general. Luckily, my concerns were unfounded:

I got off the coach near the city centre and found myself standing in the middle of a neat-looking high street (Rustaveli Avenue), which also leads to the parliament and the Georgian National Museum.

On Rustaveli Avenue

When I arrived, the entire road was blocked for traffic, as they were preparing for a parade: People were in the process of erecting stages and assembling stands. Bands were practicing and every available space was covered in billboards and posters. Despite the commotion I managed to find a cafe with wifi and find myself a suitable hostel. Then I shouldered my way back through the crowd and towards the southern part of town.

Liberty Square, at the southern end of Rustaveli Avenue

There, right at the foot of a massive hill and under the remains of Narikala Fortress I found the excellent Envoy Hostel. On top of all other amenities, it had a fantastic roof terrace!

View from the hostel roof terrace

After dark, I ventured down the hill and found myself something to eat. Next, I followed a bridge into a park on the other side of the river, and spent some time reading there.

The park. That subtle, understated building in the background? The presidential palace.

Afterwards, I called it an early night and headed back across the river and to bed!

Shiny bridge.

The next day I heard from the hostel staff that I had actually managed to arrive just in time for Georgian independence day (May 26th). Curious, I headed out towards liberty square and had a look at the little military parade organized there.

Since the whole affair wasn’t as action-packed as I had hoped, I decided to ignore the festivities and get coffee instead. That’s pretty much what I did on my second day in Tbilisi.

Came up to me, looked at me, sat down on me.

Quite honestly, I didn’t feel like hardcore sight-seeing when I was in Tbilisi. So I just enjoyed wandering around town and having a look at various districts.

View of Narikala Fortress from the foot of the hill

As my hostel was very close to the fortress, I took a detour up there (using the cable car of course…what am I, a farmer?). While the fortress consisted of nothing more than its walls, I enjoyed climbing up to the parapet and taking in the view of the city.

View of the castle from the northern side.

View down into town. That brownish thing is a river, apparently.

I would end up staying in the Tbilisi area for around 5-6 days before heading north with a few new-found friends. All in all, I found the city pretty, but not overly exotic. For my personal productivity that was excellent news, but not necessarily the material for riveting stories.

Phew, that’s a whole lot of writing right there! A good day’s work! I’ll take a break now. Next time, I’ll explain why I didn’t end up going to Iran and tell you how we crossed into Azerbaijan without passports!

Until next time,
Arne