“Georgia 🇬🇪 ~The Capital City of Tbilisi Old and New ~Days 1, 2 and 3 Fabulous!”

• May 29, 2021
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

Georgia 🇬🇪 Arrival Day

We were up early in Armenia 🇦🇲 to meet our plane to Georgia. Nothing worse than all that ta-do for a 30 minute flight! Ugh, but roadway border crossings are closed at this time, due to COVID, so flight only. A bus would have been best, and cheapest even over the train, and definitely over a plane. 

⬆️ I got up extra early to make sure when I moved the kittens and mama out on to the covered porch, I could hang out with them till we had to go. It was bittersweet, but I made arrangements with the adult daughter of the owners of the B&B to care for the mom and babies till they are weaned. She will try to find homes for them. We arranged to have the mama spayed, and It sounds like they may keep the mom. Regardless, she won’t have to live a wild life having kittens, adding to the struggle of finding food and the overpopulation.

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After renting our car at the Georgia airport, we were underway to find the right part of Tbilisi. We took a wrong turn and ended up at a site we had planned to see, anyway. We drove to this beautiful church. There was a service going on. All the ladies and most of the little kids had scarves over their head. Daryl had shorts on, so got kicked out. Nobody said anything to me about no scarf on my head. I had a cardigan on. It was a beautiful church. Not old, but nice.

⬆️ Iveria All-Holy Mother of God Icon Temple, is a modern Georgian-Orthodox cathedral in the eastern part of Tbilisi, near Vazisubani, on the slope of Makhata Mountain.

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The Opera House, or the Georgian National Opera and Ballet Theater of Tbilisi; formerly known as the Tiflis Imperial Theater, is an opera house situated on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.
Founded in 1851, Tbilisi Opera is the main opera house of Georgia and one of the oldest such establishments in eastern Europe.

Freedom Square, formerly known as Erivansky or Paskevich-Erivansky Square under Imperial Russia and Beria Square and Lenin Square while part of the Soviet Union, is located in the center of Tbilisi at the eastern end of Rustaveli Avenue.

⬆️ Rustaveli is certainly Tbilisi’s most beautiful and affluent Avenue! This central avenue was formerly known as “Golovin Street” and was renamed after the medieval Georgian acclaimed poet “Shota Rustaveli.” It starts at “Freedom Square” and runs for almost three miles up to Kostava Street. Along its shaded sides, some of the most important and magnificent buildings of Tbilisi can be seen: the “Parliament of Georgia,” the “Kashveti St. George Church,” the “Rustaveli Theater,” the “Georgian National Museum,” the “Tbilisi Opera House,” as well as hotels, restaurants, cafés, shops and offices. We are staying close to this district, but away from the main drag, where the price is lower.

⬆️ We are now in our hotel in Tbilisi. (the T is silent). Now, it’s time for a little nap! 

It’s far more expensive, here in Georgia, than Armenia. $1100 to rent a little car for a month. That’s like three times more money!

Georgia definitely has a European flair. It’s much greener and a bit cooler than Armenia. (Thankfully) The older buildings remind us of New Orleans with all the wood and iron-work balconies. There are lots of trees, too. I think we will have fun.

⬆️ We arrived early, then had an early dinner of sushi! It’s been years since we ate sushi. It was so good. We also got ice in our sparking water. We forgot what that was like, too.

We were told upon arrival in Georgia, we must get another PCR test, within 72 hours. It’s all such a racket! $120 in PCR testing for two, within a week! Ugh. Oh well, it sure beats a two-week quarantine AND PCR testing! After that one time “up our noses” in Kosovo, we have insisted on mouth swabs. No problem, so that works for us.

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Georgia 🇬🇪 Day 2

Its just like riding a bike. We are back in the “swing of things” on Day 2, in Tbilisi, Georgia 🇬🇪 We love this city, and its rare that we enjoy big cities, or even promote them. Tbilisi is definitely on our short list of great cities in the world! For me, Tbilisi feels like Bucharest, Romania 🇷🇴, meets New Orleans, meets Louisiana USA 🇺🇸 

We aren’t really in quarantine, but the Georgian government is expecting our follow-up PCR test (to show negative), within 72 hours after arrival. So we will remain in Tbilisi, till we get our results. The hotel scheduled our tests for us, and the nurse came to our room and did the deed, (no nose thing, just swab cheeks), before we headed out to self-tour. We should get results by tomorrow afternoon. So, we are finding plenty to see around this city, as we deal with this compliance (we are SO over this C19).  Once the government is satisfied, with our (hopefully) negative test, we will be free to move about the country; by Sunday.

Daryl found an Apple repair place, here in Tbilisi, online and made an appointment. We are suppose to get our batteries replaced in both our iPads. Been bad a long while. Hope that works out. UPDATE: Our iPads are too old. No batteries available. We will keep trying, or we will have to buy new iPads. I have books I want to read, but can’t keep iPad charged.

When we get ready to depart Georgia next month, we will come back to this city and another negative PCR to get on a plane again. We are in a great location, near all the good places, but off the main drag to hopefully be quieter and more affordable. (not counting over-tired small children and construction work, nearby) Our hotel provides breakfast, and they do have a small menu for dinner items. $30/night.

The weather is perfect, today, and it’s not their busy season, yet (if at all with the pandemic), so no crowds, and while hot, by afternoon, it’s not miserable. We are dealing with some clouds and rain since day two.                                                                                          One does not need a car in this city. The roads are very narrow (it is Europe) and sometimes blocked with people parking their cars, poorly. Finding parking is also very challenging. I can’t imagine what it would be like in their busy season.

The Bridge of Peace is a convenient cross point between the Rike Park and the “old” part of the town. It also provides amazing views of Tbilisi, especially at sunrise, sunset or night.
In 2012 the Bridge of Peace in Tbilisi hit the Top-13 most unusual bridges in the world.

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The Boat Ride on the River was very enjoyable.

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Taken from the Tram, on our way up to Narikala Fortress

Mother of Georgia, or Mother of Kartli, is a monument in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.
The statue was erected on the top of Sololaki hill in 1958, the year Tbilisi celebrated its 1500th anniversary.

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⬆️ The Clock Tower is a leaning tower of Tbilisi, and is one of the city’s most unusual buildings. A huge clock sits in the middle, with a leaning column on its side. It is a modern tower, attached to the puppet theatre of Rezo Gabriadze. It’s hard not to fall in love with the naive architecture of the tower. This is especially true when on the hour, a window opens at the top, and an angel strikes the bell. Below the clock, a screen opens and shows the circle of life: boy meets girl, marriage, childbirth and funeral.

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Our Golf Cart City Tour ~Fun!

Queen Darejan’s Palace was built in the 18th century. It was a summer residence of Queen Darejan; the wife of King Erekle the Second. The Palace is one of two Palaces in Tbilisi, which remain to this day.

Narikala Fortress is also called the Mother Fortress of Tbilisi, and is an ancient symbol of Tbilisi’s defence. The Fortress was established in the 4th century, around the period when the city itself was founded. It was then known as Shuris-tsikhe (Invidious Fort). The name Narikala is said to derive from a Persian word for citadel, but another theory says it was the name the Mongols used, meaning “little Fortress.”
It was expanded considerably by the Arabs during the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs built the Emir’s palace within its walls. King David further extended the Fortress in the 11th century. Most of the existing fortifications date from the 16th and 17th centuries.
In 1827, it was damaged by an earthquake and was not resorted. St. Nikolos church, inside the Fortress walls, dates from the 12th century. It was renovated in 1996. Narikala Fortress offers some of the best panoramas of the city.

Starting out, we drove down to The Clock Tower area and parked the car. From there we walked to the “Bridge of Peace” and took a 30-minute boat ride on the Kura River. Loved it! From there, we walked to the Tram, and traveled up to the ancient Narikala Fortress. (Yes, its windy) Back down from that fun, we hired a 30-minute city tour “golf cart” tour, who agreed to take us back to the Clock Tower, at the end, where we could get our car.  

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⬆️ Earlier, we had arrived at the very interesting Clock Tower, at exactly noon. We watched the figurines “do their thing.” We returned three hours later, and caught two of the three chimes. The leaning clock tower is located next to the Gabriadze theater (Georgian: შავთელის ქუჩა, გაბრიაძის თეატრი) in Tbilisi’s old town. The clock tower was created by the renowned Georgian puppeteer Rezo Gabriadze. On the hour, a window opens at the top and an angel strikes the bell. Below the clock, a screen opens and shows the circle of life: boy meets girl, marriage, childbirth and funeral.

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Daryl had a much easier time hauling luggage and doing airport business. He can breath, again! We are so grateful!

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*Future Summer Plans*

We will not get to go to Azerbaijan, next, as hoped, either, as it is closed to USA 🇺🇸 citizens for now. It looks like applications have to be made while residing in our home country, anyway. (Russia is the same way for acquiring Visas).

Not sure about getting into Europe (EU) this summer, either, for our 90 days of hopping around the countries. Last year we only got to Greece, before COVID rules hit. We hear many places in the EU require the COVID 19 vaccine jab, but we are not certain if this is the case. We have no plans to get the jab, so we will go where we can, as we have been doing. At best, we may get to go to Spain and Portugal, and if so, then it will be back to Africa for Morocco, Madagascar. If feasible and affordable, after Morocco, we may go back to Egypt to see the Abu Simbel Temple. Our tour from our last trip there screwed us over, by not collecting us from the Nile Cruise we were on (prepaid tour) and it was 4AM out in the middle of nowhere with no cell service. I gave a very bad review on Trip Advisor, and the owner has begged me to remove the review. I said no way. I’m still really ticked off about that blunder, as that was the whole reason for returning to Egypt a second time! Anyway, the tour owner said he would get us to Abu Simbel at no extra cost, if we returned, as he wants a good review. We shall see. It would be a quick trip.

Still want to come home in July/August, for a visit, but can’t do that, either with such tough travel restrictions. (No jab) We can come home, but getting back out won’t be so easy. We are not in a position to be back home permanently at this time. Too many countries in the world, left to explore!

Well that’s it from us. After plane rides, switching to car driving, we have to repack our belongings, then we can leave most of our items in the car trunk, as we tour; packing light, in and out of hotels. We love being able to rent a car and drive. Freedom!