Tbilisi (თბილისი — "warm place" in Georgian, named for the natural sulphur springs at the city's heart) is the capital and largest city of Georgia (population 1.2 million city, 1.5 million metropolitan), on the Kura (Mtkvari) River in a gorge between the Lesser Caucasus Mountains — the most distinctive capital city in the South Caucasus, combining the most organic urban fabric in the region (the old town of Abanotubani with the domed sulphur bath houses that have given the city its name for 1,500 years, the carved wooden balconies of the Kala district, the Metekhi cliff-church, the Narikala fortress) with the post-Soviet liberation of a country that freed itself from Moscow in 1991 and then fought a brief but defining war with Russia in 2008. Georgia is the oldest wine-making country in the world (the archaeological evidence of wine production at Shulaveri-Shomu in the Kvemo Kartli region dates to approximately 6000-5800 BCE — 8,000 years before the French wine tradition; the Georgian qvevri wine-making method (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 2013) uses large clay vessels buried in the earth for fermentation (as opposed to barrels or steel tanks) and the skin-contact fermentation method produces the distinctive amber (orange) wine colour unique to the Georgian tradition; Georgia has 525 indigenous grape varieties, more than any other country on earth). The Georgian food culture is among the most distinctive in the world: khinkali (the large pleated soup dumplings (the correct eating method: hold by the topknot, bite a small hole and drink the broth before eating the filling; discard the topknot); khachapuri (the cheese-filled flatbread in multiple regional varieties, the most dramatic being the Adjarian khachapuri (the boat-shaped bread with the egg and butter melted into the molten cheese)); the Georgian supra (the festive feast tradition with the tamada (toast-master) directing the sequential toasts and the polyphonic singing that UNESCO has recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage).
Abanotubani (the Sulphur Bath District — the historic baths quarter at the southeastern end of old Tbilisi, below the Narikala Fortress cliff; the district is named for the natural sulphur springs (40-45°C) that have flowed here for at least 1,500 years (the name Tbilisi literally means "warm place" in Old Georgian — the city was founded in the 5th century CE specifically because of the healing sulphur springs); the bath houses (the domed brick structures (the distinctive beehive-shaped domed roofs with the round skylights (the Georgian architectural feature unique to the Abanotubani district — no other urban bathhouse district in the world has this density and style of dome)); the bath experiences: the public section (the large communal pool of naturally heated sulphur water (42°C) — shared with the Tbilisi residents who come for the therapeutic sulphur soak); the private room option (the private sulphur bath room with the kisi (the Georgian body scrub using the coarse fabric mitt (similar to the hammam kese) applied with the black soap and the sulphur water); the sulphur water chemistry (the Tbilisi springs are hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) — the smell is distinct and the therapeutic properties for skin conditions are well-documented).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNarikala Fortress (the narikala — "little fortress" — the 4th-century CE Persian-era fortification on the volcanic cliff above Abanotubani; the fortress was extended and strengthened by the Arabs (7th-9th century), the Georgians (11th century), the Mongols (13th-14th century) and the Turks (16th-17th century); the current surviving walls represent the Safavid Persian and Ottoman Turkish phases (16th-17th century); the fortress was partially destroyed by an ammunition depot explosion in 1827 and has been in ruins since; the Church of St. Nicholas within the fortress walls (a small Georgian Orthodox church built in the ruins in 1996 — the new building within the ancient walls (the combination of ruin and active church is characteristic of Georgian Orthodox practice)); the cable car from Rike Park to the Narikala (the gondola cable car offers the finest aerial view of old Tbilisi — the Kura River below, the Metekhi Church on the cliff to the north, the Mother of Georgia statue and the old town roofscape); the view from the Narikala walls (the panorama over the entire city).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKala (the historic old town of Tbilisi — the district between the Narikala Fortress cliff and the Kura River; the defining architectural element of Tbilisi: the carved wooden balconies (the decorated overhanging wooden galleries that project from the upper stories of the old town houses — the balconies (asali in Georgian) are specific to Tbilisi and are found nowhere else in the Caucasus in this density and decorative complexity; the filigree carved wood, the vine-pattern panels and the sloping roofs create the romantic visual identity of Tbilisi that appears on every Georgian tourism image; the Zedazeni, the Anchiskhati and the Sioni church districts); the Anchiskhati Basilica (the oldest church in Tbilisi — the 6th-century CE basilica with the 3-nave plan (the oldest surviving ecclesiastical building in the city); the Sioni Cathedral (the 6th-12th century cathedral of the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church — the most sacred church in Tbilisi)); the former Silk Road caravanserais (the 17th-18th century caravanserai buildings converted to small hotels, wine bars and carpet shops).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTbilisi wine bar and dinner (the most distinctively Georgian evening experience): the natural wine (the Georgian amber wine produced by the qvevri skin-contact fermentation method — the orange colour and the complex tannin structure of skin-contact white wine that the Georgian tradition has produced for 8,000 years; the principal grape varieties: the Rkatsiteli (the most widely planted Georgian white grape — the amber wine produced by 6 months of skin contact in the buried qvevri (the large clay vessel) has a profile unique in European wine: the tannins of a light red wine with the fruit of a white); the Saperavi (the deepest-coloured red grape in European viticulture — the Saperavi grape has red flesh (teinturier grape) producing an intensely pigmented red wine with natural acidity); the khinkali (hold the topknot, bite and drink the hot broth before eating); the khachapuri Adjaruli (the boat-shaped bread from Adjara with the whole egg cracked into the molten sulguni cheese — stir with the torn bread edge before eating); the polyphonic singing (the Georgian three-voice (three-part) polyphonic singing tradition — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 2001 — the most complex vocal harmony tradition in the world).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKakheti (the wine region 80 km east of Tbilisi in the Alazani River valley below the Greater Caucasus Mountains — the most important wine-producing region in the South Caucasus and the region with the longest continuous winemaking tradition on earth (the 8,000-year-old tradition documented in the Shulaveri-Shomu archaeological sites); the Kakheti landscape (the vine-covered plains between the Caucasus foothills on the north and the Gombori ridge on the south; the Alazani River providing the irrigation for the vineyards; the characteristic kakhuri vine training method (the high training system on the trellis (the Georgian traditional vine training allows the canopy to grow over the pergola (satrpo) — the shade vine system that produces the large crops characteristic of Georgian winemaking); the classic Kakheti road trip (Signaghi — Telavi — Tsinandali — Gurjaani — back to Tbilisi) passes through the most varied and beautiful wine country in the South Caucasus.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSighnaghi (the "City of Love" — the hilltop walled town in the Sighnaghi municipality of Kakheti; the 18th-century fortification walls of Sighnaghi (the most complete city wall in Georgia — the 4.5 km perimeter wall with 23 towers; the wall was built in the 18th century by the Kakhetian king Erekle II to defend the civilian population from the Persian raids; the wall encloses the hilltop town at 820 m altitude; the view from the Sighnaghi walls (the panorama over the Alazani valley, the continuous vineyard plain and the Greater Caucasus snow-capped peaks on the northern horizon — the finest mountain-valley-vineyard view in the Caucasus); the Sighnaghi wine and food culture (the town is the tourism and wine tasting centre of Kakheti; the Pheasant's Tears winery (one of Georgia's finest natural wine producers, operating since 2007 in the traditional qvevri method); the Sighnaghi town market (fresh churchkhela (the Georgian wine grape and walnut string confectionery — the grape must (rtveli) boiled with cornflour and dipped repeatedly around a walnut string until the coating hardens; the most famous Georgian sweet).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTsinandali Estate (the estate of the 19th-century Georgian nobleman and poet Prince Alexander Chavchavadze (1786-1846) — the most famous figure of Georgian Romanticism; the estate wine production (the Tsinandali wine (the most internationally famous Georgian white wine label — the Rkatsiteli-Mtsvane blend produced here since the 1830s; the Tsinandali style (the modern stainless-steel-fermented, barrel-aged version is the international Georgian white wine brand; the Tsinandali label by the Georgian Wines and Spirits Company is the most exported Georgian white wine)); the palace garden (the beautiful 19th-century English landscape garden with the century-old oak and cypress trees, the fountains and the pond); the museum (the estate house museum with the Chavchavadze family portraits, the English piano on which Lermontov played, and the exhibition on the 1854 Shamil raid (the Chechen imam Shamil kidnapped the Chavchavadze princess and her children from the Tsinandali estate during the Caucasus War — the most dramatic single incident of the Russian-Caucasus conflict)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTelavi (the main city of the Kakheti region — 75 km east of Tbilisi; the Batonis Tsikhe fortress (the "Lord's Castle" — the 17th-18th century palace-fortress of the Kakheti monarchs; the fortress walls, the palace buildings and the Church of the Archangel within the walled complex; the Telavi plane tree (the 900-year-old Oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis) in the fortress courtyard — the largest and oldest tree in Tbilisi; the trunk circumference is 4 m, the canopy spans 40 m; locally believed to have been planted by King Giorgi the Brilliant (Giorgi IV) in the 12th century); the Telavi wine market (the local wine sellers at the weekly market sell their homemade wines and chacha (the Georgian marc brandy — similar to grappa, 40-55% alcohol, made from the grape pomace after pressing; the chacha is the most widely consumed strong spirit in Georgia; every Georgian family makes its own chacha from the autumn grape harvest)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGeorgian Military Highway (the road from Tbilisi through the Dariali Gorge to Kazbegi and the Russian border at Zemo Larsi — the most spectacular mountain road in the Caucasus; the road follows the Aragvi River from Tbilisi through the Mtskheta junction, climbs through the Gudauri ski resort (the best skiing in the South Caucasus at 2,200 m), reaches the Jvari Pass (2,379 m), descends into the Terek valley and reaches Kazbegi (Stepantsminda) at 1,760 m altitude below Mount Kazbek; the key stops on the highway: the Ananuri Fortress (the 16th-17th century fortress on the Zhinvali Reservoir — the three-church complex on the reservoir bank with the finest ornamental relief carving on the facade of the Church of the Assumption (1689)); the Gudauri Mountain Viewpoint (the panorama at 2,300 m over the Aragvi valley and the Caucasus peaks); the Dariali Gorge (the 25-km gorge where the Terek River cut through the Greater Caucasus at the narrowest and deepest point of the mountain barrier).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideGergeti Trinity Church (Tsminda Sameba — the 14th-century Georgian Orthodox church on the dramatic 2,170 m ridge above the Kazbegi (Stepantsminda) village; the church sits on the rocky promontory directly below the summit of Mount Kazbek (5,047 m — the third-highest peak in the Caucasus; the permanent snow cap of Kazbek is visible from Tbilisi on clear days; the 5,047 m summit has been climbed since the 1868 first ascent by the British mountaineer Douglas Freshfield); the Gergeti Trinity Church is the most photographed single building in the South Caucasus: the medieval church on the promontory with the snow-capped Kazbek behind it is the defining image of Georgia; the access (the path from Kazbegi village takes 1.5 hours to climb 700 vertical metres; 4x4 vehicles from the village reach the church in 20 min; a flat rate of GEL 20-30 per car from the village); the interior (the 14th-century frescoes, the treasury (the church silver, the icons and the processional cross)), the views (360° panorama of the Greater Caucasus).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKazbegi (Stepantsminda — the alpine village of 2,000 permanent residents at 1,760 m altitude; the village is the base for the hike to Gergeti Trinity Church and for the mountain trekking routes into the Greater Caucasus; the local restaurants serve the mountain-food culture of Georgian highland cooking: the trout (the mountain stream trout (kalmakhi) of the Terek River tributary streams — wild or farmed in the cold mountain water; served whole, grilled on the wood fire with the mountain herbs (the wild herbs of the Caucasus alpine zone: the tarragon (tarkhuna), the wild mint (pipermint), the Georgian cilantro (kindzismari))); the kubdari (the Svaneti-style meat pie — the high-Caucasus stuffed bread that is the highland alternative to the coastal khachapuri: the minced pork and onion filling with the Svaneti salt (the most famous spice blend in Georgia — the blue fenugreek, the marigold flowers, the garlic, the chilli and the summer savory (kondari) ground together with salt)); the mountain mineral water (the Kazbegi village spring water).
Return to Tbilisi and the Bridge of Peace (Mshvidobis Khidi — the pedestrian bridge crossing the Kura River between the Metekhi district and Rike Park, opened 2010; designed by the Italian architect Michele De Lucchi; the bridge is the most controversial modern building in Tbilisi (the transparent glass-and-steel arch was built by the Saakashvili government as part of the modernisation programme of the 2000s — the same programme that built the Presidential Palace (the Agora), the Peace Bridge and the modern architecture on the banks of the Kura; the design is consistently praised by architecture critics and consistently debated by Georgian opinion for its contrast with the traditional wooden-balcony old town)); the Rike Park (the linear park on the left bank of the Kura below the Narikala Fortress — the park with the sunset view of the old town, the Metekhi Church on the cliff, the Narikala Fortress, the cable car and the Kura River in the foreground — the finest single composed view of Tbilisi).