Thanks to a very comfortable bed we slept in longer than usual, and then enjoyed a slow morning. A long shower, clean clothes, and a hotel breakfast to start with. Our hotel included breakfast and it was waiting for us at one of three tables in the lobby. The entire “hotel” only had three rooms, and there was one other resident eating breakfast when we came in. We said hello and then worked on a pretty standard hotel breakfast of wieners, cheese, ham, boiled eggs, bread, jam, yogurt, coffee and juice. The other hotel guest wrapped up and checked out while we were still eating – the staff used a smartphone to translate her questions into English for him to understand – the power of technology!
We got organized and then set out to see a little more of Tbilisi. We walked down Kite Abkhazi Street through old town Tbilisi for starters. The cobblestone streets were lined with tourist shops, wine stores, cheese and candy shops, and money exchange places. I even saw a strip club along the way. The street was pretty touristy, even with the beautiful trees and churches as a background. We found our way to St. Sioni Cathedral, and since it was Sunday there were a lot of people inside and outside praying. Speakers were set up outside the cathedral so that people could hear the services.
From there we traveled a little to the northeast and found the Peace Bridge, a very modern pedestrian bridge over the Mtkvari River. The river flowed right through town, although there wasn’t a lot of space available to sit and relax while gazing at the river. It was quite scenic, and from the bridge we could see the big fortress on the hillside overlooking the city. That was our destination at some point, but we didn’t feel like hurrying up to it right away.
On the other side of the river sat Rike Park, which at this time of day was empty and a little lonely. There were some unusual objects there: a giant cement piano, a large outdoor chess set, and some interesting architecture as well. It seemed like the park was built long ago to attract families for tourism, but most things were closed or abandoned. Still operating was a ropeway that took passengers up the mountain to the fortress, but we were a little early to catch a ride.
We walked up some steps and then continued to the northeast, walking and enjoying the blue skies, until we reached the dramatic Holy Trinity Church, capped with a gold dome and serving as a counterpoint to the fortress on the opposite side of the river. As we approached there were beggars already positioned on either side of the back entrance that we used. The beggars didn’t speak English but they wailed in sorrow as we walked by with hands outstretched. One beggar woman was quite overweight, so apparently the begging is pretty good in this area.
The Holy Trinity Church was the biggest of many churches throughout Tbilisi. I didn’t expect religion to be such a big part of the landscape here, but just about everywhere you looked you could find a church nearby. From the hillside we could see pretty far to the next range of mountains, and the clear sky made it a great spot to enjoy a scenic view.
As we walked around we could feel the heat building. The weather forecast said temperatures would reach 39 C / 102 F that day, and we were starting to sweat walking around in all that heat. Remembering to hydrate was key, and we stopped to buy some cherry juice from a tiny supermarket as we walked back down the hill.
Near the touristy old town street we found a quiet little backstreet, Erekle II St., that was lined with quaint little cafes, restaurants and wine bars. It wasn’t quite as blatantly touristy as the other part of town and the atmosphere looked nice for a sit down and some lunch. This area turned out to be our go-to location because of the proximity to our hotel, a particular wine bar that was quite good, and of course the English menus which made ordering easier.
We stopped at one place, and sat under the shade at a table lined with tiles. The staff (kind of reluctantly) brought a menu to us and we ordered a couple of cold beers to start. Near us some cats basked in the sun waiting for some patrons to offer food. We ordered for ourselves (not the cats) and got a big plate of khinkali. These were much larger than the ones we had previously, and therefore more challenging to eat. Khinkali are supposed to be eaten by holding the nub (or nipple) at the top, flipping it over and holding it like an ice cream cone. From this position you should try to break into the dumpling, which has plenty of very hot delicious soup inside along with the meat and spices. After you slurp out the soup then you go to work on all the meat inside. All this is to be done without a fork, or at least that is what we read online, but I spotted a few people using a fork now and then. We did a pretty good job of learning through repetition, and by the time we left Tbilisi I think we were eating them like professionals.
We also tucked into a khachapuri that arrived in a slightly different style than we’ve had before. It was folded like a pide from Turkey, but it was filled with cheese and had butter and an egg yolk on top. Serious cholesterol here, but we’re on vacation so no worries.
After a leisurely lunch we walked up the street and tried a wine shop that offered tasting called Vinomania. We went in just to look at all the different varieties of wine for sale, but the staff offered to let us taste if we felt inclined. Believe it or not, we felt so inclined.
The staff was a younger guy who clearly loved wine. He knew all about each type, he explained the wines in English for us, and he just kept pouring. He was pouring for us, but he kept opening his favorite wines to let us try. It was getting out of hand how many wines he was opening, and I felt like we could probably spend the rest of the day there. One wine in particular he opened and it was a very unusual white wine. This one didn’t have any exposure to clay pots, but the grape aroma came across more as a lime flavor, without the sourness. This would be a worthy successor to Vinho Verde in my opinion, but the bottle was priced a little high for everyday drinking. Lots of great wines here, and it was nice to drink all we wanted on the house. I hope the guy didn’t get fired for opening up all those bottles for us.
Wine is not the only alcohol on the menu in Tbilisi. We were also able to taste a glass of the local booze, called cha-cha. It is a distilled alcohol similar to grappa, but with a more rough aftertaste. Similar to drinking some kind of fuel. I’m sure with just the small taste we had we shaved a few months off our lifespan. Not my thing, cha-cha, but we saw it everywhere.
Suitably liquored up, we wandered down the road in search of someplace to eat some lower calorie fare. We found that at a nice little restaurant called Azarphesha. It was decorated beautifully with carpets, wine bottles and the ceiling arrayed with a multitude of wine glasses. The restaurant was empty when we came through around 2 pm. They didn’t mind serving us a small meal and some wine, so we settled in to try some more food from Georgia. Here we had fried eggplant wrapped around melted cheese and bacon, and also a nice salad of tomatoes, cucumber, and spicy chili peppers with parsley, cilantro, and an oil and vinegar dressing. We enjoyed some local wine with our light snack, and then headed on back to our hotel to escape the rising heat and take a break.
A few hours later we were ready for more culinary adventure, and that led us to Racha, a locals kind of place that we had found recommended on the internet. It was also a bit hard to find – it seemed like most places in Tbilisi didn’t quite match up with their internet listings. We did it the old fashioned way, and found the place by poking around.
Once again the restaurant was located in the basement of the building. It was full of old guys drinking cha-cha together and kissing each other’s cheeks. The worn out menus luckily had English, and the ordering system was a little different. First I got up from my table and went to a matronly lady who was apparently the owner. She took my order, asked me about drinks, and then waved me away. Later a waitress delivered our cold beers, and then after that she brought our food out individually. Finally we paid the matron and cut the waitress out of the process. I almost screwed everything up when I didn’t have any small bills – I think they sent one of the cooks to go make change.
The food at Racha was good – homestyle and delicious. We had a plate of fried mushrooms (long ones, with flavor sort of like shimeji mushrooms), a small bowl of beans (pretty close to Mexican pintos, with slightly different herbs) and some grilled chicken (off a skewer and covered in onions). We ordered a small amount knowing that we could always come back, and I think it was the right move. This was a real blue-collar sort of place, and it would be fun to explore the menu even more.
With the sun setting the temperature was starting to drop, so we walked around town taking pictures and exercising our legs in an attempt to balance the calorie count. In the end we found ourselves back on Erekle St, this time at g. Vino, a stylish wine bar, sitting outside and enjoying the cool evening. We ate a big plate of melon salad with a small plate of local cheeses, and sipped beer and wine while watching people walk by. Up the street a terrible band played, and everything kind of came together to cap off a nice evening.
Out of curiosity we walked again across the Peace Bridge, since there were a lot of people headed that way. As we crossed the bridge a small boat sailed underneath with a DJ and a whole nightclub on board – people were dancing on the boat as it glided by. On the other side of the bridge people had gathered to watch a fountain that was putting on a show with LED lights and water jets flying around to music. This was the same park that seemed quiet and abandoned this morning, now it was like the whole town was there. We walked around enjoying the carnival-like atmosphere, and as we headed back across the bridge there were even some fireworks over the fortress on the hill. It must have been some sort of holiday – our timing was good, I guess.
From there we wandered back to our hotel to head to bed. It turned out to be a pretty busy day but we kept it at a nice pace and managed to stay out of most of the summer heat.
