Upon arrival at Tbilisi International Airport we quickly made our way through immigration (1 minute) and collected our bags. Our driver arranged through the Envoy Hostel was in the arrivals hall with a sign with our name, and after meeting him we found an ATM and both were able to withdraw 500 GEL's (about $225) with none of the hassles we experienced upon arrival in Kyiv. No "nyets" so far! We headed to the car and within 30 minutes were at the Marriott Courtyard Tbilisi hotel located right on Freedom Square. The hot and sunny weather we enjoyed in Kyiv seemed to have followed us to Tbilisi.

We checked in, got settled in the very comfortable room, enjoyed the lovely fruit basket provided by the hotel, and then went out to explore a bit of Tbilisi before sunset. We took a few minutes to stroll around Freedom Square – basically a madhouse of cars and buses trying to navigate an “on steroids” traffic circle with a large column with a golden statue of St. George, the patron saint of Georgia, adorning the top. Amazing there weren’t fender-benders galore here. A word needs to be said about crossing the streets in Tbilisi. No cars stop or yield at crosswalks, and although very intimidated at first, we soon followed the lead of the locals and just walked into the crosswalk with determination and faced down the cars barreling towards us. That seemed to do the trick as they eased up on the gas when pedestrians are in their cross-hairs and we made it across. We did notice Georgians always crossing their hands in front of their chests (as people do when entering churches) upon crossing streets. In reality, with churches on nearly every corner this is how the religious show their respect. The other more enjoyable explanation is that folks cross themselves to thank the lord for making it across the street alive!

We traversed the square and headed towards a pedestrian street a few blocks away and along the way got our first view of typical Tbilisi architecture. The houses looked a bit Ottoman/Bulgarian in style. We walked by the remains of the old city walls (underwhelming as they are pretty much underneath the busy road) and eventually arrived at the lovely pedestrian lane. It was here that the true charms of Tbilisi began to show themselves.

One thing here that we didn’t see in Kyiv was the presence of tour groups and travel infrastructure. It seems Georgia has a very long history of tourism from the old Soviet days when this was looked at as their “Riviera”. We walked by the whimsical clock tower and checked out the Anchiskhati Basilica. Right next door we stopped for a snack at Café Leila and enjoyed a delicious homemade lemonade and hummus. Efren got his first taste of Georgian wine and this definitely wouldn’t be the last! We continued our walk and eventually emerged in the Old Town. We were licking our chops seeing the wide array of restaurants and wine bars that were clustered along the atmospheric lanes – we’d definitely be back there after a bit more sightseeing.

We spied the truly unforgettable Peace Bridge crossing the Kura River and walked across just as the sun was setting. This bridge, along with a few other recent buildings in Tbilisi, stand out for their very distinctive modern look. The bridge, the presidential palace up on the hill, the “double tube” building and others are striking in their style. We would later learn there was controversy with these and many Tbilisi residents felt they didn’t fit with the style of the city and protested their construction. To be fair, the new architecture is primarily on the “non-old” side of the city across the river with the Peace Bridge “bridging” the two sides. The architecture is indeed hard to miss, but in the end kind of worked and just added a layer of diversity to the city.

We wandered around Rike Park for a bit (a relatively new park with fountains – we were warned not to come here during the day as there is no shade because the trees are only a few years old). We then crossed back over the river at the Metekthi Bridge into the old town. We did nearly get in the middle of a fist fight between 2 over zealous older Georgian men, but luckily we were able to get out of the way. As the sun was setting we got nice views of the town and river, along with the Metekthi Church behind us on the bluff and the towering Narikala Fortress ahead of us with Mother Georgia alternatively offering a sword and wine to visitors. There is a cable car (tramway) from Rike Park up to the fortress which we will take tomorrow.

Before getting a full-fledged dinner, we stopped at the delightful Entrée for a glass of wine. Interestingly, right next to Entrée is the synagogue which was a hive of activity on this Friday evening. We didn’t realize there was such a large Jewish population in Tbilisi, but it certainly seemed that way. After the snack we headed into the heart of Old Town and Efren fell in love with Jasper’s Organic Restaurant that was highly reviewed for serving excellent meat. We stopped in and asked for a table outside, but the wait was long. We put our name on the waiting list and wandered around the area a bit further. Tbilisi is adorned with numerous statues, and one of the most famous is the statue of the Toastmaster. We will learn later that eating is an integral part of Georgian culture, and they are famous for their “supra” meals which can go on for hours and involve eating large quantities of food and drinking LARGE quantities of wine. The dinner is led by the toastmaster who makes a series of toasts for the group. The plan is to have other diners follow on the toastmaster’s lead by essentially repeating the original toast, but adding something individual. Sounds like a great tradition that we are looking forward to participating in.

We headed back to Jasper and sat inside drinking a bit of wine before our outside table was ready. We had a delightful server who talked to us about the different wines available. Wine is taken super-seriously in Georgia, and it seems every server is well versed and can double as a sommelier. Efren opted for the local super… In Georgia you have the choice of wine made the “normal” way in aged in barrels or the “traditional” way fermented “home style” in a traditional kvevri – a huge underground jug that everyone seems to have buried in their backyard and is present in all churches.

Dinner at Jasper’s was a treat. Efren ordered some huge meat plate (way too much for one person) while Craig opted for the kabobs. We also ordered a delicious cheese stuffed pepper dish sprinkled with arugula. Much like Kyiv, we were soon to find the vegetables and produce here are organic and top notch. The cheese from Georgia is similar to feta (called suluguni) and was really delicious stuffed in the peppers. Kind of like Georgian chili rellenos! Truthfully, it wasn’t until this trip that we both remembered how delicious a tomato can actually taste! After dinner we walked back to the Courtyard – about 15 minutes from Old Town. On the way we passed dozens of wine bars and cafes and the city had a remarkably inviting and youthful buzz about it. We loved seeing shops with churchkhela hanging – strings of nuts dipped in a slurry of fruit juice and nuts and flour and left to dry. Anyone who saw last season’s Amazing Race will recognize these from one of the challenges. Also on offer were a variety of dried fruits and spices as well as the luscious cheese breads known as khachapuri. More on that cholesterol bomb later.

Our first full day in Tbilisi started with a Walking Tour of the Old Town organized by the highly recommended Envoy Hostel. They have hostels in both Tbilisi and Yerevan (and Cambodia) and even though we weren’t staying there, we signed up for several of their tours and they arranged airport pick- ups (and even did our laundry, LOL!). We stopped at Entrée on the way to Envoy and of course got their before they opened at 8am. Like Kyiv, Tbilisi is not an early rising city. We hung outside until they opened and saw them bringing the freshly baked pastries out of the oven – yum! We couldn’t resist and ordered way too many pastries in addition to our lattes. There was a lot of activity again at the synagogue, and Craig was able to poke in for a moment after telling the guard out front that he was “from Israel”. The interior was simple but there were a surprisingly high number of worshippers in there.

After breakfast we walked over to Envoy. The hostel is up a steep hill directly behind Meidan (near where we walked last night) and under the Narikala Fortress. We hoofed up to the top and stopped at the lovely Armenian Church just before the hill. We entered the Envoy’s lovely courtyard festooned with lovely fruit trees (persimmons, pomegranates and figs). We registered for the walking tour and waited for it to start at 9. Envoy runs a bunch of other tours, and the entrance was jam packed with travelers waiting for the tour/ride to Yerevan that is offered on Saturdays. Shortly we were greeted by our friendly tour guide for the 2 hour walking tour, Larissa. We were joined by another couple from Switzerland and a gentleman visiting the area on a long weekend from UK.

Larissa was a hoot. We soon learned she wasn’t actually a tour guide, but worked in the office and was “enlisted” due to a tour guide shortage that day. What Larissa may have lacked in tour-guideness she made up for by telling us wonderful stories and helping Tbilisi come to life. She offered insights on how life is different now vs. Soviet times (her mother misses the Soviet days), how Georgia is one of the oldest Christian countries in the world, how it has been shown that wine was first made in Georgia. She also provided humorous anecdotes discussing the relationship between the Georgians and Armenians. Being ½ Georgian and ½ Armenian herself, she felt she was in a unique position to do this. In a region of the world with many political and ethnic tensions, Georgia and Armenia get along quite well, and by sharing in common centuries of being bullied by larger neighbors, today the two countries have a relationship akin to high school rivals. Each saying their wine is better, their food is tastier, their roads are less potholy, their people are more attractive, etc.

The purpose of the walking tour isn’t really to go into the sites, but merely to point them out with some context and background so you can visit them later if you choose. We started off with a visit to the Armenian Church and then walked across the river to Rike Park and got nice views of the Peace Bridge. We scaled the cliff to the Metekhi Church and were able to catch part of the service. We then headed back across to Meidan, and walked through the Old Town stopping at Sioni Cathedral before visiting a traditional bakery (that was accessed through a secret down staircase) and a churchkhela shop where we first sampled the local delicacy. We then walked over past the Sulfur Baths (which gave Tbilisi its name) and enjoyed viewing the lovely architecture on the way. We then walked up the steep pathway to the top of Narikala Fortress which offered commanding views over Tbilisi. Taking the cable car up would have been easier, and we’ll make sure to do that later!

We ended at the hostel and confirmed our tour for tomorrow to Kazbegi and the drive along the Georgian Military Highway. As an added bonus, they were fine picking us up at the Courtyard the next morning, saving us a 20 minute (uphill) walk. After saying farewell to Larissa and our group we walked down to Meidan and had lunch at Samikitno. This was recommended by Larissa and we tried a couple of stews (spicy lamb) and grilled vegetables. It was also our introduction to the famous dumplings of Georgia – called khinkali. Similar to those we’ve had in China, these massive dumplings are filled with meat, cheese or veggies. The procedure for eating these b*****s is to bit a hole in the bottom, suck out the juice and then eat the dough and filling minus the little top. We found this was possible with the meat khinkali, but for the cheese, potato and mushroom there wasn’t a lot of juice to suck out.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before deciding to take the funicular to the top of Mt. Mtatsminda. Up at the top of this highest peak overlooking Tbilisi is the TV tower, large amusement park, and one of the best restaurants in town. Our first task was to walk to the funicular station which appeared tantalizingly close to the Courtyard, but was still a bit of a walk that required quite a protracted uphill slog. The signs posted around town directing tourists to key sites are great, but we learned that sometimes these have arrows pointing the wrong way, and that definitely can make things confusing. Finally we found the funicular station and purchased the Mtatsminda card allowing us access to the funicular.

This funicular wasn’t all that different from the one we took in Kyiv. A bit less hot and stuffy, maybe, but the one key difference is this funicular is significantly longer and goes much higher. There is a stop at the middle that it seems you can get off and start a couple of hour hike over to the top of Narikala Fortress (that’s how high we were), but we stayed on to the top and received tremendous views over all of Tbilisi – from the old town to the fortress to Tsminda Sameba Cathedral and beyond. We snapped some pictures and didn’t stick around for too long – we soon descended downwards and instead of walking back to the hotel we deviated a bit and after a relatively long walk ended up back in Old Town.

After all that exercise we decided it was time to eat again. This time we stopped at what was to become our favorite spot – g.vino. We had wine, lemonade (delicious) and a cheese platter out on the balcony and watched the world go by along Erekle Square. They also served us delicious bread and a yummy safflower oil based dipping sauce. Yum!

As it was getting closer to sunset, we headed over to Rike Park to take the cable car up to the top of the fortress to walk around a little bit more, but mostly to check out the views. There was a bit of a wait at the cable car, but within 10 minutes we were being whisked to the top. As expected, the views of the Old Town, river, fortress and Peace Bridge were wonderful. At the top of the hill we explored the fortress a bit further and walked down the paved path towards the statue of Mother Georgia. We sat on the benches for a bit enjoying the vibe and snapped a bunch of photos. Efren wanted to walk back down, but Craig convinced him to join him on the cable car ride back down to Rike Park.

After all the walking today we headed back to the Courtyard to get some rest before our tour tomorrow. We’d be in the car for quite a while and then would have a steep hike up to the Gergeti Trinity Church perched on a mountain top with the towering Caucuses towering behind – we can’t wait!