“We’re going skiing in Georgia for Christmas”, one of my friends said in response to the usual expat holiday season conversation starter.
Never realizing that there was a Georgia outside of America until recently, I am now hearing about the ‘other’ Georgia quite frequently. Nestled between Russia and Turkey, and bordered by Armenia and Azerbaijan, the former Soviet country which established independence in 1991, is rapidly becoming a popular weekend destination for UAE residents.
Being a mere three-and-a-half hour flight from Dubai, Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, is a hot spot for a quick getaway especially with promotions from Groupons and flydubai, our lower cost carrier, which is how we came to spontaneously mini break there for my husband Mike’s birthday in May.
Little Old Town
Dating back to 5th century AD, Tbilisi’s streets are quaintly cobblestoned featuring charming old buildings contrasted with more modern structures.
Staying at a little guesthouse on Bethlehem Street in Old Town meant that we were a stone’s throw away from many restaurants, cultural sights, and most importantly, the Sulphur baths to soak our weary bodies in.
Narikala Fortress, constructed in the 4th century, rewarded our walk up the hill with sweeping views over the 
city. Perched atop that same hill, the 65-feet tall Mother of Georgia statue stands guard over her city brandishing a sword in one hand against foes and a cup of wine to welcome friends with in the other. She also overlooks the cable car/funicular station next to it, which we took down the hill on our third day there.
We climbed up parts of the fortress walls to explore and snapped photos with our bird’s eye view as we scanned each portion of the city. Basking in the bright warm sun, we spotted our guesthouse, the dome-shaped roofs of the bath houses, restaurants and cafes dotting the city, and the lush green trees below in the Botanical Gardens.
As the fortress provided direct access to the Botanical Gardens, which dates back to the 1600s, we excitedly took the
stairs down to the green oasis below. The huge trees in the 400 acre-park were a real chlorophyll-filled treat for us, along with a fantastic bamboo grove which I loved!
The waterfall and enticing birdsong surrounding us completed our retreat from the scorching mid-day sun as we munched on Churchkhela, a grape-juice soaked walnut snack shaped like a sausage, a very portable and tasty hiking snack.
Bathing in the Abanotubani District
Legend has it that King Gorgasali’s pheasant fell into a hot spring in 5th century AD, leading to the discovery of the Sulphur springs in the Abanotubani District. So captivated by these springs were the King that he declared Tbilis (which means “warm”) the new capital city.
While there were many bathhouses to choose from, the tall mosaic blue-
tiled one beckoned us and we booked a private room for our little spa retreat. The steaming hot water was a soothing ointment for our tight muscles (especially our tight calves from all the uphill walking, including the four flights of stairs at our guesthouse).
Churches of Tbilisi
Leaving Old Town on our walking tour of the city, we crossed Mekheti Bridge over the Mktvari River to reach Mekheti Church, built around 1280, which provided us with an alternate view of Old Town.
Our next stop, the Holy Trinity Church/Sameba Cathedral, was a beautifully gilded complex of a church, monastery, theology schools, and nine chapels (including five underground). Constructed in 1995, it is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, big enough to host 15,000 people. As there was a mass going on, we mainly stayed outside in the pretty gardens enjoying the green space while watching a few stray dogs chase each other around.
New, Trendy Tbilisi
Located below the Presidential Palace, Rike Park with its cool, pipe-like modern structures will be housing a
concert hall and exhibition centre (unfinished when we were there), with a giant piano, surrounded by a green space for children to run around in.
Rike Park is next to the cable car station that leads up to the Narikala Fortress and leads to Peace Bridge, a sleek, curvy, glassy contemporary pedestrian bridge lit up with thousands of LED lights at night that connects to Old Town over the Mtkvari River.
Daytripping to UNESCO Sites
Although Georgia appears to be less of an established tourist destination compared to other places we’ve visited, there are a plethora of tour vans parked all around Tbilisi offering day trips.
We took a day trip to Jvari Monastery, a sixth century UNESCO site perched atop a rocky mountainous area, about 27 km from Tbilisi. We were rather taken by the views of rolling green hills dotted with the red roofs of the town of Mtskheta and a confluence of the Mtkvari River, which originates in Turkey and runs through Tbilisi, and the Araghvi River.
An hour drive away is Gori, the birth town of Joseph Stalin who ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953. Since it was International Museum Day (there appears to be an international day for almost everything), we got in the Stalin Museum free. Yay!
Our highlight of the tour was the ancient cave town of Uplistsikhe (“lord’s fortress”) which was a very important religious and political centre between the 6th century BC and 1st century AD, housing 20,000 people at that time although what we saw was roughly half of what was there originally. It is very reminiscent of Cappadocia, a city carved in stone, but less detailed.
With images of what life would have been like a thousand years ago dancing in my head, we sat on the rocky terrain admiring the lovely views of the hills and river from our vantage point. As it was the last day of school before the summer holidays, school kids adorned with white t-shirts painted with messages from their friends drove around, honking loudly in decorated cars. Ah, the free spirit of youth…
We ended our tour with the town we had looked upon from above at the Monastery, Mtskheta, the former capital of Georgia which housed the Svetitskoveli Church, another UNESCO site and second largest church in Georgia, also known as the Cathedral of 12 Apostles.
“I saw better than I heard”
Apparently there is a Georgian proverb that roughly translates to “I saw better than I heard” which means that “Seeing is believing”.
I found that this applies to Khachapuri, the heavenly (or deadly for lactose-intolerant folks!) bread which is essentially a delicious boatful of cheeses, as well as to the raw beauty of this relatively unknown country which still has many more enticing destinations for us to visit.
It was our first foray into a former Soviet country, opening us up to a whole new world that could add fourteen other former USSR states onto our to-see list.