At 09:30 we were driven by our bus driver to the top of Mtstaminda Mountain on the western side of Tbilisi, about 400m above the city centre below.
Funicular Restaurant & communications tower top of Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
The view from the top was panoramic and many photos of Tbilisi were taken using various formats involving standard zoom, fisheye and telephoto lenses.
View from top of Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
Our hotel from top of Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
Even from several kilometres away, the Sameba Cathedral was very prominent with its golden dome glistening in the early morning sunshine. Another feature that was more obvious from this elevated site was the fact that the Mtkvari River has a significant ‘S’ bend in it just after the Metekhi Bridge. The waters from this substantial and quite fast flowing river head eastwards towards Azerbaijan and eventually flow into the Caspian Sea.
Sameba Cathedral from top of Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
Mtkvari River from top of Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
Tbilisi has a population of 1.5 million which constitutes about a third of the total Georgian population. Most people speak Georgian and Russian but English is becoming more significant as it’s now taught in schools.
Jak on Funicular, Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
Funicular, Mtstaminda Mountain, Tbilisi
From Mtstaminda Mountain we took the funicular railway back down to the city level and walked a few blocks to the Georgian National Museum.
This highly impressive museum has an extraordinary collection of archeological treasures but particularly stunning was the wealth of gold, silver and precious-stone work some dating back to 3000 BCE. All exhibits were labelled with comprehensive descriptions in both Georgian and English.
Many of these fabulously beautiful archeological treasures come from excavated burial sites in Georgia especially from around Colchis in western Georgia.
One piece that was utterly awesome was a golden goblet from about 1800 BCE. The goblet, the size of an apple was made on a lathe from a single piece of gold and decorated with inlaid cornelian, lapis lazuli and amber. It is so archeologically significant because there are no other known items of similar decoration and beauty anywhere on Earth!
Golden goblet from about 1800 BCE, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi
Apart from the gold and silver adornments, the museum also has an amazing archeological display of hominids, most coming from Dmanisi in southern Georgia. The large exhibit is principally of skulls and extends back in history to the earliest skulls estimated to be from 1.8 million years ago.
Archeological display of hominids, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi
Silver cup decorated with a gilt portrait of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, 2nd Century AD, Tbilisi
With time running out we spent a few fleeting moments in other galleries of the museum seeing exhibits of ancient coins (pre Roman), ceramics, minerals and Georgian wildlife.
Of particular interest to us was the bird exhibit showing that Georgia has amongst numerous other birds, bar-tailed godwits, ruddy turnstones and pied oystercatchers which we also see in Australia.
After a coffee break we spent the next few hours wandering along Rustaveli Avenue observing the varied styles of architecture in the buildings.
The high arched Parliament building is practically opposite the National Museum and was constructed between 1938 and 1953 for Georgia’s Soviet government.
Parliament building, Tbilisi
A brief visit to the Kashveti Church (“Stone Birth” Church) was next on the agenda. It was supposedly built in the 6th century by Davit Gareja a Syrian priest who visited with the desire to spread Christianity in Georgia. According to the legend, a nun accused him of getting her pregnant. He replied that if that were true, she’d give birth to a baby, and if not she’d give birth to a stone which duly happened!
Kashveti Church (“Stone Birth” Church), Tbilisi
Kashveti Church (“Stone Birth” Church), Tbilisi
We next passed the Opera and Ballet Theatre of Tbilisi with its interlaced brown and sandstone façade; a singularly unusual sample of Russian architecture. Further on, we viewed the Rustaveli Theatre and then the Tsereteli Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) which is now housed in the beautifully converted former Cadet Corps building.
Opera and Ballet Theatre, Tbilisi
The Biltmore Hotel is another grandiose structure on Rustaveli Avenue and is classified as a ‘Seven Star’ super luxury establishment although we didn’t venture inside as we probably would not have met the dress code!
To finish our pedestrian based afternoon we walked back to Freedom Square, formerly Lenin Square.
Freedom Square, Tbilisi
With the collapse of the USSR in 1992, the original Lenin statue was toppled and replaced with a superb 35m tall granite column upon which is a sculpture of St. George on horseback, slaying the dragon. The very large figure of St.George, horse and dragon are all covered in gold and on this sunny afternoon the spectacle looked magnificent.
Saint George & the Dragon, Freedom Square, Tbilisi
For our evening dinner we drove a considerable distance to the Ethnographer restaurant which we were informed had a fine reputation for both meals and local, traditional dance performances.
Group at Ethnographer restaurant, Tbilisi
We were not in any way disappointed, having had a superb barbecue banquet meal with salads, wines, fruits, nuts and chacha (Georgian grappa) in addition.
Without doubt, the highlight of the evening was the dancing performed by locals in various traditional costumes with high energy music accompaniment. The male dancers displayed amazing strength with feats of high jumping, fast spinning and extraordinary agility. The females were beautifully costumed and their choreography exhibited meticulous timing and grace.
Dancers at Ethnographer restaurant, Tbilisi
The show involved six individual, five minute performances spread over about ninety minutes and each entailed different costumes and dancing styles. We had seen similar amazing dancing with the Cossacks dance performances in Moscow sixteen years ago.
We then caught taxis back to our Citrus Hotel arriving home at around 22:00 after another amazing day in Tbilisi.