Metravel city quest
City Tbilisi: free walking route “quest: the Old Town and sulphur baths” along the sights. 11 points. Approximately 3 h. Quests and legends - straight from
In the fifth century, the king of Iberia was hunting in the woods above the Kura River. His falcon struck a pheasant, but the wounded bird did not fall: it vanished into the undergrowth. The king rode after it and found the pheasant in a hot spring bubbling straight out of the ground. Here the legend splits: in one version the bird was boiled; in another it recovered and flew away. The ending is the same: astonished, the king ordered the forest cleared and a city founded by the warm springs. In Georgian, “tbili” means “warm”. And so it was: Tbilisi is literally the “warm city”.
A legend is a legend: people lived here long before him. But it was under him and his son that the city became the capital, and for fifteen hundred years it has kept up its reputation: warm in more ways than its water. Here a church, a mosque and a synagogue stand within a couple of hundred metres of each other; here you are welcomed with a cup of wine; and the earth itself heats the baths.
Today you will walk right through Old Tbilisi: from the cliff where the hunter-king himself stands, through the bath district and a sunken gorge, up to the fortress and Mother Georgia, then down into a neighbourhood of many faiths and on to a bridge from which you can take in the whole route at a glance.
What to do: 1) Read the story and task at each stop. 2) Find the place on the map and walk up to it. 3) Look around and answer the question.
The route is about four kilometres, with one climb uphill (you can replace it with a cable-car ride: I will explain when we get there). We start on Metekhi Cliff, by the church above the river. The easiest way up is from Metekhi Bridge. Let's go!
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
You are standing on Metekhi Cliff, with Old Tbilisi spread out before you: the Kura rushes below, the fortress climbs the opposite hillside, and beneath the cliff lies the district where it all began. You will head down there at the next stop.
Head down from the cliff and cross the Kura on Metekhi Bridge. Abanotubani, the “bath district”, begins right beneath the cliff.
An optional stop for those who want to feel the “warm city” on their skin. One bathhouse in the district does not hide underground; it shows itself off instead: Orbeliani, also called the Colourful Bathhouse, or Chreli-Abano in Georgian.
Behind the baths, the city suddenly ends: Abano Street dives into a narrow gorge with sheer walls and the Tsavkisis-Tskali River flowing along its floor. This is Leghvtakhevi, the “Fig Gorge”: figs have grown on its slopes since time immemorial, and the carved balconies of old houses overhang the drop.
Return from the gorge to the baths and turn into Botanikuri Street, which begins climbing towards the fortress. Almost immediately, on your right, you will see a mosque with a faceted minaret: Juma Mosque, the “Friday Mosque”.
From the mosque, keep climbing uphill. Signs lead to the fortress, and the climb takes about ten to fifteen minutes.
From Narikala, walk west along the crest of Sololaki Ridge. The path beside the walls leads you to a twenty-metre female figure visible from almost anywhere in the Old Town.
Time to descend from the ridge into the city. The steps and little streets of the Betlemi neighbourhood run down to Kote Abkhazi Street, Tbilisi's old trading artery, where the third faith of our route awaits you.
Walk down Kote Abkhazi Street towards the river and turn into Sioni Street. A cathedral of yellowish stone rises between the houses, hemmed in by the city on all sides.
From Sioni, continue along the river via Erekle II and Shavteli Streets, the quietest stretch of the Old Town. A modest basilica of rough stone appears on your left.
Go back a little along the river towards the wave suspended above the Kura. This is the Bridge of Peace, the youngest character on our route, opened in May 2010.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.