Sixty years after his death there's still a market for portraits of Joseph Stalin, the Georgian-born ruler of the former Soviet Union. As Georgia's most famous son, attitudes here towards "Uncle Joe" are complicated. After independence, many Stalin statues were torn down but now some are returning to town squares. Some older Georgians revere him as a strong leader, who defeated Hitler, and are proud that tiny Georgia produced someone who had such an impact on world history.
But more often he's viewed as a tyrant responsible for brutal purges of his own people. What's the highest mountain range in Europe? The Alps? It is the Caucasus Mountains marking the border between Georgia and Russia. While the highest peak is in Russia, Georgia lays claim to the second highest, Shkara, which at 5,m 17, ft beats Mont Blanc by nearly m 1, ft. These dramatic mountains, with their terrifying hairpin roads and hidden villages cut off at winter, are the stuff of legend.
In Greek mythology they were one of the pillars holding up the world. And it was here that Zeus tied up Prometheus, to have his liver eaten by eagles. Today they are increasingly becoming a destination for climbers, walkers or skiers looking for adventure. There is a startling amount of space-age architecture in Georgia.
The new parliament building is a huge glass and concrete bubble, looking like a giant frog's eye. A slew of new police stations have been built that are all glass and see through, symbolic of Georgia's aspirations for democratic transparency. Meanwhile, many of the country's roads and infrastructure remains in bad shape. President Mikheil Saakashvili's preference for flashy prestige projects to impress foreign investors and politicians, has not gone unnoticed.
Also, while glass government buildings may work well in temperate Northern Europe, buildings constructed like greenhouses are less suited to Georgia's scorching summers. There is a lot of body contact between men in Georgia.
Men stroll down the main avenue arm-in-arm, or lounge on street corners, limbs entwined. A casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that this was a sign of tolerance towards homosexuality. They'd probably be wrong.
According to surveys Georgia is one of the world's most homophobic countries - attitudes which came to the surface in May during a violent anti-gay demonstration in Tbilisi. Tens of thousands of people were angry because a group of gay rights activists had wanted to gather for 30 minutes against homophobic violence.
The anti-gay protesters shouted slogans through megaphones, and called for "gays to go back to Europe". Many other Georgians, though, were shocked by the display of intolerance, describing it as "a sad day for Georgia. Tbilisi has a thriving new bohemian scene, from nightclubs to speakeasy cafes. This guide highlights the coolest hotspots that take in the true essence of the city.
Few cities are as gleefully chaotic as Tbilisi, the capital of the Black Sea nation of Georgia. A onetime Silk Road capital, this sprawling city of 1. You can spend the day hitting the museums and theaters housed in the impressive neoclassical architecture along Rustaveli Avenue, or spend your nights dancing until dawn at powerhouse nightclubs like Bassiani , located underneath a historic soccer stadium. While the city is small enough to be covered in a weekend, its architectural eclecticism, thriving restaurant and bar scene, and wealth of cultural offerings make it worth a much longer stay.
In the past few years, Tbilisi has been undergoing something of a bohemian renaissance. Several of its midcentury disused factories have been repurposed into hotels, bars, galleries, and vintage concept stores that act as cultural hubs for trendy young Tbiliseli.
The first — and most famous — of these was the Rooms Hotel , intentionally reminsicent of the ornate Art Nouveau grand hotels of Europe and is as famous for its high-end cocktail bar and European-fusion food, as it is for its upscale accommodation. The Shavi Lomi serves traditional dishes of Georgian cuisine on the one hand, but on the other hand, guests can also enjoy newly interpreted dishes. Address: Zurab Kvlividze Street 28, Tbilisi.
If you want to turn night into day, we recommend a visit to one of the following bars or clubs. The Drama Bar is located directly on Shota Rustaveli Avenue on the upper floor of a historic house — with a view of the magnificent boulevard. The spartanly furnished bar with dim light is especially popular with locals.
Address: Shota Rustaveli Avenue 37, Tbilisi. The Bassiani is the largest and certainly one of the most popular clubs in Tbilisi. It is located directly below the football stadium «Dinamo Arena». Top DJs from all over the world regularly play in the Bassiani. Address: Akaki Tsereteli Avenue 2, Tbilisi. At night, however, the tables are cleared away and the lamps pulled up to the high ceiling, turning the place into one of the city's hottest clubs. Address: Alexander Griboedov Street 34, Tbilisi.
Khidi means «bridge» in Georgian because the hip club is located right next to the Bagrationi Bridge in Tbilisi. Tbilisi was not always so vibrant and full of life. After Persians had left their first traces in the 4th century with the construction of the Nariqala fortress on Tbilisi's present territory, the Georgian king Wachtang Gorgassali I conquered the town in the 5th century, turned it into a city and made Tbilisi his capital. Over the following centuries, Tbilisi was conquered several times: Arabs, Persians, Byzantines and Seljuk invaded the city successively.
After Davit Aghmashenebeli, known as David the Builder, succeeded in liberating Tbilisi and making it one of the richest cities of the Middle Age, it was devastated again in the 13th century by the Choresmians. Tbilisi then belonged to the kingdom of Timur Leng also known as Tamerlan.
Two invasions by the Turks followed before the city was conquered by the Persians in and completely destroyed during the Battle of Krtsanisi. The eventful history of the city and the entire country, marked by hostile takeovers, was far from over: in , Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. Between and , the country was able to regain its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia, but this was followed by 70 years of membership of the Soviet Union.
After Georgia declared itself independent again on 9 April , difficult years followed for the small Caucasus republic and its capital Tbilisi: poverty, a devastated economy, crime, corruption and high unemployment depressed the mood in Tbilisi in the s. Since the millennium, however, the city — and the whole country — has been on a continuous upward trend.
The whole economy has developed well in recent years, especially tourism. More and more tourists come to Tbilisi every year to admire sights such as the historic old town with its colorful wooden balconies, the Nariqala fortress, or the Tsminda Sameba church. More and more people want to profit from the boom. Hotels and guesthouses are springing up like mushrooms and the builders are trying to outdo each other with larger and more modern buildings.
Every medal has two sides, it is no different in Tbilisi. Are you interested in a city tour in Tbilisi or a private tour to Georgia or to any other place in the Caucasus region? Tell us about your ideas and immediately get an offer without obligation from us.
We don't recommend the route via Ukraine and the North Caucasus Russia. There are regular minibus connections to Tbilisi from nearly every city and village in Georgia. It's the cheapest way to travel in Georgia. A large number of airlines fly to the Tbilisi International Airport. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Warsaw and Vienna. Located at the northwestern end of the Tbilisi reservoir, the Chronicles of Georgia monument tells all the important aspects of Georgian history and offers a fantastic view of the city of Tbilisi.
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