Weekend in Tbilisi
 

Introduction:
I’m currently studying in Istanbul, Turkey for one semester as I escape the academic rigour back in Singapore. Being an exchange student from the Far Far East, what better opportunity is there to take the time to travel around Europe? A few weeks back, the desire to travel crept in once again as I played around with OTA searches. After some discussion with friends, Georgia came up as an option and a quick search on the magical world of the Internet found a round trip ticket to Tbilisi on AtlasGlobal for about 78 Euros. Having flown with AtlasGlobal to Amsterdam previously, I found it to be a decent airline and snagged the ticket before prices rose. Off to Tbilisi, it is!

I rushed to the airport from a dinner gathering in Uskudar, a district on the Asian side of Istanbul. Thankfully, the metro was reliable as usual, and the journey took slightly less than an hour. However, it took some effort to obtain my boarding pass at the check-in counter, as the check-in crew was not sure if Singaporeans required a visa to visit Georgia. It seems like Georgia was not a popular destination for Singaporeans despite our 360 days visa-free entry to the beautiful country, or maybe we just aren't transiting to Georgia from Istanbul. Whatever the case, after some checks were done (including my efforts to google a reliable source about my visa-free eligibility), I was finally given my boarding pass, along with my preallocated seat, 26A. First hurdle, cleared.

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For my first time, there was no queue at passport control in Ataturk Airport. However, being a foreign student, I was required to have my Residence Permit before I could leave the country but with the efficient (ahem) bureaucracy, all I could obtain was a piece of paper that says I have applied for it. A few checks, an exit stamp, and I were off to the airside! Second hurdle, cleared! For my first time, I could finally stroll around the duty free shops. As boarding time approached, I headed to my gate to commence boarding.

27th November 2015
Istanbul Ataturk Airport – Tbilisi International Airport
KK6794
Aircraft Type: A320-232
Aircraft Registration: TC-ATK
Departure: 0003H
Arrival: 0345H
Flight Time: 1:42
Seat 26A

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My bird for the short hop to Tbilisi

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Quite the pretty tail in my opinion, I was boarding from the rear since I chose a seat at the back

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We were really far from the main terminal on a pretty foggy night

The plane was parked at a remote stand, which was a 10-minute shuttle ride away from the gates. My plane was a 9.7year old bird that was first delivered to Air Deccan, which later merged with Kingfisher. It is currently leased from AerCap. Boarding was smooth and fast, and as the next busload of passengers arrived, I was left delighted by the fact that I had the entire row to myself. Plane load for the day was probably about 70-80%.

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Legroom was sufficient for me, no complaints!

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Supper

Legroom was comfortable for me, and despite the short hop to Tbilisi (approx. 1:50 journey), AtlasGlobal served supper, which was pretty decent. A starter of canned fruits, a bread roll with butter, main of cold cuts, chicken breast, cheese, sarma (a Turkish vine leaf wrap), tomato, cucumber and olives, rounded off with a slice of cherry cake. A variety of drinks were also available, including Coke, Coke Zero, apple juice, orange juice, Aryan (a popular Turkish buttermilk beverage), water and some others, which I’ve forgotten. I took a Coke Zero for myself.
 

Sounds like an interesting place for a weekend getaway. Looking forward to the pics from Tbilisi:).

The flight itself was uneventful and after a busy day, I was pretty tired and conked out after my meal. The next time I was awake, the Captain has announced that we were landing in Tbilisi. We parked at a remote stand and as we disembarked, 3 Georgian aviation security vehicles monitored us as we were packed into the shuttle bus. It was quite an intimidating scene as the vehicles escorted the shuttle as we proceeded to the main terminal. Immigration was quick and painless, as we were the only flight that has landed at that time. Despite having read about free bottles of wine being handed out at customs, I had no such luck but received my rather exotic immigration stamp of Georgia.

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Hello Tbilisi Airport!

Being a student on a budget, I decided to wait out the 3 hours at the airport before the first public bus departs for the city centre. Tbilisi Airport has several free wifi connections, including Tbilisi Loves You, which is also available in some central areas of the city. I also took the opportunity to change some Euros to Georgian Laris, which is a closed currency. The rates at the airport turned out to be rather competitive, as I observed similar or worse rates in the city later.

As 7am approached, I got out of the terminal and boarded the public bus (No. 37, 0.5 GELs) which was headed to Baratashvili Street, where my hostel for the weekend was located. A short 30 minutes bus ride later, I arrived into Tbilisi. As sunrise wasn’t until 0804H, the streets were still lit. Unfortunately for me, the hostel was full, so I could not take a nap but that meant I forced myself out to explore the streets. As most shops only opened at 10am, this meant I had pretty much empty streets to explore and take photos of.

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The sun had not risen yet even though it was already past 7 in the morning

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Sights of Tbilisi
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Towards Freedom Square

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Just a building on the streets

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statue of a lamplighter by sculptor Irakli Tsuladze

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Gabriadze theatre, a tiny theatre that seats only 45 with a 15 sqm stage

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municipality worker cleaning the street for the day

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one of the many statues in Tbilisi

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Wild dog in the leaves. If Istanbul was characterised by the number of cats roaming on the streets, Tbilisi held its own with its abundance of friendly dogs

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water feature in the 9 April Garden

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statue of Mihaly Vichy, a hungarian painter, in the 9 April garden

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Statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, founder of Tbilisi, in the courtyard of the Metekhi Church, overlooking the Mtkvari river

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Parliament building on Rustaveli avenue

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Fresh produce at the market near Dinamo Arena/Station Square metro station. One of the definitive features of Georgia is its extremely fresh produce that I feel is unrivalled

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The fresh, gigantic pomegranates of Georgia. Coming from Istanbul, I felt these were a lot more attractive.

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One of the specialties of Georgia, its plum sauce. The green bottles are supposedly more sour (made from unripe plums). I bought a bottle back.

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Truckloads of potatoes by farmers at the market. Totally the antithesis of Latvia (if you are a fan of Latvian jokes with potatoes)

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Berries and walnuts, all local produce of Georgia. Some churchkhela can be seen as well. Churchkhela is made with walnuts dipped in concentrated grape juice that dries as a gelation-like coating around the nuts, also another local delicacy.

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one of the many streets of Tbilisi

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in the middle of Old Tbilisi

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through the windows of the cable car up to Narikala Fortress

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Freedom Square in the day, which is also a giant roundabout comparable to Ben Thanh roundabout in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Freedom Square by night. It reminds me that Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, with displays of grandeur yet dilapidated buses (although a good majority are well-maintained/new)

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game stalls near the statue of Kartvlis Deda

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Kartvlis Deda - The twenty-meter aluminum statue symbolizes the Georgian national character: in her left hand she holds a bowl of wine to greet those who come as friends and in her right hand is a sword for those who come as enemies. The statue is located on the top of the top of Sololaki hill overlooking the city.

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Narikala Fortress

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night view of Tbilisi

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on the Bridge of Peace

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Overlooking the Bridge of Peace. It was supposed to be foggy on both days, but the fog cleared for a while on Sunday, which I promptly seized the photo taking opportunities by going up the cable car once again

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Overlooking the Bridge of Peace, which is a pedestrian bridge over the Kura River. The brightly lit area on the left is the casino

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One of the many underpasses in Tbilisi, where there are numerous shops inside and it serves as a shopping arcade. My personal observation is that there are a lot more underpasses than pedestrian crossings in Tbilisi. (which meant jaywalking whenever the roads are clear)

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statue along Baratashvili Street

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overlooking the National Botanical Garden of Georgia

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Waterfall in the National Botanical Garden

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A pretty garden to spend a couple of hours in

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Grape vines, reminiscent of Georgia’s proud wine making heritage

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Sulphur baths (exterior)

Food in Tbilisi
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Natakhtari beer, one of the more popular local beer around (or so I was told)

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one of the many wine cellars in Tbilisi. I had quite a few glasses of gorgeous Georgian wine here

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Local lemonade with pear. Delicious drink. There are various flavours, including one with tarragon, which is a funky green color. Other available flavours include lemon with mint, cream(!), cream with chocolate(!!)

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As mentioned, tarragon flavoured lemonade. I brought some back to Istanbul for friends who remarked that it tasted really ‘herbal’ and ‘medicinal’. The taste grew on me the more I had, so yes, it has at least one more fan in this world.

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Fish cooked using an ancient Georgian recipe (as described on the menu). It is essentially fried and seasoned with fresh onions and cilantro and pomegranate with a dash of lemon juice (I believe)

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Khashi (soup of beef stomach and hooves, with vodka and bread)

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Chanakhi with Georgian bread. Traditional Georgian lamb stew with vegetables

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Khinkali and fried quail with tomato sauce. Learn how to eat Khinkali before going to Georgia, but you will not regret those delicious dumplings (which are similar to the Shanghainese xiaolongbao, but with a thicker dough skin)

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Banana caramel ice cream from Luca Polare, a seemingly popular local creamery. It was okay to me.

Alas, my two fantastic days in Tbilisi flew past, and it was time to return to Istanbul, where I have a test scheduled for 0840 that morning. Tbilisi airport is a small airport with pretty much zilch entertainment (except for free wifi). However, past passport control, there are 3 duty free shops, with 1 solely dedicated to Georgian wines, where I purchased yet another bottle. The staff are really friendly and warm, so do not hesitate to ask them to allow you to taste test the fantastic wines. Do bring a few bottles back home, as the ones I had really lived up to their reputation as excellent wines.

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Tbilisi Airport once again!

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In the duty-free area

30th November 2015
Tbilisi International Airport – Istanbul Ataturk Airport
KK6795
Aircraft Type: A321-211
Aircraft Registration: TC-ATY
Departure: 0513H
Arrival: 0521H
Flight Time: 2:08
Seat 8C

It was another uneventful flight with AtlasGlobal. I chose an aisle seat as opposed to my usual window seat as I needed to get through immigration as quickly as possible to catch the metro. There was a simple meal similar to the inbound flight served on board the short flight on this sector as well. We landed ahead of schedule and parked at a remote stand again at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, where for my first time, there was no queue at passport control. Some stringent checks later (due to my prolonged stay in Istanbul, no doubt), I was cleared to re-enter Istanbul. However, it was a long 40 minutes wait for my baggage, which meant I eventually failed to appear for my quiz, but that’s another story altogether.

Final thoughts:
Tbilisi was a destination that, just 4 months ago, I would never have given any thought to. However, it did not disappoint but instead, fascinated and captured me with its delicious cuisine, sights and wine. Two days was barely sufficient to scratch the surface of Tbilisi, but I believe there are so much more that Georgia can, and will offer (I’m looking at you, Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori!). Rarely do I sing high praises for a city, but I really wished I could have stayed a few more days in this magnificent country. For now, Tbilisi seems very much untouched by Chinese tourists and gives off this rustic vibe that I really enjoyed. Without a doubt, I will return to Georgia if the opportunity presents itself but let’s face it – Georgia is not exactly the most accessible country, especially from South East Asia. I hope this report brought some new insights to most readers as to what Tbilisi has to offer.

Having flown three sectors with AtlasGlobal, it has been a rather affordable and reliable carrier that is reasonably comfortable with edible food and okay service standards. All my experiences with them thus far have been positive, and I hope it continues to improve. In contrast, some of the other Turkish carriers need drastic improvements.

Agreed it's a lovely city and a default destination for a weekend trip from Baku. The contrast between Baku and Tbilisi is huge - not least the low, low price of everything compared to Azerbaijan. Although, pricey, the Tbilisi Marriott is a very good hotel.

Nice report from Tbilisi. I was there in 2010 and really enjoyed the place. Your pictures make it look even better than I remember.

Very nice indeed, another city I'd like to visit. Thanks for the beautiful pictures.

Love the report! I used to live in Armenia and got up to Tbilisi often - wonderful city and Georgia is a beautiful country. Thank you for bringing back memories with your wonderful photos.

It was! Totally wished I had more time actually. I hope the pictures are satisfactory to you!

I wish I had thought about going to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia earlier. Tbilisi totally won my heart. However, I'm on the last few weeks of my exchange semester and already made plans for the Balkans after exams. Hopefully I will have opportunities in the future.

Thank you! Hope it brought back the nice memories.

Thanks! If you can, I highly recommend you to do so. One of my favourite cities thus far!

Thank you!

Great report with terrific pictures. Thank you.

Thoroughly enjoyed this report. Thank you.

Great report, Tbilisi is definitely on my todo list. Thanks for your work!