Tbilisi — The City That Grabs You and Doesn't Let Go

Day 6 | April 30, 2026 | Tbilisi, Georgia 🇬🇪

Tbilisi hits you differently depending on where you're standing.

Stand on the bridge and it looks modern. Stand on the cliff and it looks ancient. Walk the back alleys and it looks like nothing has changed in two hundred years. The city has three completely different versions of itself — and on Day 6, we worked through all of them.

The Morning Jog

Before the tour, before the group, before any of it — I went out alone. Laced up and ran the city. It's become a habit on this trip. The best way I know to understand a place before the day officially starts.

Tbilisi is not flat. It has levels. You walk one direction and the ground drops away to the river far below. You turn a corner and there are stone steps climbing up into neighbourhoods that feel completely separate from where you just were. Four and a half kilometers here is not the same as four and a half kilometers anywhere else.

I ran straight through the sulfur bath district without knowing what it was. A cluster of low domed brick buildings rising organically from the ground — organic shapes, ancient looking, steam coming off them. I found out later that Tbilisi literally owes its existence to those baths. A Georgian king was hunting here in the fifth century when a pheasant he'd shot fell into a natural hot spring and cooked on impact. He liked what he found. Built a city around it. Tbilisi — from the Georgian word "tbili" — means warm.

I jogged past the origin of an entire city and didn't know it.

High on the hill, I caught a glimpse of a massive steel figure with arms raised. I didn't know who it was yet. I found out that afternoon.

Metekhi Church

First proper stop. And you see it before you arrive.

Metekhi Church sits on a cliff above the Mtkvari River, right in the centre of the old city. It has that quality certain buildings have — you keep catching it from different angles as you walk toward it, the skyline rearranging itself around it each time.

The church dates to the 13th century, though there has been something on this spot since the fifth. It has been destroyed and rebuilt by the Mongols, the Persians, the Soviets — who converted it into a prison and then a theatre before it was finally returned to the Georgian Orthodox Church after independence. Outside stands the equestrian statue of the king who founded Tbilisi, watching over the city he started.

Inside — simple, quiet, working. Georgian Orthodox churches aren't museums. People come, light candles, pray, leave. You feel like a guest rather than a visitor. That's the right feeling.

Gondola to Mother Georgia and Narikala Fortress

We took the gondola up the hill above the old city. And from up there, Tbilisi makes complete sense.

That massive steel figure I'd spotted on my morning run — that's Kartlis Deda. Mother Georgia. She was erected in 1958, Soviet era, though her meaning has nothing Soviet about it. She stands 20 metres tall on the hill above the city and holds two things: a bowl of wine for those who come as friends, and a sword for those who come as enemies. That's a very Georgian way of greeting the world.

Behind her along the ridge are the ruins of Narikala Fortress — a citadel dating to the fourth century, expanded, destroyed, rebuilt, and battered by almost every power that has ever moved through this part of the Caucasus. What's left are the walls. But the walls are enough. They frame the city below and the mountains beyond in a way that looks deliberate. Nobody planned it. It just survived.

Betlemi Stairs — The Part of Tbilisi That Doesn't Perform

We didn't take the gondola back down. We walked.

The Betlemi stairs descend from the fortress through one of the oldest and most atmospheric neighbourhoods in the city. Stone steps. Wooden balconies overhead. Walls the colour of old brick and older plaster. Cats everywhere — supervising from windowsills and doorways.

This is the part of Tbilisi that doesn't perform for you. It just exists. Laundry dries on the balconies. Kids move through the alleys. The city goes about its business and you walk through it as a quiet observer.

Partway down we came to Betlemi Church — a small church set into the hillside with a garden terrace looking out over the whole city. Not famous. Not dramatic. But the view from that garden — the river catching the light, the rooftops and domes and modern towers all visible at once — is something you don't forget.

Angel's Cafe — First Georgian IPA

Just past the church, with the city still spread below us — Angel's Cafe.

Georgia is wine country. Everyone knows that. But the craft beer scene is real and growing, and that IPA was genuinely good. Small place. Unpretentious. A good view. The kind of spot you'd walk past without noticing — which is exactly why it's worth stopping at.

I stuck with it for the rest of the evening.

Into the City — Balconies, Bridges and a Wedding

After Betlemi we kept moving. More layers.

The traditional Tbilisi balconies are one of those things photographs don't do justice to. Wooden, carved, often painted in blues and greens, hanging over narrow streets — blending Georgian, Persian and Russian influences from centuries of different rulers. Everyone photographs the streets. Not enough people look up.

We crossed the Bridge of Peace — a modern glass and steel footbridge that connects the old city to the newer districts across the river. It looks like it landed from a different era. In Tbilisi, that somehow makes complete sense. Ancient and modern have been sharing the same skyline here long enough that the contrast stopped being surprising centuries ago.

Then the Gabriadze Clock Tower — crooked, slightly leaning, built from what looks like pieces from different centuries. It belongs to a puppet theatre and every hour a small door opens and a tiny performance plays out. Nobody tells you to stop and watch. You just stop and watch.

We walked into Sioni Cathedral and there was a wedding happening. One of the most important churches in Georgia — built in the sixth and seventh centuries, home to the actual Cross of Saint Nino, the grapevine cross she carried when she brought Christianity here. And a Georgian couple being married in front of it. Candlelight. Incense. Chanting. We stood at the back for a few minutes and watched. That's not something you plan. That's just Tbilisi handing you something unexpected.

Chacha — How Georgia Ends an Evening

In Georgia, the evening ends with chacha.

Chacha is the Georgian grape spirit — made from the leftover skins and stems after winemaking, distilled into something clear and strong that burns clean. Every region makes it differently. Every family has their own version. It's not a cocktail ingredient. It's a cultural ritual — the way a meal closes, the way a conversation deepens, the way you tell someone you trust them enough to drink something this strong with them.

One shot and you understand exactly why Georgia is wine country. The same instinct — the same relationship with fermentation, grape, and land — runs through all of it.

Quick Facts — Tbilisi, Day 6

Metekhi Church: Free entry. Active church — be respectful. The equestrian statue outside is a great photo spot with the river below.
Gondola: Small fee for the cable car up to Mother Georgia and Narikala. Worth it for the view. Check operating hours — it closes earlier than you'd expect.
Narikala Fortress: Free to walk around the ruins. Allow time to explore — the walls stretch further than they look from below.
Betlemi Stairs: Walk down, don't cable car back. The neighbourhood is the point. Allow yourself to get slightly lost.
Angel's Cafe: Betlemi neighbourhood, halfway down the stairs. Small, good view, good IPA. Easy to miss — look for it.
Gabriadze Clock Tower: Check the time and aim to be there on the hour for the puppet show. It only runs for a couple of minutes but it's completely charming.
Sioni Cathedral: Free entry. Home to the Cross of Saint Nino — the actual cross, not a replica. One of the most sacred objects in Georgia.
Chacha: Try it. One shot is enough to understand it. Ask at any restaurant — most will have a house version.
Our guide: Natia K. — Facebook. With us across all four Georgia days.

📍 JustoHops Recommends: Do the Betlemi Stairs walk — gondola up, walk down through the neighbourhood. Stop at Angel's Cafe. Look up at the balconies. And end the evening with chacha. That sequence is Tbilisi done right.

Next up: Day 7 — we leave Tbilisi and drive north. Two UNESCO monasteries, the legendary Georgian Military Highway, and a mountain pass at 2,379 metres inside a cloud.

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