Alexander Zhidchenko

Tbilisi – Marneuli

Georgia 2 cities in 1 weekend

Fonts by «ParaType»

Photograph Alexander Zhidchenko

© Alexander Zhidchenko, 2018

© Alexander Zhidchenko, photos, 2018

Express reference book for those who can fly in the first acquaintance with two cities, the main attractions which can be visited in one weekend.

ISBN 978-5-4493-3498-5

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Contents

1. Tbilisi – Marneuli
2. FOREWORD
3. HOW TO COME TO GEORGIA?
4. ABOUT COUNTRY
5. 1. HISTORY
6. 2. MODERN GEORGIA
7. RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
8. GEORGIAN LARI
9. Part 1 Tbilisi
   1. ABOUT THE CITY
   2. INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OF TBILISI NAMED AFTER SHOTA RUSTAVELI
   3. ROAD TO THE CENTER
   4. THE KAHETIAN HIGHWAY
   5. Squirrel Hostel Tbilisi
   6. NIGHT OF FREEDOM SQUARE
   7. PROSPECT SHOTA RUSTAVELI
   8. ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN THE EVENING
   9. GRAFFITI TBILISI
   10. Wendy’s
   11. OPERA THEATER IN THE EVENING
   12. STREET GEORGIY AGHVLEDIANI
   13. TBILISSIAN METROPOLITAN
   14. DAY 2. HOSTEL
   15. FREEDOM SQUARE
   16. ST. GEORGE
   17. Tbilisi City Hall
   18. Marriott Tbilisi
   19. THEATER OF RUSTAVELI
   20. VORONTSOV’S PALACE
   21. THE FORMER PARLIAMENT BUILDING
   22. GEORGIAN CINEMATOGRAPHER
   23. KASHWETY CHURCH
   24. THE STATE MUSEUM OF GEORGIA
   25. FROM THE HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM
   26. EXPOSITION OF THE MUSEUM
   27. MUSEUM OF SOVIET OCCUPATION
   28. SCULPTURES OF LEVAN BUDGIASHVILI
   29. BOOK FAULTS
   30. TBILISSIAN STATE THEATER OF OPERA AND BALLET NAMED AFTER ZAKHARIA PALIASHVILI
   31. THE REDUCED ROPE
   32. THE HISTORY OF THE FUNICULAR AND THE ROPE OF MTATSMINDA
   33. Tsereteli Museum
   34. RUSTAVELI 29
   35. SQUARE OF THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
   36. BIKE
   37. ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF GEORGIA
   38. MELIK-AZARYANTS HOUSE
   39. MACDONALDS
   40. RUSTAVELI MONUMENT
   41. MERAB COSTAVA STREET
   42. The Tbilisi courtyardS
   43. COVERED GALLERIES
   44. PYRAMID KIOSK
   45. The Big Concert Hall Tbilisi
   46. MUSE OF MERAB BERDZENISHVIVLI
   47. MODERN OF TBILISI
   48. MINISTRY OF AUTOMOBILE ROADS OF GEORGIA
   49. BAR KOZEL
   50. TBILISI ABANDONED
   51. Heroes Square
   52. POLYTECHNICAL INSTITUTE
   53. Square on May 26
   54. PALACE OF SPORTS
   55. PROSPECT BEIJING
   56. FRUIT
   57. TBILISI-PASSENGER
   58. GEORGIAN RAILWAY
   59. MARGANISHVILI
   60. DAVID AGMASHENABELI PROSPECT
   61. TBILISI “ARBAT”
   62. PUSHKIN STREET
   63. MUSEUM OF ARTS NAMED AFTER SHALVA AMIRANASHVILI
   64. PUSHKIN MONUMENT
   65. OLD TBILISI
   66. ZION SQUARE
   67. THE CATHEDRAL OF ZIONI
   68. The ROCK-NARIKAL PARK RIDING ROAD
   69. VIEW OF THE OLD TOWN
   70. BRIDGE OF THE WORLD
   71. THE CHURCH OF SURB GEVORG
   72. CHURCH OF METEIHI
   73. NARIKALA
   74. MOTHER GEORGIA
   75. GEORGIAN CUISINE
   76. METRO AVLABARI
10. Part 2 Marneuli
    1. ABOUT THE CITY
    2. “AND THEY WILL GROW UP”
    3. CENTRAL SQUARE
    4. Borjomi
    5. CONCLUSION

Tbilisi-Marneuli

Georgia. Two cities in one Weekend

FOREWORD

Today the trip to Georgia for our compatriots is incredibly exciting, full of impressions, bright emotions and adventures, immersion in the historical, cultural, gastronomic, natural and everyday atmosphere of this amazing country located in the Western part of Transcaucasia.

Increasingly popular in recent years are taking tours of the sights of Georgia, relatively small in size, but extremely rich in cultural flavor. Someone is going to Batumi to swim in the Black Sea and immerse themselves in the environment of the post-Soviet resort. Someone is going to Kutaisi to see historical and modern Georgia with its rapidly changing architectural decoration. Well, we will go to the main city of the country, the old and diverse city of Tbilisi, which is very difficult to visit in one weekend to cover all its types, avenues, squares and streets, but which must be at least two days long to stay here Before going deep into the country for the sake of mountains, the sea and nature.

So, we have only 2 days to go to the capital of Georgia, for which we have a goal to have an unusually long time — and to feel the rhythm of the city, and turn to the history of the country through the prism of the capital symbols of change, and immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of this people leading Its history since ancient times.

HOW TO COME TO GEORGIA?

Previously, the answer to this question was complicated. Cheap tickets were almost non-existent, and the trip by rail had its own difficulties. Today, everything has changed — and the air gates of Georgia open their doors to everyone who wants to come here for at least 2 days, at least for 2 weeks, at the cheapest prices in comparison with other countries of the former USSR.

I will give just an example to show how easy it is, because the ticket from Moscow to Tbilisi and back cost me in 2017 a little more than 7 thousand rubles.

The thing is that flights of Pobeda airline flew here during this period. True, I had to make a transfer in Rostov-on-Don, and pass in the Rostov international terminal passport control, but this is a trivial matter.

It was possible to fly back on the flight of Pobeda airline, but from neighboring Armenia, the city of Gyumri. In truth, the trip to Georgia and Armenia was combined in one round, but now I will tell you in detail about the first part of this trip, but the second one is described in the book “Yerevan-Gyumri. Two cities in one weekend”, which will get you closer to the cultural and historical heritage and sights of Armenia.

To tell you the truth, it is very easy to visit these two countries during one tour. At your disposal are trains, buses and minibuses following the Tbilisi-Yerevan route at very affordable prices. But first things first.

ABOUT COUNTRY

The modern name of Georgia, which is also considered European, comes from the name of St. George, the Orthodox patron of this country. It is interesting that the Georgians themselves call their country Sakartvelo.

Its history, like the history of the Caucasus, is the way of the birth and development of dozens of different peoples who have lived in these places since ancient times.

1. HISTORY

It is known that even in the period of antiquity, in the VIII century BC. here the Greeks settled, and two centuries later the Anatolian tribes from Turkey came to these places. In the III century BC. here Iberian state was formed. It was adjacent to the Persian Empire, Albania, Sarmatia (the late Byzantine designation of the Eastern European tribes). Iberia is considered a pre-feudal state where free farmers and warriors lived. Iberian state had often to fight with the Roman Empire, which managed to capture these territories in the 65th year BC.

In 189 BC. the Roman army defeated the Seleucid army here, and a strong Armenian state was formed. At the turn of the 4th – 5th centuries, the western part of the Armenian state was captured by the Byzantine Empire. The Oriental got the Persians. Byzantium was able to exert great cultural influence on the population of this region. Many traditions in architecture, culture, music, fine arts, after experiencing Byzantine colonization, have survived to this day.

In the 7th century Arab Muslims came here and created a Muslim state – the emirate. Completely from the Muslim dependence, Georgia was able to free itself only in 1122.

In the Middle Ages, many times Georgia was under threat of being under the rule of the Persians or Turks, who had constant claims to this territory. Only the intervention of the Russian Empire decided for several centuries the fate of this country. In 1783, the largest of the Georgian states, the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom, signed the Treaty of St. George, which received the status of a protectorate of the Russian Empire.

In the XIX century, in the Caucasus, and in particular in Georgia, nationalist groups and parties enjoyed great popularity among the youth, in the end of the century there was Joseph Dzhugashvili, the future leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin.

After the October Revolution, on May 26, 1918, Georgia declared itself an independent state, which was abbreviated by analogy with the future socialist Germany, the GDR, the Georgian Democratic Republic. It existed in this form for a short time, and on March 18, 1921 its troops were crushed by the Bolshevik army of the RSFSR. The power in Georgia passed into the hands of the Georgian Bolsheviks, and then, together with Armenia and Azerbaijan, it became part of a single Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republic (ZFSFR).

In 1936 Georgia gained its autonomous independence, and in connection with the abolition of the TSSFSR it became the Georgian SSR.

In 1990, democratic elections were held in Georgia for the first time, in which several political parties participated. On April 9, 1991, Georgia declared its independence from the USSR.

The country in this period had prospects for rapid economic development, but the war and socio-political contradictions had their own plans, and in 1992—93. the country became very febrile, from which first ordinary residents suffered. Former members of Georgia-South Ossetia and Abkhazia-began a war of independence, as a result of which ethnic conflicts, pogroms, and migration of the population became the most common news stories.

2. MODERN GEORGIA

Today Georgia is a parliamentary republic that ranks 121st in its territory in the world, and 130th in population. Today, approximately 3 million 730 thousand people live in Georgia. 86% of the population are ethnic Georgians. Among other peoples (in descending order): Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Russians, Ossetians, Yezidis (Kurdish ethno-confessional group), Ukrainians, etc.

The country is divided into 59 municipalities, and four cities have republican significance: Kutaisi, Rustavi, Poti and Batumi.

The relief of Georgia varies from highland to plateau and plateau. This determined the most diverse natural and geographical landscape. Here lies the Southern slope of the Greater Caucasus Range, a continuous mountain chain connecting the Black Sea and the Caspian along a land length of 1100 km.

The country has the richest mineral resources, various types of soils, 3 million hectares of forests. The climate varies from the influence of the subtropical in the west of the country to the Mediterranean in the east.

Modern Georgia is a kaleidoscope of cultures, images, traditions. To plunge into this diversity is possible only by personally arriving here to immerse yourself in all this atmosphere.

To visit all the most interesting and amazing places in Georgia, probably not enough and a whole year of staying here — so much in this country in all.