TBILISI, GEORGIA
Here are pictures from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Part I (on this page) focuses mostly on the Old Town and some of the views, while Part II has more of the other parts of Tbilisi. Both Parts I and (especially) II have a lot of very unusual buildings--Tbilisi has a lot of unique architecture, both old and new!

First, a view of the city from the Narikala Fortress...



Looking down at a neighborhood just below the fortress...



Looking towards Mt. Mtatsminda (with the large tower), with Kartlis Deda (Mother Georgia) on the left...



Views of Kartlis Deda...





The back side!



View of Narikala Fortress above the Old Town...



This is best viewed at night though due to the lighting...





The monastery at the Narikala Fortress...



Oh, yeah...about those cliffs in the background...those are along the Kura River which flows through Tbilisi (towards Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea)...



The back side of Narikala is more rugged...



Looking away from the city from the fort towards more hills (with a botanical garden in part of this area)...



In that botanical garden...



The botanical garden has palms! The Chinese windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) were fairly common in Tbilisi as the climate is just mild enough in winter despite being inland...



The botanical garden did have these falls...



But then there were much more ordinary trees and plants nearby, such as the native hackberry (Celtis caucasica)...



Back to civilization...here's Botanical Street in the Old Town with a mosque (Georgia is about 10% Muslim, with most of the rest of the people Georgian Orthodox)...



A view of the same street (with the mosque) from further away...



Inside the mosque...



Another nearby view in the Old Town with the Tsminda Sameba Cathedral in the background...



The sulphur bath houses in Old Town...





Not far away is a small canyon with another waterfall...



A view in the canyon with buildings on the cliffs!



Go here for Tbilisi, Part II.

All of the above pictures on this page were taken in August or September 2013 by Brandt Maxwell.

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