Georgia 🇬🇪 Tbilisi walking tour 16th July 2026

After we finished lunch, we walked in old part of Tbilisi. We start and end at Freedom square.

We walked past the Monastery where Stalin was receiving his education until he was kicked out for preaching communism and carried on pass parts of the old city wall into the Kala district.

Onto an area of statues

The lamp lighter.

These statues depict Berikaoba—an ancient, pre-Christian Georgian pagan spring ritual celebrating fertility and rebirth.

A series of statues of actors in various Georgian films.

Walking past the leaning tower, we see the smallest clock in Georgia on the side of the tower.

Next door to the leaning tower there is Anchiskhati Basilica (officially the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary) the oldest surviving church in Tbilisi, originally dating back to the 6th century (around 522–534 AD). It was built by King Dachi of Iberia after he made Tbilisi the capital city. Unlike most dome-shaped Georgian churches, Anchiskhati is a modest, three-nave stone basilica built out of yellow tuff and brick.

Originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the church was renamed in 1675 because it became the safe repository for the Anchiskhati Icon of the Savior. This highly revered, 6th-century gold-plated icon was moved to Tbilisi from the Anchi Monastery (now in Turkey) to protect it from Ottoman invaders. The word Anchiskhati literally translates to "Icon of Anchi". Today, the actual icon is displayed securely down the street at the Georgian National Museum.

Directly adjacent to the ancient Anchiskhati Basilica on Shavteli Street sits the highly distinctive, historic palace complex known as the Patriarchate of Georgia (the official residence and working headquarters of the Catholicos-Patriarch, the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church).

We continued to the Bridge of peace and across to the other side on to Europe square, up the small hill to the bridge.

This is the iconic Metekhi St. Virgin Mary Assumption Church and the adjacent Statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali. This clifftop landmark directly overlooks Tbilisi's Europe Square from the east.The "man on the horse" is King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the 5th-century warrior monarch credited with founding Tbilisi. According to Georgian folklore, the king discovered the region's famous hot sulfur springs during a royal hunting expedition, where both his falcon and the bird the falcon was hunting landed in the hot spring and died. This and the fact Mtskheta was running out of space inspired the King to relocate the capital from Mtskheta to this strategic location.

We continue along the river and find an underground passage. The Leghvtakhevi Tunnel (also frequently referred to as the Abanotubani Tunnel).

Wrote another blog post on the above tunnel.

The leader of a traditional Georgian feast (supra) is called the Tamada. The Tamada is an honorary toastmaster and master of ceremonies, chosen by the host for their eloquence, wit, and ability to guide the table through a rhythmic sequence of thoughtful toasts, storytelling, and traditional polyphonic songs.

The role carries deep cultural significance, functioning more like a bridge between the past, present, and future than just a person making jokes. 

The Sequence of Toasts: The Tamada introduces a structured progression of tributes, which usually begin with God or peace, followed by ancestors, parents, the homeland, and then extend to friends, children, and the guests.

The Alaverdi Tradition: The Tamada doesn't give all the speeches alone. During an alaverdi, the Tamada offers the main theme and passes the drinking horn or glass to a guest, granting them the power of speech to elaborate on the topic before drinking.

Control of the Table: While Georgians joke that the Tamada is a "dictator" of the table, they maintain order through humor, respect, and ensuring that everyone's glass is touched before drinking.

Archeologists have found a bronze statue of a Tamada holding a drinking horn dating back to 600 BC. In early centuries, toasts were strictly reserved for celebrating religious deities, military victories, and sealing community pacts. Direct physical alignment of every glass at the table evolved as a mandatory disciplinary rule to ensure every single person was actively bound to that shared political or spiritual oath.