Tbilisi sounds musical and I knew almost nothing about this place other than it being the capital of Georgia. Digging into the history I found that Tbilisi is derived from the old Georgian word Tipli meaning warm.The story goes like this-King of Georgia Vakhtang I Gorgasali went hunting with his falcon and the falcon caught a pheasant.When he went to see the catch he found both the falcon and the pheasant in a hot spring .Impressed with this discovery he decided to build a city in that location and Tbilisi was born.
We booked an apartment through airbnb and reached there at 3 am.Our host and her two friends had come to receive us and soon we were in her 19 century apartment in the old part of the city.
In the courtyard are the ruins of an old church and on top of the Sololaki hill is this magnificient lady Kartvlis Deda or Mother of Georgia holding a bowl of wine to welcome the guests and a sword to ward off enemies.This 20 metre tall statue was made in 1958 and she symbolises the georgian spirit.
She stands tall and proud overlooking the city.I kept looking up at her in awe and tried to capture her from various angles.
The apartment was warm and cosy. It has a fireplace which I found charming.
This was the view from the window.I did not waste any time and set out to explore the city.
