Geography of Tbilisi

Tbilisi sits in its own ampitheatre, a hollow between two mountains, and these steep slopes dictate both a stylish diversity and some unique architectural particularities, as mountains overgrown with woods and tall rocks with waterfalls appear in unexpected places. Overall the city is elaborately complex and unpredictable. The architectural individuality of the city is best reflected in its centre. Latticed wooden balconies hovering over the steep riverbank look unstable yet wonderfully picturesque, and local residents steadfastly continue to live in these delightful yet impractical houses. Streets stray up and down, twisting and turning, confounding the inexperienced traveller yet offering sudden gifts of astonishing, dilapidated beauty, hand in hand with a sense of topographical despair. The Kura River divides the city into almost two equal parts, and the right and left banks are linked by several bridges. The most famous are Queen Tamar Bridge, Galaktion Bridge, named after the great poet Galaktion Tabidze, and Baratashvili Bridge, with its charming life-size statues of loving couples. Metekhi Bridge is probably the most photographed of them all, as it has the Metekhi temple and mounted statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasalai, the founder of the city, in the background. Traditionally, the right bank is perceived as being the richer and more prestigious of the two, and no trip to Tbilisi would be complete without a stroll around this bank and the historic heart of the city.