Easter holidays
Do you want to have a pleasant weekend, arrange a gastronomic vacation or wine tasting, or buy modern and not quite painting, or maybe swim in a sulfur bath . . ? . . yes, yes . . then you need a "warm source" of sun, joy in Tbilisi , wine and people! My advice to you is to follow a new place for you with an open heart, eye and camera lens : ) Then you won’t miss anything important . .
The aroma of spring, Easter cakes and wax candles that are sold on every corner. Stylishly dressed young people and many tourists, I love the feeling of an unknown city. David, named after the holy apostle David of Gareji, who lived as a hermit in a cave on its slope. The mountain offers a beautiful panorama of the whole of Tbilisi, which seems to fit in the palm of your hand. The oldest fortress in Tbilisi, Narikala, is also located on the Holy Mountain. And there is also a botanical garden with a wonderful variety of spring flowers, I advise everyone to visit, it is very beautifully decorated with a small waterfall and a picturesque gazebo on the slope. You can see all this in the photo, and then after 2.5 hours we go down the cobbled street straight down to the sulfur baths. Well, why not try such famous baths? True, we don’t have any bath accessories with us, but it doesn’t matter. Aunt gives us everything disposable for a moderate fee and directs me to my right hand, my husband to my left : ) I go there... the smell of sulfur seeped through my skin, women and girls with magnificent bodies sit in the dressing room and discuss apparently important issues, gesturing. They tell me to strip naked, lamenting my thinness ) well, go ahead for impressions... and then . . a small dark room, a domed ceiling with flowing water from I don’t know what century of taps, this is far from a SPA resort for you, everything is as simple as possible . . people came to wash and share the news. A woman with a strong grip begins to rub me with a kesa (natural silk washcloth "Kese" is an indispensable tool for delicately removing dead epidermis cells from the surface of the skin) comes to mind - oh, they take off the skin alive, but then they rub me with a pleasant liquid and do a little soapy massage (I had a soap massage, my husband was lucky with foam : ). . I had enough water procedures for one day and I hurried to the exit. What can I say? It's very nice. . mm. . The next two days my skin was like a baby's, not a single cream or lotion is capable of this.
After the bath, our stomachs demanded Khinkali and then immediately! Khinkali is an essential attribute of Georgian cuisine. The most delicious and valuable thing in them is not meat, as many people think, but meat juice in khinkali. Not every restaurant and not every hostess can boast of the ability to cook khinkali. There are many secrets, here is the dough, which should not be thick and should not tear, releasing precious juice. Here is minced meat, which should give this juice. They are prepared everywhere in Sakartvelo and in Adjara, and in Kakheti, and in Imeretia, but the best khinkali is prepared in Tbilisi. [Wikipedia]
Many people say that cilantro is necessarily part of khinkali, this is not entirely true. In Georgian restaurants, both in Tbilisi and Batumi, you can order khinkali with and without greens. They eat khinkali with their hands - eating them with utensils, you risk not only looking stupid, but also, having pierced khinkali with a fork, losing the very essence of this dish. They take khinkali by the top with their hands (do not eat it), bite gently, drink the broth and eat the meat. Of course, khinkali can be eaten with Georgian wine, but it is best to use them with chacha. Turning the corner, we ended up in a pleasant Khinkalnaya, where, under the smell of magnolia at sunset, we tasted khinkali, barbecue and a bottle of Tsinandali. Tbilisi nights. .
Morning . . a walk to the Dry Bridge in search of antiques, which is so sweet to my eyes and sad for the wallet. There you will also find a vernissage of the lovely works of local artists. We also bought a picture-collage in the style of Georgian impressionism, then there was a Romeo and Juliet coffee service , a selfish cup and cupronickel butter dish : ) In this market you can find wonderful things at affordable prices, this is a note to lovers of antiques.
Even that day there were many pleasant things: the first bouquet of lilacs this year, a trip to the kitchen to ordinary Georgian women who baked fragrant Easter cakes, an ascent to Bombora Park (a paradise for children), a hearty lunch, a lot of lemonade, and a visit to the stone church of St. Mary of the 6th century.
Sunday morning brought wonderful weather, grace on people's faces and a visit to the Metekhi temple (XII century), which stands at the very edge of the rocky bank of the Kura and was in the past a fortress and the residence of Georgian kings. Under the vaults of the Metekhi temple, the first Georgian martyr, Queen Shushanika Ranskaya, was buried, killed by her fire-worshipping husband in the 5th century AD. And right in front of the temple there is a modern monument - a bronze equestrian statue of the founder of the city, Vakhtang Gorgasali. Then there was coffee drinking on the highest slope above the Kura on the terrace of the Old Tbilisi hotel and a walk through the labyrinths of Tbilisi streets, which cannot leave anyone indifferent or does not want to? . .
Tbilisi will raise its head in the morning
and a sweet dream will frighten from brown eyes,
and the inhabitants will dance in the early smoke
and cry out, in a hurry: "What time is it ? ! . . "
And for a long time, as if hunching over backgammon,
he will be on his own, as long as he is out of his hands,
unravel the intricacies of the streets
and stuffy lanes knots.
And then (having seen it a hundred times)
oh, maybe I myself will become again
sentimental as his dawns,
and frank, like his love.
