Spring Courtyards of Tbilisi
One could be excused for not discovering the magical semi public, semi private spaces that the courtyards of Tbilisi represent if no-one were to show you these; after all they are hidden from view and if you come from Europe or North America you’d perhaps be too polite as to push that mysterious door and start exploring a place that you weren’t sure you should really be. The thing about visiting Tbilisi is that the city challenges you to get out of your comfort-zone. What was considered the second-most bohemian city in Europe at the turn of the 20th century is arguably now the most - there’s a can-do spirit in the air gayly infecting all-comers whether that’s gastro-hounds, crypto-bros, bon-vivants, intrepid-travellers and all those just curious to take a look.
First-time visitors to Tbilisi often try to orientate themselves by comparing the city to other places they’ve visited, cross-referencing the visual clues in an attempt to understand the world into which they’ve been plunged. Thankfully after a few days most relent and freely admit that “Tbilisi is so Tbilisi” because the unique mix of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, Sovietica, Persian, Turkic, Russian and Modernism combine to make the place that is not only the Capital of Georgia but the Capital of the Caucasus feel at once homely and comforting yet somehow exotic and undiscovered.
One could be excused for not discovering the magical semi public, semi private spaces that the courtyards of Tbilisi represent if no-one were to show you these; after all they are hidden from view and if you come from Europe or North America you’d perhaps be too polite as to push that mysterious door and start exploring a place that you weren’t sure you should really be. The thing about visiting Tbilisi is that the city challenges you to get out of your comfort-zone. What was considered the second-most bohemian city in Europe at the turn of the 20th century is arguably now the most - there’s a can-do spirit in the air gayly infecting all-comers whether that’s gastro-hounds, crypto-bros, bon-vivants, intrepid-travellers and all those just curious to take a look.
Caught in a seemingly perpetual struggle between a controlling past in the Russian sphere-of-influence and a flourishing future as part of a wider-European future as the most Easterly member of the European Union we find Georgia thrust into the headlines each year as the government tries pushing unpopular reforms that echo laws enacted in Russia over a decade ago with the aim of stifling foreign influence Tbilisi feels like a cauldtron of emotions and competing interests. The courtyards of the Old Town show us the artistic attention to detail and plus-ça-change attitude of Tbilisilebi who’ve definitely seen this all before.
Spring often starts a little later in Tbilisi than in Central Europe but once the sun passes the Spring Equinox the mercury often rises rapidly after sometimes torrential April showers; those two elements combining to engulf buildings and courtyards in blossoms and bloom, late April into May is absolutely one of the highlight times to visit; you get pleasant daytime temperatures, a city that remembers much of life is lived outside and perfect conditions for exploring courtyards and making discoveries.
Modern cities often feel quite prescriptive and indeed, even here in Tbilisi the inexorable creep of AirBnB-ification and the homogenisation of exteriors and interiors to some beige-ennui of commercially-driven copy-paste continues unabated. The lockdowns and Ukraine War took some of the edge off of this development meaning there are still many places untouched by the prescriptive and unimaginative waves of gentrification - so if you haven’t yet beet to Tbilisi - there’s a great time to visit and that time is: right now.
