Discover the essentials of Georgia
2024
Highlights of the trip
During your stay you can enjoy the following highlights: Culture / Heritage.
Best times to go
The best time(s) to go is/are : Printemps, Eté, Automne.
Where to stay - Tbilissi ?
The map of your stay "Discover the essentials of Georgia"
Detail of the stay : Discover the essentials of Georgia
How to get there - Tbilissi
First step in Tbilisi
Steps: Tbilissi
Stroll with the Tbilisians along the city's lively artery, Avenue Roustavéli. Explore the adjacent neighborhoods and take a detour to Mount Mtatsminda and its Georgian pantheon. Taste Georgian culinary traditions, taste khinkalis and drink wine in a few doukani (traditional tavern).
Places of interest : AVENUE ROUSTAVÉLI MONT ET PARC MTATSMINDA
Tbilisi, an amazing city
Steps: Tbilissi
Visit the very eastern old town, where time seems to have stopped; it is a veritable maze of alleys where indigenous, Russian and Persian architecture mingle strangely. Visit its churches, Georgian and Armenian, its mosque, synagogue, fortress and botanical garden, its ornate balconies. Don't miss the magnificent sulphur baths that amazed Pushkin and Alexander Dumas, where Azeri masseurs will take good care of you.
Places of interest : MOSQUÉE DE TBILISSI SYNAGOGUE JARDIN BOTANIQUE DE TBILISSI
Between Soviet remains and oriental accents
Steps: Tbilissi
Cross the bridge and visit the left bank of the Koura; discover the popular imperial architectural district of Aghmachenebeli Avenue, with its beautiful 19th century facades; then the station bazaar, Bazroba, a real city in the city, where Eastern life resurfaced at the end of the Soviet era. Cross the river again to stroll through the prestigious Soviet districts of Vera and Vaké, the most popular in the Tbilisi region. Backing against the hill, Vaké gives way to the forest, where the ethnographic museum is located, in which the traditional habitats of the different regions of Georgia are reconstructed. Climb up to Turtle Lake, a place of relaxation for the inhabitants, which gives a taste of the mountains.
Places of interest : AVENUE AGHMASHENEBELI LAC DE LA TORTUE KUS TBA MUSÉE D'HISTOIRE ET D'ETHNOGRAPHIE
Mtskheta, former capital of Georgia
Steps: Mtskheta
Leave the metropolis to get a taste of the Georgian landscape, in Mtskhéta: a small town 15 km from Tbilisi, the former Georgian capital, it is the true spiritual centre of the country. In a spectacular valley narrowing, the Monastery of the Cross (Djvari), at the end of the Great Caucasus chain, overlooks the city. It is from here that Saint Nino is said to have converted the royal family to Christianity and planted the first cross in Georgia: a vine cross. Below, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is the jewel of Georgian architecture, with its bas-reliefs, frescoes and icons. This is the religious heart of the country. If you have time, you will go to the monastery of Chiomrvimé. At Mtskhéta, don't forget to eat lobio, a spicy red bean soup, which would be the best in the country.
Places of interest : CATHÉDRALE DE SVETITSKHOVELI
In the footsteps of Stalin
Steps: Ouplistsikhe
Take a trip to Gori, Stalin's birthplace, where, during his lifetime, a museum was built in his honour, which has remained almost unchanged since then. A testimony to Soviet ideology, this museum is a unique experience, raw and without comment. From Gori, a pleasant city, although the tensions of the 2008 war may still be felt, which has a remarkable fortress, you can easily go to Ouplistsikhé, a cave city of the first millennium BC, which overlooks the Koura in an almost lunar landscape of arid and dented cliffs. This impressive site contains pagan cult sites, royal rooms, Georgia's oldest theatre and a charming 11th century chapel in caves. If you want to discover more, a few kilometres away, the Ateni valley leads to the church of Sion, nestled in a splendid site.
Places of interest : MUSÉE STALINE
Excursion to the end of the world
Steps: David Garedja
Take another step in the cave adventure: get lost in David Garedja's semi-desert monasteries. Asian centre landscape on the border of Azerbaijan, medieval cave frescoes in the middle of the steppe, astonishing architectural complexes, horse herders: you will feel at the end of the world. And you will be at the easternmost point of the Christian world. To go, you will pass through the Soviet Institution town, istrian in the middle of nowhere, and its impressive central Stalinist avenue.
Through the Greater Caucasus
Steps: Stépantsminda Khazbégui
Take the Georgian Military Road, the only natural route through the Greater Caucasus, which has often been impassable. The Arabs committed themselves to it in the 7th century, the Russians arrived here in the 19th century. You will go into the mountains, discover the beauty of Lake Jinvali, then that of the fortified ecclesiastical site of Ananouri. Crossing the Col de la Croix, you will arrive after half a day at Stepantsminda (Kazbégui), on the Terek, on the border with Russia, at the foot of Mount Kazbek, the third peak of the Caucasus where Prometheus was reportedly chained. Walk to the Chapel of the Holy Trinity (Tsminda Sameba) whose silhouette has become emblematic of the Caucasus. Eat khinkalis in Stepantsminda, where they are supposed to be the best, taste the picturesque mountain traditions by staying with the locals.
Time Leap in the Sno Valley
Steps: Sno
Before you go down, take a trip to the wild Sno valley, which leads to the isolated Khévsourétie, the mythical ancestral traditions. The Fortifié's fortified village is worth the trouble, and you will be able to feel back in a century.
Visit to Tbilisi
Steps: Tbilissi
Enjoy Tbilisi and its lively life again. Check out the monumental new Trinity Cathedral (Sameba), built in 2004 and financed by a millionaire businessman, in the heart of Avlabari, the traditional Armenian district. You can also visit Sabourtalo, a modern district of universities and hospitals. You can spend an evening at the opera house, the conservatory, in a music restaurant, or, if you are lucky, watch a folk dance and music ensemble perform. If you have energy for other adventures, take a trip to Kakhetia, the cradle of Georgian wine.
