LA PLACE DES BAINS AND ORTATCHALA

Strange spherical structures, a splendid edifice that only looks like a mosque: we are in the Abanotubani district, the "bathing area", the oldest district of Tbilisi. Throughout history, successive invasions and earthquakes have left nothing of the original buildings elsewhere in the city. They were built of wood or mud. Most of the present structures here date from the 17th and 18th centuries. Abano, the street of the baths, leads to the unusual and splendid façade of the Orbeliani-Tchreli Baths. Dating from the 18th century, it evokes the splendour of the mosques of Esfahan in Shiraz, Iran, Kerbala in Iraq, and Samarkand. These traditional thermal baths are fed by the sulphurous hot springs which, according to legend, are at the origin of the foundation of Tbilisi. They were celebrated by the Arab geographer Ibn Awqal in the 10th century, Marco Polo, Alexander Dumas and Pushkin. These baths were much more than just a place to go to wash: they were the last lounges for exchanging news, cafés or meeting points. These architectures are Persian. In the past there were more than sixty baths, nowadays there are about thirty. Take a rejuvenation cure!

Above, the traditionally Azeri district of Ortatchala is also very picturesque. On Grichachvili Street, the Greek Church of St. Nicholas was built in 1846 by immigrant refugees from Anatolia. It is worth a visit.