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Presidential Palace
Not far below Tsminda Sameba Cathedral, Georgia’s presidential palace (not open to visitors) is an equally unmissable if contrasting modern landmark, opened in 2009. Its ultraclassical portico is surmounted by a large, egg-shaped, glass dome.
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Meidan
In tsarist times Meidan was the site of Tbilisi’s bustling main bazaar. Today its busy with traffic but lined on two sides by restaurants and cafes, and it opens to the Metekhi Bridge over the Mtkvari – all overlooked by Narikala Fortress.
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Tunnel
On your way back down out of the cave city, don’t miss the long tunnel running down to the Mtkvari, an emergency escape route that could also be used for carrying water up to the city. Its entrance is behind a reconstructed wall beside the old main gate.
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Theatre
Ahead from the cave citys main gate you’ll find a cave overlooking the river with a pointed arch carved in the rock above it. Known as the Theatre, this is probably a temple from the 1st or 2nd century AD, where religious mystery plays may have been performed.
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Gonio
The most interesting sight south of Batumi is the fortress at Gonio , 11km from town, past the Chorokhi River. This is a vast and almost totally intact Roman fortress, which now has stunningly luscious gardens and is home to the grave of the Apostle Matthew/Levi.
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Shumi
This interesting smallish winery produces wines of numerous appellations under the Shumi and Iberiuli labels, and has a vineyard of about 400 vine varieties, along with a museum housing some astonishingly old wine-related objects. Tastings take place in a pretty garden.
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Salkhino
Salkhino, 15km north of Martvili, is the former summer palace of the Dadianis (and now an occasional residence of the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church). The monks at the adjacent monastery may open their wine cellar for you to taste their excellent Ojaleshi wine.
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Medea Monument
Towering over Evropas moedani is the striking Medea monument to ‘the person who brought Georgia closer to Europe’, according to Batumi’s mayor when it was unveiled in 2007. Sculpted by Davit Khmaladze, it controversially cost the Georgian government over one million GEL.
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Anakopia
From Novy Afon Caves it’s 2.5km uphill to Anakopia, capital of Abkhazia in the 8th century AD. Taxis can take you half way up for R100. Inside the hilltop citadel are the ruins of an 8th-century cathedral and a recently rebuilt 11th-century watchtower with awesome views.
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War Museum
The War Museum, 400m south of the Stalin Museum, is mostly devoted to Gori people’s involvement in WWII, but also contains a small display on the 2008 war. In the lobby are a few pieces of Russian ordnance from that war, including a cluster bomb that was dropped on Goris main squar
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St George & Dragon Monument
A golden statue of Georgias patron saint, St George, spearing his dragon, stands on a tall pedestal in the middle of the busy traffic nexus Tavisuplebis moedani (Freedom Sq). The statue was a gift to the city from its sculptor, the Moscow-based Georgian Zurab Tsereteli, in 2006.
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Martvili Canyon
Rides up the Abasha River through this 40-to-70m-deep canyon start at Inchkhuri, 5km north of Martvili. Its a pretty though not overwhelmingly exciting ride: the price per small inflatable boat (five or six passengers) is 30 GEL to go 350m up the canyon and back, or 60 GEL for 700m
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Otsindale Monastery
At Taia village, a few kilometres southeast of Mukhuri and 15km north of Chkhorotsu, this monastery stands on a superbly panoramic hilltop. Its church dates back to the 11th century: a solar disc on its ceiling and the nearby phallus stone are survivors from pre-Christian rites her
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Batonistsikhe Castle
Batonistsikhe was the residence of the Kakhetian kings in the 17th and 18th centuries. The complex includes a Persian-style palace where Erekle II was born and died, and art and history museums, but at research time was completely closed for renovations, probably till at least 2017
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Main Gate
To enter Uplistsikhe by its old main access track, go about 5m up the rocks opposite the cafe at the entrance, and follow the rock-cut path to the left. Metal-railed steps lead up through what was the main gate, with the excavated main tower of the Shida Qalaqi’s defensive walls to
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Museum of Money
Off the opposite corner of Tavisuplebis moedani is the well-presented Museum of Money , set up by the National Bank of Georgia next door. You can see Georgian money from the 6th century BC to the present day, including the Monopoly-style coupons used in 1993–94 before the lari was
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Borjomi Museum of Local Lore
Housed in the former Romanov offices, off the western end of Rustaveli, this diverse collection includes the first-ever bottle of Borjomi mineral water (1890) and other displays on the waters, plus china and glass from the Romanov palace, and sizeable exhibits of stuffed wildlife a
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Concert Hall & Exhibition Centre
The two large tubular metallic structures at the north end of Rike Park were commissioned from Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas during the Saakashvili era as a concert hall and exhibition centre. After Mikheil Saakashvili lost power, funding dried up and the project stood unfi
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Public Service Hall
Nicknamed the Umbrellas, this building by Italian Massimiliano Fuksas is the biggest of a dozen Public Service Halls opened in new, contemporary buildings around Georgia by the Saakashvili government – one-stop shops for citizens to deal quickly with government bureaucracy in an op
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Mosque
On the short walk up to the Botanical Gardens you pass the only mosque in Tbilisi that survived Lavrenty Beria’s purges of the 1930s. Its a red-brick building dating from 1895 and, unusually, Shia and Sunni Muslims pray together here. The interior is prettily frescoed and visitors
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