Birdseye View and a Bath

Another gallery start, this time in the Art Museum of Georgia, for a wider view of Georgian painters. There were of course more works by Pirosmani …

… this one all about the wine harvest …

… but also his contemporaries, who in their lifetimes achieved more acclaim such as David Kakabadze …

… Lado Gudiashvili …

… Shalva Kikodze …

… and Elene Akhvlediani.

There was also a floor with fragments of medieval Georgian relief sculpture, beautifully displayed and lit.

Now time for some more exploring and a coffee …

… then we walked over the Peace Bridge to Rike Park …

… and took another cable car up for a closer look at the Mother of Georgia who looks down on Tbilisi.

She embodies the Georgian national character with a sword to protect her country and a bowl of wine for welcomed guests.

We got a good view of the centre of the city …

… but the day had become very warm and humid with the threat of a downpour, so we didn’t go into the botanical garden and instead made our way down the Bethlehem Steps which wind their way through some lovely old houses back to the city.

Arriving in Abanotubani, we finished the afternoon with a visit to Guli’s baths, where we had booked a private room for two, although I think they upgraded us as it was huge!

We started by soaking in the hot pool to soften our skin, then the mekise came in to give Chris his kisi treatment, a traditional, vigorous exfoliating scrub, followed by a soapy wash and concluding with a cold bucket of water over his head! Afterwards it was my turn, but the lady mekise was more gentle, and I was allowed to use the cold plunge pool rather than being doused! We spent the rest of our hour alternating between the hot and cold pools before showering. Our skin was left amazingly soft – another bathing experience to add to our now quite extensive list!

In the evening, we headed to Muse, which we had passed during the day and thought looked worth a proper visit.