Stories

Stories from the city.

Food · 3 min read

The Candy That Tastes Like the Harvest: Tbilisi's Churchkhela Season

Each October, as the last grapes come off the vines, Tbilisi's markets fill with candle-shaped ropes of walnuts dipped in thickened grape juice. Here's what churchkhela actually is, and where to buy the real thing.

Read the story

Festivals · 3 min read

The City Throws Itself a Birthday Party: A Guide to Tbilisoba

Every October, Old Tbilisi shuts its streets to traffic and opens them to wine, khinkali and folk music for Tbilisoba — the noisy, warm-hearted festival where the whole city celebrates its own birthday.

Traditions · 3 min read

How to Bathe Like a Tbilisian: A Guide to the Sulphur Baths

Brick domes, hot mineral water and a scrub that leaves you gasping — Abanotubani's sulphur baths are Tbilisi's oldest ritual, and one any visitor can walk into today.

Architecture · 5 min read

Why Tbilisi balconies look the way they do

Carved, glazed and slightly crooked — the wooden balconies of Old Tbilisi tell the story of a city at a crossroads.

Wine · 6 min read

The story behind Georgian wine

Clay jars, amber wine and 8,000 years of tradition.

Neighbourhoods · 7 min read

A walk through Sololaki

Merchant mansions, painted ceilings and a ridge-top sunset.

Hidden Tbilisi · 4 min read

10 details you might miss in Old Tbilisi

Small things that make the old city unforgettable.