Discover Tbilisi

According to Georgian legend, King Vakhtang I Gorgasali was hunting in the forested valleys of the Mtkvari River in the 5th century when his falcon struck a pheasant, and both birds fell into a hot spring. The king discovered the thermal waters and declared this the site of his new capital, naming it Tbilisi from the Georgian word tbili, meaning warm. Whether legend or history, the sulfur springs of Abanotubani still steam today beneath the walls of Narikala Fortress, drawing visitors to the same waters that have soothed travelers for over 1,500 years.

The fortress itself predates the city, with the earliest fortifications built around 364 AD during the reign of King Varaz-Bakur as a Persian citadel. Over the centuries, it was expanded by Arab emirs in the 7th and 8th centuries, transformed into a royal residence by King David the Builder in the early 12th century, and renamed Narin Qala (Little Fortress) by Mongol invaders. Though an explosion in 1827 destroyed much of the interior, the walls that remain trace the outline of sixteen centuries of history, overlooking a city that has been conquered and rebuilt by Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Ottomans, and Russians, yet has never lost its Georgian soul.