Tbilisi, Georgia

Tbilisi, Georgia - darkometer rating : 1 - The capital city of Georgia , and the hub of the country. It doesn't offer much in the way of dark sites itself, except a couple of minor sights. But it is an important travel hub and base for day trips e.g. to Gori . > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos What there is to see: Tbilisi may have fewer attractions of really dark nature compared to Baku , Stepanakert or especially Yerevan , but it's still an important stop of any longer trip around the Caucasus region. And it has a couple of interesting sights too. Possibly of minor interest to those interested in all things dark but certainly something for anyone with a taste for Soviet grand weird monuments, should be the city's " Mother Georgia " statue high on a hill (cf. the Rodina Mat statue in Kiev ). It's known in Georgian as Kartlis Deda – and it can bee seen from far away, thanks to its location, even though its size isn't all that gigantic, at 20 m tall (65 feet). The shiny silver aluminium cladding can catch the light of the rising or setting sun nicely making her look like she's glowing. In a way that is understood by some to be symbolic of the overall Georgian mind-frame, she's holding up in her left hand a cup of wine, signalling hospitality, while having a sword at the ready in her right hand, to ward off enemies. You can walk right up to her plinth from the Old Town by first taking the steep road up to the entrance of the Narikala Fortress that dominates the rest of the south-western skyline of Tbilisi. Then a footpath leads along the side of the mountain ridge all the way to Mother Georgia ... and beyond – you could also use the steep path and steps down the flank of the mountain.