Mtatsminda means "Holy Mountain," and it rises straight up from the western edge of the centre, the great green wall that closes the city's view. Since 1905 a funicular railway has climbed it, hauling carriages up a steep cable line from a station near the foot of the slope to the ridge some seven hundred metres above the river.
The ride is half the pleasure. Partway up it pauses at the church of St David and the Pantheon, the terraced cemetery where many of Georgia's writers, poets, and public figures are buried — among them the poet Nino Chavchavadze and her husband, the Russian playwright Griboyedov, whose story is one of the city's great romances.
At the top waits Mtatsminda Park, an old-fashioned pleasure ground of Ferris wheels and fairground rides, restaurants, and shaded walks, all of it perched above the whole of Tbilisi. The view is the real attraction: the city laid out end to end, the river curling through it, the mountains beyond.
Go in the late afternoon and stay through dusk. Ride the funicular up, walk the Pantheon, and time the descent for the moment the city lights come on. The concierge can advise on opening hours, which shift with the season.
