Narikala Fortress
1.38 mi / 2.22 km from the hotel
The fortress came before the city. By the time King Vakhtang founded Tbilisi in the fifth century, a stronghold already stood on this ridge, guarding the narrow point where the Mtkvari cuts through the hills. Every power that held Tbilisi held Narikala — Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Ottomans, Russians — and each rebuilt it to its own design, which is why its walls seem to belong to no single century.
The Arabs gave it the core of what survives, and the name is thought to come from a Persian word for an inner citadel. A lightning strike in 1827 found the powder store and brought down much of the upper fort; what remains is a magnificent, weathered crown of stone and the small church of St Nicholas, rebuilt within the walls.
The easy way up is the cable car from Rike Park, a four-minute glide over the rooftops. The better way down is on foot, through the steep lanes that empty into the Old Town. From the ramparts the whole city arranges itself below you: the river, the bathhouse domes, the new glass bridge, and the Mother of Georgia standing guard along the same ridge.
