Our cultural adventure in Tbilisi, Georgia

There are many theaters, puppet show, mime show, concert and frequent dance performances in Tbilisi. However, the promotion posters are always very last minutes. We could find performance schedules from the tourist information center or poster in the street. Sometimes, they just have attractive posters and only announce “coming soon” without any details of when it is showing. We were in time for the film festival but it’s only one week ahead that they start telling you what movies they are showing and tickets sales starts 5 days ahead. I also found a contemporary dance festival online without details. I emailed them and they said it’s delayed for one month and no further information yet. Another time, we get a traditional Georgian music concert tickets and only when arriving the concert hall that night, they accounted that the concert is postponed. The show starts at 8pm and the staff are writing an English announcement at the door at 8:10pm! We faced problem in finding entrance of the theater and concert hall too. As they are under renovation, it’s covered by construction panels and the main door open only 15mins before the show starts.

As for house museums, some are free, while others are not. They belong to famous Georgian artists, including painter, choreographer, poet, writer and musicians. It’s cozy and homey. We found a brochure about the opening time but they are not usually accurate. We have a hard time finding the place. Once we find a museum with a sign at the entrance but we cannot find the museum itself. Our language barrier makes it difficult to ask direction and the opening time seems a bit random, it might take a second visit to find it open. We feel like visiting these artists without an appointment and it’s like an adventure.

After all, we stayed one month in Georgia and it’s a dynamic country with beautiful nature and friendly people. It is pushing its modernization in high speed, looking forward to become part of EU and to separate itself from Russian influence. We expect that it would be very different in a few years time.