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Rike Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, gradually developing



Almost a year ago, on June 30, 2013, I commented on the upgrade and renovations of Rike Park on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari (Kura) River in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Bridge of Peace – or Peace Bridge – leads directly to the park. Improvements are continuing, and with spring, the park has added colour and new growth.


From the park visitors can climb the steps to Avlabari to gain a view of the city, or take the cable car to the Narikala fortress and the giant silver statue of the Mother of Georgia (Kartlis Deda). It also leads to the Botanical Gardens. The cable car was opened on June 23, 2012, and cost 2 Lari for the return ride to the ridge and back to the park. It is now 4 Lari (about $2.50). The dome of the Presidential Palace can also be seen from the bridge, the park, and the cable car.
The glass Music Theatre & Exhibition Centre – the one I described a year ago as a “Cornetto ice cream” – is commonly called the Rike Tubes!  They look like gaped-mouthed sea cucumbers. The cable car housing (terminus), that I described as a “lopsided glass box” is still unlandscaped around it, but progress has been made. As for the controversial Peace Bridge which I described as resembling “a marine gastropod mollusc, such as a cephalaspidean sea slug” – I think today, in the sunlight, it looks like a futuristic wimple. But all add to the continuous conversation about their appearances and worth – and provide an attraction and place to congregate all year round – day and evening.


Flower beds and trees have been planted and are growing well, and there are ample benches and seats in various locations around the park. Also the 15th Buddha-Bar and restaurant was opened on March 28, 2012, on the banks of the river at the park, right at the entrance of Peace Bridge and on the opposite bank of the Peace Bridge is the Shangri La casino (that opened on March 1, 2012).


More and more residents sit in the park during their lunch period or visit at night when the neon and LED lights illuminate the area. Visitors can relax in the park, dine at the casino or restaurant, take the cable car to the ridge (operational from 11:00am to 11:00pm), or wander about the Old City (on the casino side – the right bank - of the Peace Bridge).






MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


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