Tbilisi Botanic Garden in the spring time

I
n an expansive area of the Sololaki mountain range, yet on the city’s doorstep, is the Tbilisi Botanic Garden. Accessible by cable car from Rike Park (near the Peace Bridge) or by walking up the 1.5 kilometre slope of the range, the gardens are tranquil and beautiful. It opened in 1845 and has been gradually improving and expanding, bringing to it a vast range of flora.

The gardens cover 128 hectares and include the river Tsavkistkali in the Leghvtakhevi gorge. The river divides the area into two parts, each side connected with several bridges. An arched bridge over a waterfall was built in 1914. Amid the trees, bamboo, plants, lawns, paths, tracks, caves, and gazebos are old graves – one of them the grave and monument of Mirza Fatali Akhundov, the Azerbaijani author and playwright (1812-1878). He moved to Tbilisi in 1834 where he worked as a teacher and translator of oriental languages. Known for The Oriental Poem about the death of poet Alexander Pushkin, and the novel The Deceived Stars, he also wrote comedic plays and critiques, such as On Rumi and His Work about the poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273).

The gardens are predominantly trees, rather than manicured plant displays. Within the gardens are pines, bamboo, and native forests – but also magnificent views of the Narikala fortress and surrounds, as well as the city of Tbilisi.

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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