🇬🇪 10 signs that you have become a real Tbilisi resident
Every city has its own everyday highlights. If they resonate with you, then the underside of the city is already clear! I lived in Tbilisi for more than a year and compiled 10 signs that you belong in this city.
1.
In the morning, go to Nikolai Levshits’ channel. Here you will find out the most important news from Georgia, watch announcements of events and new establishments, scroll through routes around Georgia and simply read comments. Sometimes there is a networking event with hundreds of messages where you can introduce yourself and find new contacts.
2.
The cost of renting your apartment doubled last year. And you're glad it's no more. Since 2022, a huge number of tourists have poured into Tbilisi. The apartments were snapped up in a minute! I didn’t have time to fly out for viewing – the housing was taken away. So the price tag rose from a comfortable $300 to a decent $500-800, although nothing in the housing itself has changed.
3.
On the weekend you face a difficult choice – the sea or the mountains. These are the main USPs of Georgia! The compactness of the country allows quick access to both the Black Sea and high mountain regions. Kakheti with its Caucasus range is a couple of hours from Tbilisi, you can fly to Svaneti by small plane, and the highest Georgian mountain Kazbek is just a three-hour drive along the most beautiful Georgian military road.
4.
Tbilisi is located in the mountains, 380-770 meters above sea level, but what kind of mountains are these if they are so low? Local beauty cannot be compared with the high mountain regions of the country – Svaneti and Tusheti. Upper Svaneti is located 1500 meters above sea level, and Tusheti, where one of the most dangerous roads in the world leads, is almost 1900!
5.
You wash either in the shower or in a sulfur bath. Georgian apartments rarely have bathrooms. Usually these are showers, and often not glazed. Particularly diligent tenants buy a bathtub themselves (if there is somewhere to put it, of course). Replace immersion in a bath with trips to sulfur baths or a trip to hot springs or the sea.
6.
You take the pills individually, because why do you need the whole pack? In Georgia, they don’t spend extra money on pharmacy supplies, but take as much as is needed for the course. This may be due to the low standard of living of the population. But the approach is very convenient, because often the extra pills purchased simply disappear.
7.
You know 10 varieties of tomatoes – and they are all good. You can also distinguish by color what cucumbers and peppers will be like. Tbilisi is full of fruit and vegetable stalls. The choice there is good: from the usual apples to pomegranates, tangerines, strawberries, cherries and other healthy products. You can also buy cheeses, milk and much more there. Of course, you can go to the supermarket, but every Tbilisi resident has his own favorite shop near his house, which he chose from a dozen neighboring ones.
8.
For shampoo, lipstick and diapers, you go to… a pharmacy. There are five of them in the area. All are partially reminiscent of beauty salons, because they have everything for self-care. Pharmacies offer branded cosmetics and mass market products, and sometimes even children’s toys! This is another argument not to go to the supermarket, but to walk around the area and collect everything you need in small retail outlets along with pharmacies.
9.
You know the phrase “arminda parkas” (no need for a bag), but you still come home from the store with a bunch of bags. Everything is wrapped in them: vegetables, fruits, cheese… Only the lavash (shoti) was given to you in a large piece of paper, and you proudly carry it in your hands along the entire street.
10.
You cross the road not at a traffic light, but when you need to. Drivers are aware that a pedestrian may appear in the middle of the road at any moment, and in fact they are always ready to save his life. That is, don’t drive so hard that you don’t have time to slow down.
