Abanotubani — which translates simply as 'bath district' in Georgian — is the oldest and most atmospheric corner of Tbilisi, a neighbourhood built quite literally on top of the city's founding myth. Legend holds that in the 5th century, King Vakhtang Gorgasali was hunting when a falcon he'd loosed after a pheasant plunged into a hot spring and emerged cooked. The king, delighted by the natural thermal bounty, built his capital around it. Whether you believe the story or not, the sulfurous steam rising from the domed brick bathhouses still lends the area an ancient, slightly otherworldly quality that no amount of tourist foot traffic has managed to erase.
Neighbourhood