A cobbled lane
Wooden balconies and lights.
Andrew Milligan sumo — CC BY 2.0 · Andrew Milligan sumo — CC BY 2.0 · Giftzwerg 88 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Giftzwerg 88 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · tjabeljan — CC BY 2.0
A small cobbled pedestrian street in the heart of Tbilisi's old town, named after the French traveller Jean Chardin, who visited Georgia in the seventeenth century and wrote about it. The quarter was fully restored in the 2000s and became the old town's most elegant lane. Along it and its side lanes are restaurants, cafés and small galleries in old houses with wooden and iron balconies, with tables on the pavement under vines and strings of lights. In the evening it is one of the city's liveliest spots, with music and crowds, and at one end stands a whimsical statue of a Georgian reveller raising a wine horn. Wandering is always free. Restaurant prices on the street are higher than in neighbouring quarters. Tbilisi has well-known halal restaurants, many near the Tbilisi Mosque and the Abanotubani baths minutes away; some Shardeni places are wine bars, so choose as you prefer. Stroll it between Freedom Square and the sulphur baths; the Gabriadze clock tower and Anchiskhati Basilica are a short walk away.
Wooden balconies and lights.
In old houses.
Near the sulphur baths.
Old town, between Freedom Square and the Abanotubani baths, Tbilisi
Sioni CathedralThe Cathedral of the Dormition, known as the Tbilisi Sioni, stands on Sioni Stre1 minute walk4.9
Metekhi ChurchA medieval stone church on the Metekhi Cliff above the left bank of the Mtkvari,3 minutes walk4.8
Narikala FortressAn ancient fortress crowning a steep hill above Tbilisi's Old Town and the Mtkva3 minutes walk4.8
Bridge of Peace and Rike ParkA bow-shaped pedestrian bridge of steel and glass spanning 150 metres across the3 minutes walk4.8
Abanotubani Sulphur BathsA historic quarter of Tbilisi's Old Town whose Georgian name means «bath distric5 minutes walk4.4Near the Tbilisi Mosque and the Abanotubani baths, a few minutes' walk from the street.