ABSTRACT
T bilisi has been the capital of Georgia for the last 1,400 years and, dueto its unique positioning between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus,also the unofficial sovereign of these ‘Mountains of Languages.’ Ever since the fifth century when it took control of the Kingdom of Kartli (then East Georgia) Tbilisi has had to disguise its trade within whatever system the current invading army decided to inflict. As a result, its amiable riverside streets, numerous parks and tree-lined avenues have jostled with every brand of hot blooded mountain man, trader, traveller and soldier, all presenting an honourable front — the more to conceal a vigorous, less honourable free-forall of human instinct.
