Sightseeing tour of Tbilisi and excursion to the ancient capital of Georgia Mtskheta in one day

According to legend, the city was covered with forests in 458. When King Vakhtang Gorgasal was hunting in these forests, his falcon wounded the pheasant. The bird led him to warm springs, which struck the king. Gorgasal ordered to build a city on this site and name Tbilisi, which means “warm spring”. It's just a legend, though. The capital was moved to these places because of its favorable geographical location. On one side the river Mtkvari (Kura), and on the other mountains, which was, to some extent, a defense against enemy raids. It was here that the Great Silk Road passed, at the entrance of which a toll was paid, which caused a frequent attack on Georgia by Tbilisi, the capital and largest city of Georgia. Located on the banks of the river Kura (Mtkvari). The city covers an area of 726 km2; it is home to 1118.3 thousand people (2015). Mtskheta was founded in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. According to legend, the city was founded by the legendary Mtskhetos. “After the death of King Karthlos, his wife divided the lands among her sons. Among them, the elder Mtskhetos settled in the place of the flow of the rivers Aragvi and Mtkvari (Kura), built a city and called it his name. In the IV century BC. e. the Cartlian king Azo (Azov) was declared the capital of the Kartli kingdom. Since the end of the V century AD, the capital of the Kartli Kingdom was transferred to Tbilisi. The city is very ancient, the very first capital of Georgia, Mtskheta was a city in the full sense of the word until 736, when it was destroyed by the Arab army of Mervan Kru. After the destruction, it became a village and only in 1956 it returned to the status of a city. Now there are 7-8 thousand people living here.