Old Tbilisi is a great place to walk around to get a good feel for old Georgian architecture. While you're there however, you'll most likely accidentally (or intentionally after reading this post) find yourself surrounded by the smell of hookah and restaurants and cafés that seemingly popped up out of nowhere. When you experience that, you'll know you're in Chardin, a series of old streets so old and narrow that they can't even accommodate a Fiat. While the three main "Chardin" (two of them aren't officially named Chardin, but that general area is called Chardin because they blur together) streets themselves are old, their surface is bustling with new restaurants, cafés, and people. There isn't much historical significance to Chardin, other than it's a fun place to walk around with friends and to hang out at one of the numerous eating spots. Hookah is also huge on Chardin and there are parts of it where it's just lined with hookah bars filling the air with various fruity flavors. If Chardin is too bustling and cramped for you, however, you can now visit David Agmashenebli Avenue too. 

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   David Agmashenebeli Avenue (Agmashenebli Avenue for short because writing just the last name of the king it's named after each time is tiring enough) is a newly restored street that was closed off from cars to be turned into a new pedestrian hangout destination. Its architecture is very different from Chardin's because Chardin features more old Tbilisi architecture from its earlier centuries. Agmashenebeli Avenue has architecture from the 19th century and the streets are comparatively much wider. Because it's so new however (at least from when I visited), many of the restaurants, cafés, and shops are still being "moved in", but by the time you make your visit to Georgia it will most likely already be just as busy as Chardin. No matter which street you end up preferring, Chardin or Agmashenebli, both are a good example of Georgia's work to live ideology that never underestimates the importance of a good place to eat and hang out with friends and family. 

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