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| The city view at the end of the funicular ride |
Tbilisi is one of the world's cities with a funicular. Which means, of course, I have to go for a ride.
The funicular station was a little more than a one-mile walk from my hotel. Uphill. Funiculars, being on steep inclines, tend not to be found in the flatlands, although it was a flat walk to the Baku funicular. This was not a flat walk.
The number 120 there means that it is the age of the Tbilisi funicular. It started operations in 1905, which is, I believe, coincidentally, the year of the founding of Las Vegas. Eventual year 1905.
And though the funicular is 120 years old, these are not 120-year-old cars. These are very modern, but not too much so.
There actually was a funicular driver in the vehicle. I'm not sure how much actual driving was required. But I have rode in more than a few driverless funiculars.
I do prefer the traditional driver-ed funiculars.
This is a two-stop funicular, which means there was an intermediate stop halfway up the hillside. The first stop was the Mtatsminda Pantheon, a final residence from many prominent national heroes and artists. I almost typed "of the past," but given the fact that everyone residing in a cemetery or mausoleum is "of the past" -- we do not inter the living -- at least not yet -- so I edited out the "of the past" as a repetitive redundancy. Mtatsminda Pantheon:
At the summit, right next door to the upper funicular station, was the terminus for the cable car line that started near the Rustaveli Metro Station. In Tbilisi, they also call "cable cars" ropeways.
I first saw the word "ropeway" and envisioned one of the awful nightmarish rope bridges that swing wildly over ravines where with each step you risk plunging 10,000 feet below into the bottom of gorge. This is not that kind of ropeway. I would be willing to ride this sort of ropeway. If there had been no funicular to or from Mtatsminda Park.
Here is a view of the ropeway line:
Mtatsminda Park is an amusement park with carnival games and old-fashioned rides such as bumper cars (which were not operational at the time I was at the park) or one of those rides where people sitting on swings go round and round in circles and somehow the rapid speed of the circling is supposed to make it better,
The park also had what I am guessing was a single-service ride
It's an elephant with a big red basket on its back. What child would not want to take a ride in one of these. Looks much more fun that swings going in circles at a fast speed.
There also was a ferris wheel, although it was more like one of those giant ferris wheels that all the cities have nowadays/
I'm not criticizing this one because it's where ferris wheels should be. In an amusement park. It's not in some tourist zone where amusements are otherwise not found. This is the rare giant ferris wheel that is properly sited. I'm still not going to ride it. I don't do things that just go round in circles.
And this is an interesting ride. Or should I say: rides.
Lined up right to each other are personal transportation vehicles. Two small cars for children to ride in. Two electric four-wheel scooters for the senior circuit. I have not seen any grotesquely overweight people here in Tbilisi (yet), so those are not the target demographic for these particular mobility scooters.
The personal transportation vehicle rental kiosk is near the upper funicular station and the upper ropeway station. And that means that my visit to Mtatsminda Park was coming to its conclusion and it was time to descend.
This was a particularly impressive funicular. Steep and longer than many.
And a clear roof so you don't miss any sights overhead.
Back to the lower part of town and for the walk back to my hotel to rest my bones.
The walk back was a bit easier, being downhill all the way.
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