Sound of the Tbilisi Metro

Here are a few more photos I took of the Tbilisi Metro. This is the Freedom Square station, serving Parliament and one of the more touristish areas of the city. This is the stop we got off at to go to the Dry Bridge Market. The following pictures are of the blue metro train. Most of them are painted up in Georgian colors, but at least one, possibly two, are painted blue.

I made an audio recording of riding the Metro which can be downloaded if the embedded player doesn't work. Initially, the listener finds themself waiting in a busy station waiting for the metro to arrive. Then it does and the listener boards and rides to the next stop. This brings back a lot of memories for me! After a month I still found riding the Metro to be fun.

Learning Russian / Tbilisi at Night / Metro

I've also decided to show some photos of my favorite Metro stations to supplement the previous post. Rustaveli station definitely has the nicest exterior with its concrete mural. There is always one and only one door open in each direction at every Metro station and you must always go through that open door and never open any other. Apparently that's an unwritten Georgian law.

The Technical Institute station has the nicest interior design, I think, and is better-lit than most stations. It is all grey, but the ceiling provides its own contrast. It also directs attention to the mosaic-mural.

Finally, Tsarateli station certainly has the most vivid use of color. It's darker inside than my photos indicate, but I felt like editing them to show how it would look if properly lit. Many of the other stations are less interesting and even more poorly lit, but these show off the best of Tbilisi Metro. The best-designed stations seem to have been built in the 1970s.

A side note about police in Georgia. Apparently this country used to be pretty unsafe and the police were unreliable and generally useless. Now the nicest buildings in all of the small towns are police stations, and in Tbilisi they get quite grandiose. It is said that the all-glass walls symbolizes police transparency, but you might notice that half of the panels have walls behind them. XD

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Tbilisi Metro

A train enters the station

The arch creates a strong roof for the deep stations

Some stations still sport Soviet-era signage in Russian, such as Delisi

Delisi station

The front has been upgraded but the train is old

Redecorated in Georgian colours

The old traincar numbers are beautiful

Inside an empty late-night traincar

Inside Station Square

Waiting to board the next train in Station Square

Each stop has its own unique style

Escalators are often provided to save climbing hundreds of steps

The Metro can be entered through underground crosswalks such as these (English graffiti here can get quite silly!)

Usually with the "M" sign but sometimes missing

Or at ground-level entrances such as this

I've started a tumblr blog entitled "мы из будущего", or, "we are from the future" inspired by the name of the Soviet Russian television programme named as such (not the modern film). In it I post various photos and scans of items of interest from the USSR. Some of these will be shown on Philosophothought, but much won't make it this far. This accompanies my other tumblr blog X Over It (and similarly named youtube channel, still with only one video though) which is about typewriters and mostly duplicates information from Philosophothought.

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Tbilisi, Georgia

The Presidential Palace neighborhood posesses some interesting contrast

Abandoned buildings amongst the occupied but deteriorating residences

Hotel for $30 per night including (almost always) running water

A quiet street

Kardanakhi Turn

Not as much contrast, but it's still there

"41" was the winning candidate of the October presidential election

One drab, deteriorating complex after another

Yet, they are very well designed, and must have been excellent when new

Our building on Zakaraidze Str

From the 7th floor

Over the years each flat has been altered by its residents

From ground level

One of the numerous exterior stairwells with semi-enclosed lifts

When I mention the consistent failure of American cities, I am referring to the ones I am familiar with. I know there are very good metro/subway/underground systems there, but I've never had the advantage to experience one firsthand.

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