Exploring the Sakura Blossom Festival in Tbilisi Botanical Garden

This isn't the first time I've been to Tbilisi's Botanical Garden. My first time was during autumn in which the scenes were absolutely lovely. All those autumn tones coming out under a rainy day. Huge waterfalls and little streams. That fresh smell of nature that I had been missing since I came all this way from the countryside of England, through the dusty Istanbul, and through the desert environment of Armenia during the height of summer. I returned a few more times, though after autumn I didn't have much reason to go to the Botanical Garden despite it being most likely the most peaceful part of the city of Tbilisi. It's located just next to the tourist hotspot of Tbilisi's sulphur baths in Old Tbilisi, right behind the huge Mother Georgia statue that stands above the city on the mountain. It's really easy to get to, though requires a little uphill walking. Alternatively there is a cable car station in Rike Park that takes you directly to Mother Georgia and subsequently the alternative entrance and exit to the Botanical Garden, the lesser-used one. I took a bus into Old Tbilisi used the uphill entrance, to which the size of the queue to get inside was massive, really unexpected.

Despite the odd person attempting to push in line, it didn't take too long to get inside, with a ticket price of the usual 4 Gel. But that queue to get inside made me realise that this was probably the largest event I have witnessed within the city, throughout my near year of being in Georgia. This was for the Sakura Blossoming weekend, a festival that was to be Japanese themed. This meant we saw the highest concentration of young people we had so far in the city. Sometimes, walking around, you don't really see many of them. So seeing all these people from their teens to early 20s dressed in various cosplay was a really interesting sight. That's something I hadn't really seen before, and it felt like it had sprung out of nowhere given Tbilisi's generally empty state of being. But seeing all that life and culture out of nowhere was nice, people of all ages engaging with the culture that surrounds the Sakura. Some in cosplay, some just being tourists or regular families on their day out for the weekend. And fortunately the sun was out, not too hot, not too cold.

Tbilisi Botanical Garden is a lovely place, but its main areas aren't too far from the main entrance. And that's where a small Japanese garden sits. I think this was where the main appeal was for the event. And just before it was a previous seating area turned into set of various stalls. Some Japanese themed music was playing, as people sat on the grass nearby or walked around checking out whatever was being sold. Two of the country's only anime and comic book shops had appeared and naturally were selling manga and various anime themed merchandise. Some stalls were selling various arts and crafts, Japanese themed items they had made from keychains to knitted items. These were fun things to walk around and take a look at, but mostly really expensive and not the type of thing people had much interest in buying. A big surprise to me was the lack of a food stall or place to get some coffee. These sorts of festivals are still very much new to Georgia and they haven't quite figured them out yet. Though it seemed the main attraction for people was the photography opportunity, and a large reason as to why so many people dressed up in cosplay: they could get out into the spring and pink environment and go crazy with photo shoots. 

Given there wasn't a whole lot to do around the stalls and the crowd was huge, we decided to walk a little beyond the festival and deeper into the park, near the main waterfall that provides sulphur water down to the sulphur baths in the city. The smell of rotten eggs is something you get used to around here. And some apartment buildings from the Soviet Union throughout the city still utilise this water for their main bathing water. Mine included! A little bit of quick history: Tbilisi is also referred to as Tiflis, which essentially refers to the natural hot springs of the region. I quite liked getting back into the garden and exploring a little. It's a beautiful area that would be really suitable for a picnic. And the park itself is ongoing a series of reconstructions in parts, so I do have the feeling that in time the city will open a little cafe not too far from the main entrance, and that would definitely make trips there a bit more enjoyable. 

I had two lenses with me for this event: the Sony 35mm F1.8 and the Sony 85mm F1.8. Though I didn't use the 85mm lens. I quite liked the wider perspective in capturing the main areas of the event but also getting a wider perspective of the trees and plants. The 85mm being a bit too tight sometimes. The Sakura blossoms themselves were also a little difficult to capture regardless of focal length due to how crowded that area was. The Sakura not actually being something that is found throughout the entire park but more concentrated around that Japanese themed garden where everyone else was. I did snap a few little shots though. And around the garden are some fun sights. The old towers and walls of the previous era. A huge castle that sits on the mountain that is currently getting some reconstruction. And there's a zipline that takes you from Mother Georgia into the Botancial Garden from that side, so the views must be really cool!

Though the history doesn't just extend that far back to hundreds of years ago. There are even Soviet era nuclear bunkers scattered around the main areas of the park. Though this area is blocked off and you can't take a closer look. But even from this end you can see numerous entrances, as well as the ventilation shafts. Not the usual botanical garden experience one might have, I assume! So despite the Sakura side of things being a bit chaotic, there was still plenty to see and do in the park, if anything it was more a reason to bring us back there and explore it a little more as the park again returns to its more green state after the long winter.