Day 22: Tasting Our Way Through the Dezerters Bazaar, a Familiar View, and a 3 AM Goodbye

Sunday was another chill day overall, but we spent our morning and early afternoon diving face-first into the culinary heart of Tbilisi. We booked an Airbnb Experience called "Enjoy Street Food and the Dezerters Bazaar market" to sample 10 of the locals' favorite street foods, hidden gems, and bustling market stalls.

It was a super delicious and fun experience, but we walked away with one major piece of advice for anyone planning a trip here. Here is how our foodie Sunday went:

1. The Street Food & Bazaar Agenda

We met our local host at the Akaki Tsereteli statue right near the main market hub and immediately got to tasting:

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  Flavors of the Bazaar: We navigated the chaotic, vibrant labyrinth of the famous Dezerters Bazaar. Our guide led us straight to the best vendor stalls, where we sampled authentic Georgian spices, cheeses, and churchkhela.

• Hole-in-the-Wall Bakery: We got to watch exactly how traditional Shoti bread is smacked onto the clay walls of a deep tone oven and ate a loaf fresh, steaming hot, and perfectly crispy.

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  Legendary Underground Diner: We stopped at an incredible, old-school underground restaurant that has completely survived modern gentrification. Eating where the locals actually eat gave us a real taste of unpretentious, historic Tbilisi dining.

• The Donut Line: We joined the queue at a tiny, buzzing street kiosk to try the ultimate local comfort dessert—hot, sugar-powdered Georgian donuts (ponchiki).

• Retro Soda Mixes: To wash it all down, we tried some of the famous, brightly colored traditional syrups (like tarragon and pear) that Georgians use to mix their iconic, nostalgic soda drinks.

🔥 CRUCIAL STUDENT PRO-TIP: While the tour was absolutely amazing, well-guided, and delicious, this is an experience you really should do at the very start of your trip.Because we had already been living in Tbilisi for three weeks, we had actually already explored all of these spots and tried most of these foods on our own! If you do this on Day 1 or Day 2, it will serve as the perfect cheat-sheet for the rest of your exchange program. If you do it at the end, it’s still a great lunch, but you won't get that "secret discovery" feeling.

2. More Sightseeing and a Familiar View

After finishing the food tour, my mom and I still had some energy, so we headed back out to explore even more of the city's streets and neighborhoods.

To wrap up the afternoon perfectly, we decided to return to our favorite spot from Friday night: the rooftop bar on top of the Hotel Mercure Tbilisi Old Town. We loved the panoramic views of the city so much the first time that we just had to experience it again. Sitting up there in the daylight gave us a totally different perspective of the historic skyline below.

3. Staying Awake for the 3 AM Flight

This day also marked my mom's very last day in Georgia. Because European flights out of Tbilisi love to depart at incredibly crazy hours, her flight back home wasn't scheduled until 3:00 AM Monday morning.

Instead of trying to get a few hours of broken sleep, we decided to just stay up together until it was time to leave. I rode with her all the way to the airport, helped her get checked in, and stayed with her until she went through security to board her plane.

By the time I took a taxi back to the apartment and finally crawled into bed to sleep, it was well into the early morning hours. It was sad to see her go, but I'm so glad we got to share such an packed, unforgettable weekend together.