I don't think Halloween is a particularly huge thing in this part of the world, it's something that is more western that has slowly creeped (no pun intended) its way into the eastern nations with the spread of the Internet and the curiosity of each youthful generation that follows. Why would you want to miss out on all of the fun you see others having when you're browsing through the Internet and witnessing the holidays and cultures of others? Halloween has always been something very fun to me, but it's something I've rarely properly celebrated beyond just watching things throughout the month of October and having fun with the atmosphere through media. There is a bit more life to the Halloween side this year, I mean, last year's Halloween night I took a flight to Armenia. I missed whatever events would have followed within Turkey, and I don't think Armenia would've had much life to it on that front beyond one or two places. Tbilisi, Georgia seems to have a bit more of a party life to it. But that's one side of things I don't have a whole lot of interest in personally. I'm not one for loud environments and heavy drinking. I'm not alone there, however.
Tbilisi is riddled with Russians and Ukrainians that have a bit more of an existing western and European ideology to them. And with this comes the aspects of life that they miss from home. Where Tbilisi otherwise would fall flat. I've seen a few places throughout the city on social media advertising various events surrounding the holiday, and I visited a few of them out of curiosity and wanting a bit of fun having spent a few weeks mostly inside just working and getting some energy back. To no surprise, these events came from Russian-owned establishments. Cafes, bookshops, and bars. Each with their own unique environments to them. The first is a unique idea in which the name goes by Introvert Cafe. This is a small place that sticks true to its name: the cafe runs on the strangest hours I have ever seen, but having asked the owner of the place about those hours I received the answer of: the cafe is a side project, where its hours of operating are sporadic from 5PM to 10PM some days to 2PM to 10PM on other days, with two days in the week it remains closed. The cafe hosts various events where it makes much of its money, so the coffee side almost feels like an extra.
Here, we found an event of various interests: swaps in which you bring an item and take an item. Creative pursuits where you can do various crafts and create certain things related to themes. A tarot reading that I missed and fortunately won't be teased about my inevitable doom. The last is frequent markets in which the creations of various people in the city are sold. This ranges from stickers to knitted items or even produce. It's an incredibly creative space and it's evident upon entering from the street. The coffee mugs are handmade, the toffee they give you is also. But even the interior has identity, perhaps the most I have seen in Tbilisi so far in regards to cafe spaces. Little knitted characters sit upon the shelves. Various paintings and drawing surround. Supplies for drawing are even at the tables. It's a cafe that invites you to come in and sit down, and engage with an environment that will inspire you and give you a genuinely comfortable atmosphere. Perhaps my favourite space in Tbilisi so far! We grabbed hot chocolate with one of those handmade mugs for the event, given the coffee machine had unfortunately stopped working. It wasn't long until tons of people had arrived and the space became busy.
With the hot chocolate, we sat a little and pet the cafe cat which sleeps pretty much anywhere, even on you. With the drinks depleted and the cat having gone back to sleep on an actual bed, we roamed through the area that interested us the most: the little market of goods. There were some fun things here. Various stickers made by locals, and Halloween themed items. A lot of it didn't interest me to the point of wanting to buy anything, but it was cool to see some of the things people had made being put up for sale. The rest of the event was a little lacking. But that's sort of how things are here. Places try, but sometimes something just feels missing. I can't describe how many times this has happened in the past year, so it's almost expected when attempting to go to any sort of event. Curb those expectations! We spent a few hours here as the evening progressed, but the place began to grow a bit too busy to have a relaxing second drink. So we ended up leaving, and that was Introvert Cafe's Halloween event.
Another place we visted this holiday was a much more popular location around the edge of Vake and Mtatsminda, a book shop, bar, event location for music and lectures, and co-working space called Auditoria. The owner a woman from Moscow which has an incredibly loud default volume to her, but is lovely and will sit and speak with anyone that enters as if she's known them for years. I'm not so sure how the people co-working there are able to maintain their attention with the life below them! Auditoria changed up their drinks menu and had decorated the space a bit more. A few events here and there throughout the recent weeks. With a Halloween atmosphere that was utilised in various ways. We went there for coffee, to which it ended up in a long discussion with the owner over our travels and general life. Dimly-lit with a red as the night pressed on. Pumpkins surrounding that they had carved themselves with dead candles inside. These are the places to go to when you want a drink or some sort but don't want the chaos of a populated bar or with loud music!
As is usual, I forgot to take a picture of the drinks. But I intend to go back to these places a lot more often, to which I'll also be reviewing them later on. Little gems within Tbilisi where culture and creativity remain in an otherwise relatively cold city.
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