By Nikola Marinko · Contractor's Executive Director and Project Manager, Ludwig Pfeiffer, Georgia, 2017-2021 · Updated October 2026 · 14 min read

I did not arrive in Tbilisi as a visitor. From January 2017 to April 2021 I was Contractor's Executive Director and Project Manager for Ludwig Pfeiffer GmbH, and our Tbilisi office coordinated ADB-financed water and wastewater work for UWSCG at Mestia, Zugdidi, Ureki and Anaklia. Most weeks we were on site. When meetings brought us back to the capital we stayed for the weekend, and an apartment in Saburtalo slowly turned into a home.

The story mixes those working years with the city itself. Rustaveli Avenue and the crooked Gabriadze clock tower in the old town. The cable car to Narikala Fortress and Mother Georgia, Sameba cathedral, the funicular to Mtatsminda Park, the Chronicles of Georgia by the Tbilisi Sea, and the lakes where the city breathes out, Turtle Lake and Lisi Lake among them. A hot air balloon over Rike Park, the Bridge of Peace at night, and the tables where project decisions were really made, from HB Restaurant and its pork ribs to Wine Factory N1 and McLaren's Irish Pub.

My own favourite was the simplest thing on the page: a cappuccino at Entrée and half an hour on a bench in Mziuri Park before the day started. If you only take one idea from it, take that one.

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Tbilisi, Georgia - Five Years in the City That Became My Base

FIELD STORY