Vazha-Pshavela Avenue Tbilisi – Where F9 was filmed

How many people can brag that the street they spent their whole childhood walking up and down, between school and home, is the venue for a climactic scene in a popular Universal Pictures franchise? Well, I definitely can.

Vazha-Pshavela Avenue caught the attention of the director of the 9th Fast and Furious installment back in 2018. Perhaps it was the alternating combination of light pink, champagne yellow, and sky blue colors of the residential buildings throughout the length of the avenue, or the exotica of the fascinating Georgian writings on banners and small shops that allured Mr. Justin Lin, but whatever it was, the scene came out epic. 

And now, whenever I’m in the middle of my daily 5km stroll and I gaze at the car lanes, my mind pulls up the shot of John Cena smashing a stuntman into a banner with a dog grooming ad. 

Vazha-Pshavela is not a typical ‘souvenir avenue’ (as I like to call the most famous streets that tourists usually visit), true enthusiasts of anthropology can enjoy observing the regular rhythm of Tbilisians’ routines and if you walk far enough, you’ll bump into the monument of Vazha-Pshavela himself.