The border crossing was very straightforward, the quickest yet and no visas required.
Our first night was bush camping in Kakheti region which is Georgia's wine country. Our location was quite scenic by a river with a monastery on top of the hill. A shame about the rain tho!. Set up camp, a chicken curry for dinner and a couple of drinks before heading off to our tents for the night, somehow I ended up with 2 dogs guarding my tent, nice but kept me awake with their barking if anyone dared venture too close!
Next morning was not so much fun with wet tents to be packed up and loaded in the roof of the truck (I'm on tent duty so ended up muddy and wet!). But worst of all was wet sleeping bags etc... most of us were not too happy and asked for home stay options.
A visit to Alaverdi cathedral, built initially in 11th century
still operational and the main spiritual centre of the area, inside the
church are some great frescos including George and the Dragon.
There is a nunnery and a monastery at this site, a full wine cellar after the recent harvest of the grape vines but alas, unfortunately we couldn't enter!
Ikalto monastery, this was founded in the 6th
century and in a lovely setting although very misty and was a famous
Georgian academy,no longer producing any wine but renovation works have
uncovered underground wine cellar,the barrels used for storage and
baths for pressing the grapes with tree trunks.
Next night we stayed in Telavi the largest town in this region, not
too much to do here but glad for a home stay even though there's no
heating in the rooms, at least it's dry and the shower was hot.
The food was great with many regional favourites including the Georgian cheese pie 'Khachapuri' and 'Dolma' (rice and meat parcels wrapped in vine leaves)
Nodari's wine cellar,
traditional wine making at a family home. Vats in the underground wine
cellar, tested out some 2 year old white, a 13 year old red and the local
fire water chacha! Not bad but a little sweet for my liking. Great
bread and cheese too!
Next stop another winery, a bit more modern and producing 200 ,000
litres of wine per year (2 white, 1 red) and 5,000 litres of grappa a
year. The dry red was very good, got talking to the old lady of the
house who was partial to the un-skinned white! Couldn't leave without a
purchase or two and an impromptu English lesson to 2 local 10 year olds!
Time to get the party started with music and dancing on truck! Our
truck was given a new name too!
That night 13 of us deserted the truck for a home stay, 3 of our group had left earlier that morning leaving just 8 to camp including the crew and guide.
We stayed in a pretty walled town called Sighnaghi which is in a spectacular setting with views of the valley below, the Caucasus mountains and the 19th century St George's church. The lady who owned the hotel called Nana's was lovely and served up a scrumptious breakfast including Khachapuri, fried eggs and Khinkali (peppered mutton dumplings).
Nearby is the Bodbe Convent & St Niño grave, in an area with tall cypresses, the murals here are 19th century Russian style.
Driving up through the mountains to Davit Gareja on border of Azerbaijan, there are 15 old monasteries in the area, scenery is amazing but strong winds are blowing and did so all night! The Lavra monastery is the only one we saw, this is set on 3 levels and 5 monks live here now on the upper level, the caves of Davit on lower level. The Soviets used the area for military exercises and shooting which is just too shameful!
So glad not to be camping that night, the 13 of us deserters went to stay with a family nearby, the hospitality was great and the owners and their young children made us very welcome and we enjoyed some fabulous borsch, Khachapuri and meat pies with some home made wine
A lot of jollity was had by us over dinner at both the restaurant in Sighnaghi and the family home near Davit Gareja, a round of songs, poetry and dancing, our impromptu version of Georgian dining customs.
Leaving now for a short visit to Armenia, looking forward to returning to Georgia in a few days
.
Our first night was bush camping in Kakheti region which is Georgia's wine country. Our location was quite scenic by a river with a monastery on top of the hill. A shame about the rain tho!. Set up camp, a chicken curry for dinner and a couple of drinks before heading off to our tents for the night, somehow I ended up with 2 dogs guarding my tent, nice but kept me awake with their barking if anyone dared venture too close!
Next morning was not so much fun with wet tents to be packed up and loaded in the roof of the truck (I'm on tent duty so ended up muddy and wet!). But worst of all was wet sleeping bags etc... most of us were not too happy and asked for home stay options.
A visit to Alaverdi cathedral, built initially in 11th century
still operational and the main spiritual centre of the area, inside the
church are some great frescos including George and the Dragon.There is a nunnery and a monastery at this site, a full wine cellar after the recent harvest of the grape vines but alas, unfortunately we couldn't enter!
Ikalto monastery, this was founded in the 6th
century and in a lovely setting although very misty and was a famous
Georgian academy,no longer producing any wine but renovation works have
uncovered underground wine cellar,the barrels used for storage and
baths for pressing the grapes with tree trunks.
Next night we stayed in Telavi the largest town in this region, not
too much to do here but glad for a home stay even though there's no
heating in the rooms, at least it's dry and the shower was hot.The food was great with many regional favourites including the Georgian cheese pie 'Khachapuri' and 'Dolma' (rice and meat parcels wrapped in vine leaves)
Time for some wine tasting the next day at
Nodari's wine cellar,
traditional wine making at a family home. Vats in the underground wine
cellar, tested out some 2 year old white, a 13 year old red and the local
fire water chacha! Not bad but a little sweet for my liking. Great
bread and cheese too!
Next stop another winery, a bit more modern and producing 200 ,000
litres of wine per year (2 white, 1 red) and 5,000 litres of grappa a
year. The dry red was very good, got talking to the old lady of the
house who was partial to the un-skinned white! Couldn't leave without a
purchase or two and an impromptu English lesson to 2 local 10 year olds!
Time to get the party started with music and dancing on truck! Our
truck was given a new name too!That night 13 of us deserted the truck for a home stay, 3 of our group had left earlier that morning leaving just 8 to camp including the crew and guide.
We stayed in a pretty walled town called Sighnaghi which is in a spectacular setting with views of the valley below, the Caucasus mountains and the 19th century St George's church. The lady who owned the hotel called Nana's was lovely and served up a scrumptious breakfast including Khachapuri, fried eggs and Khinkali (peppered mutton dumplings).
Nearby is the Bodbe Convent & St Niño grave, in an area with tall cypresses, the murals here are 19th century Russian style.
Driving up through the mountains to Davit Gareja on border of Azerbaijan, there are 15 old monasteries in the area, scenery is amazing but strong winds are blowing and did so all night! The Lavra monastery is the only one we saw, this is set on 3 levels and 5 monks live here now on the upper level, the caves of Davit on lower level. The Soviets used the area for military exercises and shooting which is just too shameful!
So glad not to be camping that night, the 13 of us deserters went to stay with a family nearby, the hospitality was great and the owners and their young children made us very welcome and we enjoyed some fabulous borsch, Khachapuri and meat pies with some home made wine
A lot of jollity was had by us over dinner at both the restaurant in Sighnaghi and the family home near Davit Gareja, a round of songs, poetry and dancing, our impromptu version of Georgian dining customs.
Leaving now for a short visit to Armenia, looking forward to returning to Georgia in a few days
.
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