Georgia. Sighnaghi – Kvareli – Gremi – Tsinandali – Telavi Day 62. June 30th 2019
Sitting in the Terrace Bar with the sun setting, looking out over the Caucasus Mountains – beer in hand. That’s what you gotta love about a travelling life.
It is our second day on the road in Georgia – our second day in the Khaketi region and what’s not to love. The countryside stretches along a fertile plain from mountain range to mountain range.
Our day begins with breakfast from heaven. Chris had commented as we awoke that after the sensational dinner last night breakfast could not live up to it. How wrong one can be.
Breakfast was a feast that kept coming. Shoti and cheese followed by freshly cut and home grown tomatoes with pastries crisply cooked and filled with oozing cheese. And then Omelette and Lobiani – breadlike pastry filled with bean mix. Every single dish delicious.
With that breakfast to sustain us off we went. Leaving Sighnaghi, the City of Love and drive down the mountain onto the Alazani river plain where apparently the best wine grapes in Georgia are grown.
Our first stop is a massive monument to the Great Patriot War (WWII) with a towering statue of The Father of a Soldier – a Georgian story made into a film in 1964. A stirring story of a Dad searching for his son, a soldier, during the WWII.
The Gremi Monastery and complex – once the capital of the region with a palace, village life, bazaars, caravanseris and all aspects of life within the complex. After the large groups we met at the monastery yesterday Gremi was surprisingly quiet, with few visitors. Covering a large area alongside the (now dry) river it towered over the surrounding landscape.
A small beautifully displayed museum gave a history summary of the again complex comings and goings, building up and knocking down, over 1,000’s of years. The display also contained items excavated from the site highlighting the eras of occupation including; Bronze age tools and decoration, Persian pottery, china influenced ceramics.
Nearby the museum was a tiny church with 3 or 4 small chapels that had barely room for a few people standing.
On up the hill to the monastery contained within walls constructed around the perimeter. The Archangel Church was filled with colourful frescoes – an ancient comic book telling biblical stories. The high simple dome streaming light into the church.
Two revered items displayed were the Slipper of Saint Spyrodon – a saint who lived in Corfu. It is said his body has never deteriorated.
“Saint Spyridon is known as “The walking Saint”, his silk slippers need to be replaced frequently as it’s said they wear out as he walks the world performing miracles, his coffin has a removable bottom, to make things easier when replacing his shoes, which is done on his feast Day, when thousands of pilgrims visit and kiss his feet”
The second sacred item were bone relics of Queen Ketevan a martyr who was burned and tortured by Persian invaders when she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
The fortress was unusual in its form and beautiful in its brickwork. The entrance was also a small museum displaying paintings and items relating to hero / heroines of the region. Including Queen Ketevan and a book written about her demise.
Climbing up the levels inside the tower one could see the communication system – an offset series of holes in the floor on each level to enable each level to call up and down to each other. A royal toilet was present in the corner of one level – a hole in the floor of the tower (an ancient long drop) with a commode like throne seat over the top of it.
Next up a Wine Degustation at Chelti Winery– Well it was after midday so wine was acceptable! Our first task was to learn to say Qvervi – kind of ‘Kaverfvi’. Wine fermented in large clay pots. The method is listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Our wine tasting included wine made in the European style and wine in the Qvervi. The latter is a more earthy version of wine as we know it. Different but still delicious. Georgia has over 1000 wine types and 500 grape varieties. Remnants of wine in Qvervi have been found in a small village – the wine dates back 8,000 years.
It seemed only reasonable we should take a few samples for later. Two wonderful warm reds for which the country is famous and a crisp white for him.
The summer home of poet and royal figure Alexander Chavchavadze A more simple style house than the summer palaces of Russia. Smaller but filled with the life of the family and surrounded by an extensive garden that included a maze, a long romantic arch and huge towering trees.
Final visit of the day was the Batoni Fortress in Telavi. A significant building in the life of King Erekle II and now housing a wonderful museum and art gallery.
Our bed for the night is in Telavi – the largest town in Kakheti. Feeling unmotivated today to do more than check in and relax it was a delight to discover the hotel had a Terrace bar that looked out over the town and the Caucasus mountains. Who needs to move further than this!
