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Winemaking in the Kakheti region goes back about 7,000 years, and the region has over 200 sq km of vineyards today.
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Twins Old Cellar written in the squiggly Georgian alphabet. This small winery produces 40,000 litres of wine a year.
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Trying my hand at pruning the vines.
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View from balcony.
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In a qvervi, crushed grapes are fermented for around six months before the juice is drawn off to make wine, and what’s left is distilled into potent, grappa-like chacha.
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We enjoyed the wine-drinking, the relaxed and green environs, the beautiful weather and believe it or not, eating pork!
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After a relaxing couple of days at the winery, we headed for Kazbegi, a town in the north east of Georgia, a mere 15km from the Russian border. This is hiking, horse riding and climbing territory and very pretty.
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Mt Kazbegi is usually only visible in the early morning.
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Tsminda Sameba Church silhouetted against Mt Kazbek (5033m) is like an icon for Georgia and the region. For most visitors, it’s all about hiking up here from the town of Kazbegi. It’s an easy and scenic 2-hour hike.
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On the way up to the little church.
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Mt Kazbek is a dormant volcano and is the seventh highest peak in the Caucasus.
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Approaching Tsminda Sameba Church.
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For those who don’t want to walk, you can actually hail a taxi. A bit of a shame about the vehicle tracks.
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Most of Georgian churches and monasteries are in the loveliest spots!
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The inside of the Tsminda Sameba Church is quaint with beautiful frescoes.
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Alexander Kazbegi was a famous Georgian writer who studied in Tbilisi, St Petersburg and Moscow but chose to be a shepherd instead. His childhood home has been preserved as a museum in Kazbegi.
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The church next to Alexander Kazbegi’s childhood home.
“Welcome to Georgia”
| 21 imagesI can’t say I remember ever hearing an immigration officer welcoming me to their country, but that was exactly what I heard after a long wait to exit at the Azerbaijan side in the small town of Lagodekhi. It goes to show it really doesn’t take much. I often wonder if immigration officers were a friendlier bunch, how that would change the whole dynamic of border crossings. Wishful thinking!
It’s nice to be in a visa-free zone again. Not only is a visa not required for Australian citizens, I am allowed to stay in Georgia for up to a year – quite a contrast to fixed-dates visas, letters of invitations and yada yada.
The marschrutka (minivan) ride from the small town of Seki in Azerbaijan to the town of Lagodekhi in Georgia was crowded, dusty, stuffy but fast. The driver drove like a maniac and we were sitting in the back row bouncing up and down. No complaints as we were on a mission, and arrived half an hour early. On the way we passed many churches and donation boxes and saw the driver and fellow passengers making the sign of the cross quite a few times. There were also roadside bread merchants waving bits of bread at us hoping for some customers – rather hilarious I find.
The marschrutka ride was then followed by a taxi ride which eventually got us to theTwins Old Cellar, a tiny family-run operation that makes wines in qvevri (large clay pots buried underground). I am definitely no connoisseur but both Rita and I figured it would be nice to stay in a winery for a change. And although I wouldn’t say I loved the wines from this particular winery, I did love the surroundings and the room that overlooks the vineyards.
A Fish Called Wander 
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