Kakheti: Telavi, Tsinandali, Gremi, Nekresi and Kvareli
Description:
Our tour starts at 9:30. The road to the city of Telavi, the capital of Kakheti lasts about 2 hours. We will pass through the picturesque Gombor Pass, the maximum height of which is 1900 m above sea level. Telavi is a city in the Alazan valley, located on the northern slope of the Tsivi-Gombor ridge, at an altitude of 490 m above sea level, 70 km from Tbilisi. Telavi has been known since the first century AD, was an important trading center on the caravan route from the Middle East to Europe. In XI and from XVII to XVIII century it was the capital of Kakheti kingdom.
10 km from Telavi there is a large village of Tsinandali - the famous viticulture village of Kakheti, the famous center of winemaking, where the family estate is located, the palace of the princely family of Chavchavadze, with which many amazing, beautiful and tragic events in the history of Georgia are associated. The father of Alexander Chavchavadze, the first owner of the estate - Garsevan Chavchavadze was one of the initiators of the accession of Georgia to Russia, his signature is under the Treatise of St. George. Seeing Europe and tired of military campaigns, Alexander Chavchavadze decides to leave the capital. He takes his family from St. Petersburg and moves to the inconspicuous and quiet village of Tsinandali, where he begins to implement a project to Europeanize Georgia. The estate in Qinandali is a reflection of his aspirations. He did not limit himself to the introduction of European architectural techniques in construction and interior planning, having laid out an English garden around the palace. Not only trees, but also gardeners were discharged from the UK. Chavchavadze invites the best winemakers from Europe, together with whom he builds the first wine production plant using European technology. Thus appeared the famous wine "Tsinandali".
Further, our way goes to the medieval capital of the Kakheti kingdom - Gremi. Towering above the lush green Alazan valley, Gremi attracts the eyes of every traveler whose path lies between Telavi and Kvareli. Dark and monumental, standing apart from the nearest settlements, the castle is one of the most visited tourist sites in Georgia. The architectural ensemble of Gremi in the form in which it has reached our days, was built in the XVI century under the king Levan Kakhetian. He declared Gremi the capital of the Kakhetian kingdom. By order of Levan, a palace and churches were erected on a small mountain, and a rich trading city with a population of more than 100,000 people grew at the foot. History shows that one of the branches of the legendary Silk Road passed through Gremi at that time, which greatly contributed to the prosperity of the city. Alas, Grami did not last long, only a century and a half. Already at the beginning of the XVII century it was destroyed to the ground by the troops of the Iranian Shah Abbas I. After that, the city was not able to fully recover, and in the middle of the XVII century Kakheti rulers moved the capital of the state to Telavi.
After Gremi we will go to the monastery complex Nekresi, preserved in the valley of the Alazani River. It consists of several cult buildings of different times. The earliest building is a small church of the end of the IV century. It was built shortly after the proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of the state. The church is built of rough-hewn stone and stands on a foundation converted into a tomb. In the VI-VII centuries, the main temple of the Blessed Virgin was erected here, which preserved fragments of wall inscriptions and frescoes of the XVI century.
The end point of our tour will be a visit to the winery with wine tasting in the city of Kvareli.