Kakheti and Eastern Georgia

Endless vineyards, wine tasting, rolling steppes, serene lakes, the lovely hill town of Sighnaghi and some of Georgia’s finest churches are what most visitors remember about a visit to Kakheti. Georgians regard their country as the motherland of wine, and Kakheti’s Alazani Valley is at the forefront of Georgia’s wine tourism. The Tsinandali estate of the 19th-century Georgian aristocrat and poet Alexander Chavchavadze is just one of many places where visitors can learn about Georgia’s viticulture and sample boutique natural wines.

Overlooking the Alazani Valley and built on a ridge at the confluence of ancient trade routes, the lovely walled city of Sighnaghi is one of Kakheti’s most alluring sights, often likened to an Italian hill town. Nearby is the nunnery of Bodbe, also known as Ninotsminda, where the kings of Kakheti were once crowned and St. Nino – who converted Georgia to Christianity – is buried. To the east of here, on the borders of Azerbaijan, is Vashlovani Park, where the adventurous can enjoy a rugged off-road driving experience past rivers, waterfalls, and bubbling mud whilst also becoming acquainted with the flora and fauna of the dry steppe.

Davit Gareja, a series of churches and monasteries cut into the rock by the Syrian fathers in the 6th century, also sits amongst an extraordinary semi-desert landscape on the Azeri border and is the location of some superbly executed frescoes (access is difficult). Numbered among Kakheti’s other great highlights are the beautifully located Nekresi monastery – the site of one of the oldest churches in Georgia; the fortified 15th-century church and palace at Gremi; and the vast 11th-century Cathedral of George at Alaverdi, which towers above its surrounding battlements.