We felt we couldn’t leave our parking at Alaverdi Church without visiting.
Much of it again under skaffolding and expansive grounds. They must own a lot more land as they produce and sell very expensive wine Strict dress code here, so even was J loaned trousers to cover his shorts
Shame no photos inside allowed as the height of the cupola was impressive.
Driving up to Gremi castle we encountered the usual animal traffic jamAnd passed various trucks and tractors with grapes. The harvest is nearly over. When we were in NE Turkey the trucks dropped tea leaves, these leak grape juice!
Gremi castle had a tower to climb (me not J) and good frescoes in the church. Busy with Sunday tourists and christening photo shoots.
ToiletGremi CastleWhilst J napped, I shelled and roasted windfall walnuts, collected at our lovely winery stay … the owners suggestion!
A short drive to Temi Community. A virtually self sufficient small holding and winery to support special needs people. A wine tasting and supper had been pre ordered. We stayed over night on their grounds.
Temi Tour, Davit Gareja & Azerbaijan border
12/11/2025
We had a tour of Temi Community this morning with Jonas, German, working here for a year. They have their own bakery, using largely home grown indigenous wheat. Poly tunnel for veggies. Fruit and nut trees. And, of course, vines. 3 varieties producing 3-4 wines. 4000 litre qvevri. Grapes have to stay in them for min 6 months to obtain qvevri label. Organic. No additives. No added yeast or sulphates. White is quite yellow. Distinctive.
Old bread ovenQvevriWith grapesSoil over fortified winesMarigolds for cooking drying
Drove south to the Davit Gareja monastery. The scenery changed again. For such a small country, it really has incredible and diverse scenery.
The Rainbow ValleyHalf of the Davit Gareja is in Azerbaijan. A disputed monastery origin: Georgian orthodox Christian or Albanian Muslim? At one point we were 50 m from the border and could see a guard tower.A bit touristy as in full of tourists, and no sign of the frescoes the guide book talked about
Then back a little to a Polish owned restaurant and field – Oasis Club in Ubadno. Supper was amazing. Chilled place.
I slept really badly due to the barking dogs in the car park. Consequently we were up late and aborted the short walk I’d planned. It was a slow 5 hour drive back down the Military Highway m, and we elected to drive around Tbilisi as the road surface would probably have been better than cutting across. This is more important now as the repaired air bag on the rear suspension has gone again. Enquiries are out for a repair in Georgia but I don’t hold out much hope … it’s a country of 3.67 million. It’s looking likely that we will have to abort Armenia and limp back to Ankara.
Only two significant traffic jams!The landscape east of Tbilisi is much flatter and is the main wine growing region.
We parked up in the centre of Sighnaghi. Known as the city of love … apparently you can get married here 24/7. We didn’t … just went for supper.
Sighnaghi and Ibero Winery
09/10/2025
We wandered Sighnaghi and had a coffee. It’s on the must see list, but tbh we were underwhelmed. Possibly as I had another bad night, due to dogs barking, bins emptied, people. But it was touristy and all about wine tastings. I checked the web to see if we were missing something.
WW2 monument with names of deceased Coffee and cake with this view
A 45 min drive to Ibero winery. On P4N. They have built a services. Super clean shower, toilet, and kitchen. The outside tap even has a hose. £12.50 for a tasting with a light supper, cold pork, salad, cheeses, dried fruit …. The tasting was 4 white, 1 red, 2 port style, 3 chacha (grappa). All the wine is fermented in the clay pots (qvevri) with the skins. This supplies the tannins, so no need for oak barrels. It has relatively low acidity. Apparently Georgian wine should be drunk young. We bought some, each bottle was c, £10. And the washing machine … free! Fantastic hospitality, especially as it’s the harvest season. Our host was setting his alarm for every 3 hours to stir the mashed grapes, as the top parts must not dry out.
The qvevri here hold 2000 litres. The empty one was due to be filled tomorrow. Steel containers to store the wine.
Tsinandali Winery and Alaverdi Church
10/10/2025
We used the shower and hose pipe to fill up supplied by Ibero Winery. A good overnight wind dried the laundry. And we cleaned the inside of Jez. So peaceful, we didn’t want to leave.
View from Ibero
We stopped at Tsinandali Winery. It’s one of the big ones. So big, it has a Radisson Hotel on the estate. Having been redirected several times, we eventually found the ticket office. A museum in the house of Alexander Chavchavadze, a poet, a Prince and General in the Russian army. The rooms felt contrived, although I read that it was his furniture. The wine tasting was one glass of uninteresting 6 blended grapes made in the European Style. Not what you want to taste in Georgia! J managed to consume both glasses, as I was driving. We did see the first ever bottled Georgian wine dating back to 1841. All very soulless compared to our last nights family winery.
Radisson 5* hotelExtensive gardens – tunnel of love and the wishing treeAlexander Chavchavadze house, contains a few rooms, shop and wine barThe wine museum was just dusty bottles, so old I’m sure the wine must have gone off. And the first ever bottled Georgian wine
We had wanted to stop at Telavi, but couldn’t find parking, so came onto Alaverdi Church. Instead of visiting the church, we did our own wine tasting at the Badogoni Bar opposite!
We attempted to walk towards the glacier. Unfortunately J’s vertigo kicked in big time on the initial steep up hill. He returned to Jez and I walked on for half an hour. We don’t like to be apart too long any way, but especially when with only one phone and travelling.
A lot steeper than it lookedNot even from the top. Jez in the car parkKazbeg Peak. Called the Bride by locals as often wearing a veil of cloudThe onward route
After lunch we popped into Gergeti Church, which with Kasbeg mountain are used as a photo in Georgian tourism advertising. It was having some work done and was busy.
Gergeti church actually looks better from a distance as it is all about its locationSome attractions external features And insideStunning location with a trail of tourists: many Russian, as we are so close to the border, and Asians
Then had an easy afternoon. Good to have a non driving day.
Gveleti Waterfalls
07/10/2025
Up at 6.30 and z bending down the hill to avoid the mad Mitsubishi Delicia taxi drivers bombing guests up. I needed all the tarmac on some of the bends. Breakfast once parked at Gveleti, followed by a walk to two waterfalls. Stunning mountains again.
The autumn colours are lovely pops of colourMore Russian laid gas pipes up to two small chaletsNot sure how or why two railway carriages up here, but now used as a plastic depository 😔
We drove up as close as you can get to the Russian border, stopping at Dariali monastery.
A blog I’d read said the monks were known for their cheese, so we had to sample. One of us had wine!Looking across to the border checkpoint. The actual border is 1.6km further on, but through a tunnel
The military highway is still a major freight route. As well as Georgian and Russian trucks, there are many Armenian trucks and cars. Apparently a lot of Russians settled in Armenia after the invasion of the Ukraine.
Unable to drive any further up the Military Highway, we retraced our steps south. Parking is outside Stepantsminda / Stepantsminda or Kazbegi with the mad Delicia taxis. We walked into town
Between the church and belfry is a derelict cable car station. Russia had installed it up to Gergeti Church but none of the locals wanted it, so it was quickly dismantled.Lovely churchyard where most of the gravestones had the face of the deceased carvedView across to Gergeti Church and Kazbeg Mountain Early supper, first meal out since Tbilisi
An easy walk with no tourists. But we did not get as far as planned. Destination was an abandoned village, but we turned back when crossing the river would have meant a drenching.
Ruin shepherd huts
An interesting drive up to Gergeti Trinity Church. Lorries turning right to a truck stop (insurance, showers etc before the Russian border) causing a very slow line of traffic. Cars overtaking both sides of me – along the sloping verge and into oncoming traffic. Oh and trucks at it too.
Car overtakingTruck overtakingAnd undertaking
Our nerves were further frayed getting up here. I didn’t check the sat nav so we came up hill through a small village. We’ve done much worse, but it is still stressful. Once on the main road, there were a number of tight V bends. But the views are amazing.
We are at 2168m. Ben Nevis is 1355m. That’s for you Edward! The snow doesn’t look that far away.
A small helicopter landed and took off twiceGergeti Church and moon just up
We considered hitching to the main start of the Truso Valley walk. But unsure if we’d get a lift, and more concerning, a return lift with Corrie, I drove the 3.6 dirt track. I’m absolutely NOT doing any more dirt tracks … we lost a piece of the wheel arch on the return.
The walk itself was busy with people and 4×4 passing us. Note to self: if we want to get down another dirt track, we need to rent a car / and driver.
Along the valley are abandoned Ossetian villages. One guidebook warned there may be Georgian soldiers as it’s close to the South Ossetian border. We didn’t walk that far 😂
I left J at a cafe when the path had a sheer drop one side and I walked onto a thermal sulphur pool. The scenery is majestic.
Where we parkedTravertine terraces Abano Lake: I didn’t swim as I didn’t want to smell of sulphur
We drove onto Sno. And we hope it doesn’t Sno. Even more majestic mountains as we drove here.
Incredible colour – almost blue
We are parked up, just off the road (no dirt tracks) adjacent to the huge stone heads. I like a bit of the bizarre, but do they all have to be bearded men?
Nose picker!We wandered into Sno, drawn by the tower. I like the shabby architecture Evening view, with moon
Clune Gap Years 