Telavi and the way to Azerbaijan

If you’re heading towards Azerbaijan, then there are several places to visit on the way to the border. The first is the city of Telavi. 

Telavi is unusual because it has four citadels, the 17th-century Batonistsikhe, the 9th- / 10th-century Dzveli Galavani, the 16th-century Korchibashishvilebis Tsikhe and the 18th-century Vakhvakhishvilebis. There are still some quaint old streets and houses with wooden balconies in this city. 

The large Freedom Square is a good place to start with the Batonistsikhe citadel on one side, recently renovated including the palace of King Erekle II built in the Persian style in the 1750s, two churches, a pantheon, the last resting place of many local notables, and royal baths. By the east gate of the citadel is an equestrian statue of Erekle II. I headed downhill to see the 900-year-old plane tree.

There are many wineries and vineyards in this part of Georgia and one of the more unusual ones is at Alaverdi Monastery, 18 kilometres north of Telavi. The St. George Cathedral here dates from the first half of the 11th century and is in the Alazani River valley. There have been buildings on this site since the 6th century AD. A monk called Joseph, who came from Antioch and settled in Alaverdi, when it was a pagan religious centre dedicated to the Moon, founded the Monastery. 

Wine making has a special significance here at the monastery as this was one of the few places in the Soviet Union where knowledge of traditional wine-making techniques was kept alive when the Soviets banned anything but industrial wine production. The monks have opened up an 11th-century cellar and are making their wines available again with the help of the Badagoni wine company. 

The reason to go to Gremi is to see the citadel, whose church is a great example of the Georgian adaptation of Persian styles of architecture with its patterned brickwork. In the citadel, not only is there the Church of Archangels Michael and Gabriel but also a three-storey castle and a bell tower, all encircled by a curtain wall. The Church of the Archangels was constructed at the behest of King Levan of Kakheti (1520–1574) in 1565 and the frescoes were completed by 1577. Today, Gremi is a village but there was a city here in the 6th Century AD and it was the capital of the Kakheti region from 1466 until 1616 when it was laid waste by Shah Abbas. The museum by the main road – the other side of the underpass from the car park – has many lovely items, including daggers from the 2nd millennium BC and ceramics from the 4th Century BC.