Visit to Georgia (5): Sighnaghi
Our third day in Georgia was full of more new experiences. Most of our group took a day trip east of Tbilisi out to the Kakheti region which is the wine-growing district of the country. It was another day of 33F/91F. Our guide was Lasha who had studied at King’s College in London and sported a beard and a long pony-tail.
First stop was a place called Badiauri where we saw how bread is made in traditional round, wood-fired ovens and tasted local bread, cheese and grapes. Next stop was Bodhe where we visited the Monastery of St Nino. This was originally constructed in the 4th century AD on the tomb of St Nino who introduced Christianity to Georgia. We were told a story about a Georgian Jew who was present at the crucifixion of Jesus and brought the Messiah’s shirt back to Georgia (but this might have been an example of “fake news”).
Most of our day was spent in Sighnaghi which is known as ‘The city of love’. Founded in the 17th century during the reign of King Heraclitus II of Georgia, the town has fully preserved fortress walls crowned with 28 watch towers presenting wonderful views of the Alazani valley. At this point, we were so close to Azerbaijan that my mobile phone company sent me a text welcoming me to that country.
The group made camp at a winery-cum-restaurant called “Okro”. Here we were given the opportunity to taste a variety of fine Georgian wines (apparently Georgia is known as one of the very first wine-making localities in world history). Four wines later, some of the group – I will spare their blushes by not naming them- burst into songs, while others fell into enthusiastic dancing (no, dear reader, I did not partake in either activity).
We were really in no state to go searching for a place to have lunch and anyway time had passed, so we remained at “Okro” for some traditional Georgian food and cold drinks. Suitably refreshed, we then walked the short distance to the town’s museum which features 15 paintings by Niko Pirosmanashvili (1862-1918) – known simply as Nikala – Georgia’s self-taught, primitivist painter.
We had left the hotel at 9 am and returned at 7.30 pm, so it was a long day but a very enjoyable one. At 8.30 pm, we were out again for dinner, but chose a place just five minutes walk from the hotel with great terrace views of the illuminated city. “Saamo” would not score highly for speed of service, but the food was good and more wine was consumed.