Day 23 15 May Local food, local wine, and a drive to the capital Tbilisi

Photo above - selection of Georgian wines made at the winery in Kondoli village

Strange foods and tarragon vodka

Today we are continuing by road to the capital of Georgia - Tbilisi (population 1.3 million). The day started cool and rainy. At 9am we drove down the hill to the town of Telavi to visit the farmers' market, an integral part of local daily life here. There was the usual veg and meats and fish and cheeses. However there were also strange long hazelnut sweets called Churchkhela, covered in grape or pomegranate juice which is thickened with flour and dried in the sun; fruit leather (Tklapi) which is literally pureed fruit dried in the sun and presented in flat leather looking strips; spices, and various vodkas including a lovely lime green tarragon vodka which I tried. It had to be 55% and was pleasantly warming, but I could not taste the tarragon!

Wine tasting and more vodka

Our next stop was Vardisubani village, where firstly we stop to see how Qvevri clay vessels are made. These are used to store and ferment wine in the ground. This is a unique wine making technique that Georgians have been using since ancient times. There are 526 different grape types in Georgia. Most of the wines produced are exported to Russia, or kept for the domestic market. However, they are now trying to get into China and more European markets. We had a wine tasting of an amber and a red wine produced here. We also had some strong spirits (cha cha) which were about 50% proof, one of which was a tarragon vodka, my second of the day!

More wine tasting!

Next we drove to the village of Kondoli (pop 12 families, 45 people). Here we visited a traditional wine cellar, and saw how the Qvevri we saw previously are used, buried in the ground. Then another wine tasting of three wines that are produced there. One amber wine and two reds. One was named after the owner’s son Luka, who is a professional cyclist who rides for the national team.

Afterwards, we drove back to Telavi town to get some lunch. Then we were back on the bus for the drive to the capital. It was still raining and actually quite cold.

Road to Tbilisi

We had to cross a mountain pass (Gombori pass) at about 1600m through very lush green hillsides. The temperature at the top was 4c! As with all Georgian roads so far, the road surface was great. Very little traffic. Could not see much out of the window due to the rain.

Once off the pass, we joined a new highway which has just been completed thanks to western/EU finance. As we neared the city we passed wineries, Asian style shopping markets, which looked like a shanty town, lots of units selling tractors, car repair places, old soviet factories and housing etc As we entered the city centre, the traffic was really heavy. Quite a lot of new cars on the road here, but no outward signs of wealth like in Baku. Most of the shops appear to be small independent stores. Not seen any of the usual European and US stores. The city is partly built on a hill and has the longest river in the Caucasus running through it, the Kura - 1500 km from Turkey, through Georgia, and on through Azerbaijan into the Caspian Sea.

Our hotel is in the old town, where the streets are cobbled and quite thin, so we had to get out at the bottom of the hill near the river, and walk up the hill to the hotel.

Went out on the evening to a local restaurant to eat. Tomorrow, we drive from the capital to a ski resort, where it is currently unseasonably cold and is apparently snowing right now!