Category: Tbilisi

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Georgia Wine tasting

Down Below I will make some comments about the Georgia wine tasting itself but first I want to explain that Tbilisi Was my first stop in Georgia and I decided to stay here and do some tours to the surrounding areas to get an idea about the country, the culture, the food and so forth. You may like to rent a car and go around but kind of like in Thailand the rules are a strong suggestion so you have to be very careful. What I found interesting is they had a few cars with the steering wheel on the right side instead of the left side so I guess those were imports. The city is pretty well organized but public transport is mostly by taxi or the Bolt app. Things here are not that expensive and you can see the desire to join the EU and decrease the influence from Russia which occupies 20% of the country so you can imagine the animosity. There are a lot of people begging and many people trying to find different ways to get money from you so just try not to fall for those on the street requests.

Crazy car Georgia Wine tasting
This was one of the worst I saw but quite a few cars without front and back bumpers
Turkish coffee Georgia Wine tasting
Getting a Turkish coffee before the tour which was a full day
Grape strings Georgia Wine tasting
Strings of grapes and other fruits mixed with flour and a center with a nut and put on strings. I bought one with grapes and it was very tasty. I highly recommend trying some when you’re here. We were told soldiers would take these with them and they would last up to two years without any preservative methods.
Bread without yeast Georgia Wine tasting
The old way of making bread without yeast so that it can stay longer than yeasted bread. There are two special tricks to the bread you see here. The fuel to make the bread is wood from the grape plant after they pruned the vines. The second trick is the lining of the oven is red brick which breathes. These things help create a unique consistency and taste.
Petting the cat Bill Smale
Everybody loves a kitten. There were many tourists Here petting the kitten and the little boy waited until he got his chance to come in pet the cat.
Monastery of Saint Nino Bill Smale
Monastery of Saint Nino at Bodbe. The story is Nino came here in 326 after after a vision of Mary to spread Christianity in Georgia 600 years before the Tzar Of Russia decided to adopt the Greek branch of Christianity because he could become the head of the church. Here you see the Bell tower
Crypt of Saint Nino Bill Smale
Not much is left of the original monastery but we were told that inside this building the crypt we saw was the burial coffin of Saint Nino. There are many beautiful frescoes inside dating back 200 years. Photos were not allowed.
New church
A new church is being built on the site
Monastery garden
Part of the garden
Organized garden
This is extremely well organized and a nice place to walk around
Statue
Then we went to the town of Sighnaghi. This is the statue of a famous philosopher who died at the age of 35 with a statue that makes him look much older and wiser
Memorial for the dead
Near the statue is the list of names of those who died in World War II. This town is the center hub of protection for a number of surrounding Villages. We were told out of 6000 residence in the area 4000 died in World War II
Surrounding villages
Looking down into the valley which has almost no rain throughout the year you can see where they have some ponds Fort water storage. It’s a very active agricultural area groin many different kinds of things. In the foreground you can see the flag of Georgia
Mexican restaurant
This is interesting to see a Mexican restaurant here. If I was alone I doubt I would eat here. I have had enough European style Mexican food for the rest of my life.
The castle
This is the old fort and there were walls all the way around with Lookout towers
Everywhere you see people selling things. You also see the red Tiled roofs which are fairly new since the year 2000. This was a very poor town and the roofs were made of everything that would protect the house. But now people are able to afford a nicer roof because of tourism
Castle gate
One of the gates to the fort
On the right you will see a bell tower for the church which is built on top of one of the Lookout towers
Village below
You see the villages below and on the left side you can see the extent of the wall which goes all around the area to protect the village on top
Walkway along the wall
A lot of the wall is falling down but we have a walkway to take us along part of it
Clamping
Parkway down the hill is a glamping hotel
Panorama
Panorama view
Lookout to OURS
On the corners of the wall you can see one of the 23 Lookout Towers
Lunch and wine tasting
Now we go to the winery for a very late lunch add wine tasting. Georgia wine history
Evidently UNESCO recognizes Georgia As the first wine producing area. Archaeologists Found remnant of winemaking In clay pots going back 8000 years.
The wines
This is just one of many vineyards. The first red wine had an extremely strong alcohol smell which I didn’t like. The “semi sweet“ rosé and reds were actually very sweet. The one wine I appreciated most was the most expensive, having a flavor similar to a Cabernet Sauvignon with a nice semi full body. But I bought the rosé foreign after dinner aperitif. In the photo you can see one of our Russian companions on the tour
The customers are encouraged to write something on all of the walls
This had a fairly nice taste though very sweet. I was not really impressed with these wines but they seem to be very popular in the former Soviet Union countries.