Monday, October 20, 2014 Sunny, cool & crisp fall day
We had an early buffet breakfast at the hotel. Then we left Sheki, Azerbaijan and drove northwest for several hours along the Caucasus Mountains. We passed many rural towns in Azerbaijan and saw flocks of sheep and herds of cattle along the road and across the road in front of the bus.
We crossed the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia a little way after Balakan. The buildings were modern and the guards reminiscent of Soviet Russian days. Latif handled them well in a professional and friendly manner.
In Georgia, the signs changed but the architecture of the rural villages were similar. Each house was a walled compound with fruit trees and vegetable gardens.
We stopped briefly near the village of Gremi, to see the 16th Century royal citadel and the Church of the Archangels from a distance. Gremi had been a lively trading town on the Silk Road until it was destroyed by the armies of Shah Abbas I of Persia in 1615. It had been the capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti until the kings moved the capital to Telavi in the mid-1700s.
We continued driving westward and after a while stopped at the Alaverdi St. George Cathedral and Monastery which is located in the Alazani River Valley in the Kakheti region of Georgia. The earliest structures of the complex date to the 6th century. King Kvirike the Great began construction of the cathedral during the 11th century.
After touring the monastery, the coach drove to a local family’s home for lunch. For many hours we had driven past houses surrounded by stone walls so it was fun to go inside a residential compound. Our hostess:
The owner invites tourists to her home to sample home-made regional Georgian food and also to perhaps buy her craft items made by local women.
Everything we ate came from her garden and was very fresh and delicious. She also fermented, preserved, and bottled everything from her garden.
Yes, that small outdoor structure in the cornfield pictured below was our toilet facility:
Georgia is a beautiful country especially during the colorful fall season. The sun shone brightly on miles of vineyards with the Caucasus Mountains in the background. Georgian wine is well known and exported around the world.
After a short ride, we reached the city of Telavi. We checked into the hotel and several group members and I walked down the main street to look for a bank to exchange Dollars into Laris. Telavi was built on a hillside so the streets were quite steep. The clouds in the photos below were hovering on top of the mountains in the distance.
This was the view from my hotel room window. The hotel had a Russian atmosphere and was located on a main square.
After a short rest, we went out to a home near Telavi for dinner. When we arrived, the hostess was baking bread in a tandoor in her backyard. Three musicians joined us and played Georgian folk music during dinner.
Cheese pie, stuffed eggplant, potato & vegetable salad, cucumbers & tomatoes, cheese, pickled beets, bottled water, and of course, fresh bread.