Off to the mountains

Our day today started with a trip to the local bazaar, just a small area full of fresh fruit & veg, meats, live fish, nuts and sweets. I asked about some things hanging with the nuts and found they were churchkhela, walnuts threaded on a string then coated in a mix of grape juice, sugar and flour. Just delicious. I bought some to take with me. 

From the bazaar we made our way to the Alaverdi Cathedral. The first church was built in 6th c, when the split of Eastern and Western Christianity occurred and 13 Assyrian Fathers arrived in Georgia from Antioch. They settled in different parts of Georgia and established monasteries mainly initiated the ascetic movement. One of the monks Ioseb came to Kakheti, the village Alaverdi, which was the center of the Moon cult. The remains of 6th c church and grave stone of Ioseb Alaverdeli and his disciple can be seen even today inside the Northern part of the resent Cathedral.

The main structure of present Cathedral belongs to the early 11th c, when King Kvirike III built a cathedral on the place of the 6th c church and established a monastery.

The cathedral was innumerous times attacked and damaged by devastating invasion of Persians, but renovations were done in 17th-18th cc, in 19th and 20th.  It belongs to the Cross-Cupola type church with longer western part of the building and it is the tallest in Georgia mediaeval architecture - 56 m under the dome.

Our next stop was magnificent. Tsinandalia, a historic estate and winery once owned by noted Georgian poet Alexander Chavchavadze. In 1814, aristocrat

Chavchavadze was the first to bottle wine produced using the qvevri method. We toured the complex, which consists of a memorial house, European-style landscaped garden, a traditional winery, wine cellar containing 1600 bottles of wine dating back to 1841, the hotel and cafe.

The entire complex spans many acres and the grounds are something extra special. I could have spent hours just wandering. We had a quick tour of the memorial house and learned about the history of the inhabitants from a lovely young guide who really knew her stuff. 

A quick stop for lunch where I had another traditional Georgian meal called Chakapuli which is a stew of lamb, onions, cherry plums, dry white wine, potatoes, tarragon leaves, herbs, garlic. Absolutely delicious and had me licking my chops for more. It tasted much nicer than it looked. 

We had a long road ahead and so relaxed while our driver navigated through a massive downpour and got us to areas that looked just like NZ. Stunningly beautiful, green, heavy bush interspersed with green grass, hillocks and in the distance mountains and snow. Just beautiful. 

Arriving in the township of Gudauri we settled in to our home for the next two nights a gorgeous wee guesthouse. The views from my room were NZ at a glance. Gorgeous.  

Our host, Zezva provided us with dinner. I am getting restauranted out and would have loved something really simple but could not refuse his delicious lentil soup, nor the fresh tomatoes and bread. Just when we thought we’d finished he bought out my favourite dish of all time. Cabbage Rolls - large cabbage leaves rolled around mounds of lamb mince, onions, garlic and condiments. These were done in a tomato broth and where divine. I was full but asked for the leftovers to be heated for my dinner tomorrow. Heaven. 

Chocolate cake and sour cherries came next and once again I stuffed myself silly. Anne your $$$ are safe!

Relaxing with a quince tea in front of the fireplace was the perfect end to another lovely day.