Route: Telavi-Batonistsikhe-Gremi fortress-Yvareli wine degustation
Rate includes: high qualified guide service, transport services during the tour, entrance tickets Batonisthikhe, Gremi fortress, Wine tasting at the Kvareli
Duration: 10-11 hours
Telavi is located in the eastern part of Georgia, in the picturesque Alazani Valley, and is the centre of the wine region – Kakheti. Telavi is considered not only the centre of the region but also the centre of the Georgian winemaking. Telavi is one of the oldest towns in Georgia, it was firstly mentioned in the I century AD.
Batonis Tsikhe – “the lord”, is a 17th–18th century architectural monument in Telavi, the principal city of Georgia’s eastern region of Kakheti. The Batonis Tsikhe complex contains surviving sections of the Persianate palace of the kings of Kakheti and a museum with archaeological and ethnographic exhibits, manuscripts, rare publications, and military equipment as well as a fine arts gallery. In 2007, several structures of the complex—the palace, rampart, and a royal chapel—were inscribed on the list of Georgia’s Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance. The entire complex underwent extensive renovation in 2018.
Gremi was the capital of Kakheti, from 1466 to 1672, but the town down to the west of the citadel was totally devastated by Shah Abbas in 1616. Within the citadel, the Church of the Archangels was built in 1565 by King Levan (who is buried inside) and contains frescoes from 1577. You can climb up inside the adjacent 15th-century tower-palace and a small museum contains explanatory panels on old Gremi, plus artefacts from the site.