22/5/22
Today was monastery day. I was pretty tired but since the weather was meant to be awful the next day, I decided I should do the monastery walk today. I had a great breakfast at the guest house with soctch pancakes with jam amongst other things before heading out. Even the walk along the road was beautiful, with a great view of the Caucasus mountains.
Of course, when I arrived at the monastery I discovered many people there since most people just hop in a car and drive there. The vibe of the place though was beautiful chilled but respectful and also non-judgemental. I walked down to a holy spring and many people waited in line to be able to drink from this place. Afterwards I headed back up to the monastery before heading home. I stopped on the way home to get an iced coffee in one place with a ridiculous view. It was gorgeous!! I asked one couple to take a photo of me with the old town of Sighnaghi in the background and the guy reached for my phone before taking pictures only of my legs because ‘they’re better than the background’. Wowww.
I headed to the next thing on my itinerary which was wine tasting. I sat in Okro’s Natural Wines and ordered the wine tasting menu with cracker and cheese and a soup to go with it. It was all delicious and the wine tasting lady was friendly and told me all about the history of Georgian wine. I walked home late and enjoyed beautifully lit views of the mountains.
23/5/22
Today I fancied a chill day after a few days of hiking. Also, the weather forecast was pretty poor so didn’t fancy doing anything major. I headed out in search of a perfect brunch spot but after a but of wandering about I gave up and got a kachapuri (cheese bread) for the road. I followed signs up a winding road to a cafe called ‘Panorama Cafe’ – how can I resist with a ne like that?! When I eventually made it to the cafe, there was a man and his son chasing a dog in the road. A car drove past, beeped and swerved round the dog. It became apparent that the people were trying to round up the dog put of the road, but the more they chased him, the more he ran!!
The cafe entrance led straight to the glorious terrace with views over Sighnaghi but it was bizarrely empty. Apparently it didn’t open til 12 noon – another half an hour. They let me read in a squashy chair until opening time and then I ordered a Georgian tea, followed by coffee and a diviiiine chocolate lava cake with ice cream. I chilled here quite awhile but then the sky changed and it looked like a storm was imminent. I decided to try and race the storm down the hill. Of course, I lost.
Maybe a hundred and fifty metres from the start of the town, the heavens opened and then the storm came bringing evermore torrential rain, thunder and impressive fork and sheet lightning alike. I stood under a balcony ledge with two Georgian guys on a quad bike and waited. We laughed and joked a little in our different languages as we waited. Maybe after twenty minutes, and when the rain had calmed to some form of drizzle, I made a dash for the nearest cafe before deciding against and carrying on down the street to make a photo of some traditional Georgian houses with covered balconies over the road with blurred car lights. While I was taking the photos, a man who was also trying to escape the rain invited me for coffee in broken English. Since there was pretty much nil to do in the rain, and the guy seemed friendly, not creepy, I accepted. Why not?!
We sat in a big cafe-restaurant and drank coffee and then we ordered khinkali (Georgian dumplings) on his persistent offering. We spoke only via Google Translate, but he was a lovely man, who was from Tbilisi and had a wife and kids (around my age) there, and he was only in Sighnaghi for work. After we finished our khinkali, he paid and we headed our separate ways. What a guy!!
The rain had cleared by now so I headed to try and find the old town walls. After a while, I got up onto the walls after a cat chased me for some time, trying to bit my maxi skirt, which was blowing in the wind. I passed by a church with an old nun reading a bible outside, sat on a sunny step before admiring the views from the town walls as well as some arched grape vines trained over trellace. There was quite some noise due to graduation celebrations consisting of many kids driving full cars crazily round small windy roads and beeping the horn continuously! After the walls, I headed back to my wine spot from the day before, ordered a wine and cheeseboard with Georgian fresh bread. I had a good catch up with my friend Andrew on the phone. The storm restarted and the electric cut out so I sat by candlelight for my phone call catch up. After my wine, I headed back to my guest house.
I returned to my triple room, which was meant to be a dorm, to find the light already on. I had a new roomie. He was a friendly Chinese guy who couldn’t speak any English. Today was the day of Google Translate! We spoke via Google Translate before he offered me wine and then we danced about the room, since he was keen to dance! It was very bizarre, but fun and of course the one song we both knew was ‘Gangnam style’, so out it came from the archives!! I decided Gangnam style would be hard to beat so called it quits after that and went to bed!!
24/5/22
Today was a transfer day. I would leave Sighnaghi and head to Telavi, a different town known for its wine. The marshutka picked me up from the guest house door – the VIP treatment was very nice!! The marshutka stopped a few times but one time on the road it stopped and an old lady put her daughter and grandkids on the ‘bus’. Afterwards, she made the cross sign over her chest three times to bless each of their journeys – it was very cute!
When I arrived in Telavi an hour or two later, I headed to a guest house I had looked up and ditched my bag. Then I headed back out after a quick bit of research on what to do in Telavi, first hitting the local market. The market sold fresh fruit and veg as well as many pickles, huge rounds of cheese, assorted useful items such as nail varnish remover, which I bought since my ‘wedding nails’ were looking very tatty! I did a quick reccy afterwards to figure out the marshutkas for the next day before heading to the old town, famous only for being traditional and beautiful. Then I stopped for a coffee and cake pitstop before going to see the main sights like the fort and palace as well as a really old plane tree.
On my way to see the main sights, I got way-laid after spotting a sign for wine tastings. After enquiring, the owner said they were not properly geared up for wine tastings yet, but that she could show me the cellar and could give me an informal tour.
I walked around the fort grounds before heading towards a fancy looking building. When I arrived there they asked if I had a ticket. Apparently it was the palace and I needed a ticket from the museum to go. I paid and walked round the museum a bit, saw some traditional Georgian clothes and some Georgian and European art before heading to the palace. It looked quite like a hammam baths with gorgeous coloured glass windows.
I headed to the park afterwards which I’d read had great views over the town. I sat in a cafe in the park and sipped tea before grabbing khinkali (dumplings) in a recommended restaurant before heading home. I watched Netflix in bed and slept. I wanted to be up early ish to figure out the marshutkas.
wanderingwelshie travels 