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Telavi
Appears in
Published 2017
Telavi has a wonderful sprawling food market, or bazari, open daily from 8:00 to 16:00. It presents an eclectic mix of peoples, products and cultures and reflects the position Telavi held in the area, three times capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti. From the 16th century, while much of Georgia suffered a decline, Kakheti prospered thanks to its Astrakhan Silk Route links and to the influx of Armenian, Persian and Jewish communities.
The summer palace of Erekle II, king of united Kartli-Kakheti, is in Telavi. Erekle was considered a good ruler, able to stabilize his kingdom’s economic and social problems, but in 1783 he placed it under the protection of Russia’s Catherine the Great. This led to Georgia being incorporated into the Russian Empire. The king ruled for 54 years, and was wounded in battle 80 times.