South-West to Samtskhe-Javakheti

This trip, to the southern borders with Armenia and Turkey, takes us through some of my favourite Georgian landscapes, from the high plateau of Javakheti to the majestic mountains of Vardzia and along the Mtkvari River valley to Akhaltsikhe. It also takes us to what was one of the world’s earliest winemaking centres.

Here two regions – Samtskhe (in what is still called Meskheti) and Javakheti – are joined into one and their area’s history has been carved in stone in the hidden cave city of Queen Tamara and the ancient vine terraces that were sacked by the Ottomans. ‘King’ Tamar’s soldiers lived in the caves with their horses and drank wine crushed from the indigenous vines of a once-thriving village, Chachkari, whose three remaining families have been pushed to sell their centuries-old walnut trees to survive. Closer to Akhaltsikhe, volcanic valleys with what look like showered meteors give way to dramatic diagonals of stone where the bedrock has been forced from below.