tour cost

$ 710 in Tbilisi we live in the Aivani hotel, in the Alazani Valley in Lopota

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group of 10 people

Enter;

- guide services, excursions according to the program

- breakfasts and lunches

- 3 nights accommodation in Aivani hotel, 1 night Lopota

Flight Armenian Airlines with a stopover in Yerevan (without getting off the plane, connecting 30 minutes)  for a surcharge

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First day (September 20).

18.50: Arrival of guests at Tbilisi International Airport.

Transfer to the hotel, accommodation, rest.

21 – 21.30: Transfer to Chonkadze street. From here, by means of the funicular we will get to the mountain

"Mtantsminda", from where a panoramic view of Tbilisi and its environs opens.

Dinner at the Funicular restaurant.

Overnight in Tbilisi.

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Second day (September 21).

Breakfast in the hotel.

10 – 12.30: Walking tour of the Old Town. Distance - up to 3 km.

Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia and the largest city in the country, with a history of more than 1,550 years.  V

Currently, the city center has been completely restored, the urban architecture of the old times has been recreated.

Our journey will start from the area of sulfur baths, where ancient Tbilisi was founded in the 5th century. This is very

interesting story, will tell you when it arrives

During the tour, we will look into the carpet shops, it is not necessary to buy, you can just look. It’s very colorful there, we’ll go down to the basement, where Georgian bread “shoti” is baked on coals. In our childhood, there was no sweeter treat than a hot "shoti" dipped in pear lemonade.

And if there is a desire, you can go to the old temple to Father Rostom. He used to be a film director, but then he took it and became a priest. It is also part of the Old City. Talking to him is a pleasure. And he never refuses to talk.

12.3 – 14.00: Lunch at a local restaurant.

14.00: Today we will also visit the city of Mtskheta. Distance from Tbilisi – 20 km. Travel time 30 min. Mtskheta is the ancient capital of Georgia. From here began the baptism of Georgia

14.3 - 15.00: Jvari Monastery is located on the top of a mountain near the town of Mtskheta. According to legend, a cross was erected here in the 4th century (Georgian - Jvari). He stood in an open place and was the object of universal worship. In the second half of the 6th century, a monastery was erected in its place. The temple has survived to this day almost unchanged. It was this place that M.Yu. described in his poem "Mtsyri". Lermontov.

15 – 15.30: Transfer to the temple of Svetitskhoveli.

15.3 - 17.00: Svetitskhoveli - a grandiose cross-domed cathedral. The temple was erected in the 11th century on the site of the first Christian church in Georgia, built in the 4th century.

The facades of the temple are decorated with stone carvings. Canonical Christian symbols are intertwined in the ornament of the outer walls: crosses, figures of flying angels and elements of traditional Georgian symbols: solar signs, vines.

The interior of the temple is simple and full of light. The murals preserved on the walls were made mainly in the 16th-17th centuries.

17 – 17.30: Transfer to the wine cellar “Guramishvilis Marani”.

17.3 - 18.00: Tour of the wine cellar, followed by a tasting of several varieties of Georgian wines.

18 - 18.30: Next, we will be shown how khachapuri is prepared.

Dinner at the Guramishvilis Marani restaurant.

Return to Tbilisi. Distance - 42 km.

Overnight in Tbilisi.

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Third day (September 22).

Breakfast in the hotel.

10.00 am: Meeting with the representative of the private laboratory in the hotel (PCR test). The results will be ready for

the next day and provided to the guests.

10.3 – 11.45 am: Transfer to the Alazani Valley – the center of Georgian winemaking. Distance - 85 km. We will cross the picturesque mountain pass Gombori, passing which we will get to the Alazani valley.

11.45 am – 12.15 pm: At the top of the Gombori pass we can make a short stop to taste fresh

Georgian cheese Sulguni, vegetables, hot bread "Shoti", world-famous Georgian wine

"Kindzmarauli". Let's take a photo for memory and continue our journey ...

12.45 – 13.15: Today we will visit the monastery of Ikalto (VI c.), where the well-known in the Middle Ages was located

spiritual academy. Here they taught theology, history, geography, philosophy, rhetoric and of course ...

… they made wine in this winery.

13.15 – 14.00: Transfer to Alaverdi monastery.

14 - 14.40: The next point of our trip will be Alaverdi Monastery. It was built in the ninth century. However, monastic service began here as early as the 6th century with the appearance in these parts of the Reverend Father Joseph of Alaverdi, the successor of the work of Nina of Cappadocia. In the Middle Ages, the monastery was a major spiritual center of Georgia. Frescoes of the 15th century have been preserved here. The monks of Alaverdi are also engaged in winemaking. Every year, the monastery hosts international symposiums on the study of the ancient Georgian method of making "jug" wine.

14.4 – 15.00: Transfer to the “Gemini wine cellar”.

Here, to this day, ancient traditions of making wine in earthenware jugs are kept.

15 - 16.00: We will visit a unique cellar, which presents the only kvevri clay jugs in Georgia with a cross section to observe the fermentation process.

16 – 17.30: Lunch at a local restaurant.

17.3 - 18.00: Transfer and accommodation at the Lopota hotel.

Dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Night in the Alazani valley.

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Fourth day (September 23).

Breakfast in the hotel.

10 – 11.00: Visit to the museum of Alexander Chavchavadze. The museum-estate of the princes Chavchavadze in Tsinandali belongs to the historical monuments of the 19th century. In his family estate, Prince Alexander laid out an English park and created the first winery in the history of Georgia. The Georgian aristocracy gathered here, A. Griboyedov was a frequent guest in the house, who later married Princess Nina. After the tour, we will taste local wine.

11 – 11.40 am: Transfer to the territory of a local winery. After a short excursion, we will become participants in the Georgian tradition, which is rooted in the mists of time: "Rtveli" - a grape harvest festival! In Georgia, wine has a special cult significance, and the grape harvest is a more than responsible event!

11.4 - 12.30: Picking grapes.

*If the grapes have already been harvested, full baskets are waiting for us on the spot.

It's time to start making wine.

12.4 – 14.00: Grapes fall asleep in “satsnakheli”. This is a winepress made from a single oak trunk.

We put on rubber boots and crush the grapes. Juice through a special hole goes straight into the clay "qvevri".

14 – 15.30: Lunch at the winery restaurant.

15.3 – 16.30: Transfer to Sighnaghi.

The city of Sighnaghi is located on the top of a mountain range, towering over the Alazani valley.

16.3 – 18.30: City tour. In the Middle Ages, he was the so-called. "Kiziki" - a territory free from feudal dependence. Sighnaghi is the ancient center of the civilization of the South Caucasus. During the excursion, we visit the historical and ethnographic museum, which contains household items, tools, jewelry, weapons found during archaeological excavations in the Alazani Valley. Their age

dates from the middle of the third millennium BC. until the second half of the 19th century.

The museum also exhibits paintings by the famous Georgian primitive artist Niko Pirosmani.

18.3 - 20.00: Dinner will take place in a small restaurant of the Pheasant's Tears wine cellar. Here, for several years now, the owner has been restoring old Georgian recipes, long forgotten today. dishes,

which can only be tasted here, go well with Kakhetian wines made, like many thousands of years ago, in earthenware jugs.

20 – 21.30: Transfer to Tbilisi. Distance - 110 km.

Overnight in Tbilisi.

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Sixth day (September 24).

Breakfast at the hotel.

Transfer to the international airport of Tbilisi.

Departure (time to be confirmed).

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