Vibrant Georgia and to Europe’s Highest Settlement

Evening flight to Tbilisi International airport.  Transfer by private coach to our 4-star hotel in Tbilisi. Overnight in Tbilisi.

After a morning to relax, we spend the afternoon exploring Tbilisi, Georgia’s captivating capital and a city dominated by traders, warriors, tyrants and dictators in turn. Today Tbilisi is a modern city with renowned museums and theatres, art galleries, churches and archaeological excavations, narrow streets with inner courts, surrounded with balconies decorated with lace-like carvings. Enjoy a walk around the old town, where cultures blend, and the smell of spices hangs in the air. Sites to visit will include the 13th-century Metekhi Church of Assumption, a good example of cross-domed Georgian orthodox churches, Sioni Cathedral, built in the 6th-7th centuries with later additions, the 6th-century Anchiskhati Basilica, Tbilisi’s oldest surviving church, and the Narikhala Fortress, which offers wonderful views across the city. There will also be time to visit the famous Sulphur Baths - high in sulphurs and other minerals, with a constant temperature of 38C to 40C, the waters have long been used as a therapeutic aid for a range of ailments, and the National Museum of Georgia, which holds the impressive Archaeological Treasury. Overnight in Tbilisi.

In the morning we bid farewell to Tbilisi and drive to Mtskheta - the ancient capital of Georgia, located at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers. Here we will visit the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Jvari, the 6th-century cross-shaped monastery built on the top of a cliff, overlooking the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari rivers. At this place St. Nino, a female evangelist, erected a large wooden cross on the site of a pagan temple; Svetitskhoveli, the fortified cathedral dating from the 11th century. Svetitskhoveli is a sacred place where the Robe of Christ is buried. We drive on to the center of ShidaKartli region - Gori, known as the birthplace of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. At Stalin’s Museum we will see the house where Stalin was born and his personal railway carriage. Continue to Kutaisi for an overnight stay.

Departing Kutaisi, we travel to Zugdidi where we will visit Dadiani Palace – a castle-like building constructed between the 17th and 19th centuries. The museum houses one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s three bronze death masks, acquired via a 19th-century marriage between a Dadiani and a descendant of Napoleon’s sister. Continue to Mestia for the first of two nights.

Today we will explore Ushguli, one of the highest villages in Europe with an architecturally unique mediaeval village-fortification, surrounded by the 5,000 meter giants of the Caucasus Mountain Range. The captivating scenery of Ushguli and the whole Upper Svaneti is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Typical Svanetian protective towers are found throughout the village and according to the legend, it was in the Ushguli towers that the Georgian monarch and saint, Queen Tamar (12-13th c.) had her summer and winter residences. Our last visit today will be to Lamaria Church, with its faded but beautiful interior frescoes. Return to Mestia for a second night.

After breakfast we leave Mestia and drive to the small town of Martvili, home to the uniquely beautiful Martvili Canyon, a magnificent gorge carved through limestone rocks by the Abasha River. Stroll through this magnificent landscape of canyons, caves and waterfalls – there are stretches of quiet water where we can take the opportunity to swim, climb on the surrounding rocks, and stand beneath the spectacular waterfalls, before enjoying a short boat ride through the upper portion of the canyon. Continue to Kutaisi, where we will visit Prometheus Caves, a 1.2km-long cave complex providing breathtaking examples of stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, petrified waterfalls, cave pearls, underground rivers, lakes and natural halls. Our cave explorations will conclude with a magical boat ride on one of the underground lakes before we return to the surface for another overnight stay in Kutaisi. 

After breakfast we head out for our first visit of the day, to the UNESCO-listed Gelati Monastery. Founded in 1106 by the famous king of Georgia, Davit the Builder, Gelati Complex includes an academy and remained for a long time one of the main cultural and enlightening centers in Georgia – the monastery has preserved a great number of manuscripts dating back to the 12th century. The site is also home to Bagrati Cathedral, the 11th-century cathedral built during the reign of King Bagrat III but recently heavily restorated, not without controversy. Continue to Motsameta. According to legend the monastery was constructed on the place where Muslim aggressors executed David and Konstantin Mkheidze, Georgian princes who refused to accept Islam. Afterwards we depart Kutaisi area for Tbilisi, stopping along the way to visit the village and monastic complex of Ubisi, where the the 9th-century St. George’s Monastery is famous for its beautiful frescos. Our final visit will be to a local clay market, selling clay pots, jars and other artifacts which are used for making traditional Georgian dishes, and the famous kvevri, used for the fermentation and storage of traditional Georgian wine. Overnight in Tbilisi. 

Today we explore the picturesque and most fertile part of Georgia, Kakheti, which borders the Great Caucasus range from the north Alazani Valley. This region is known as a birthplace of viticulture and wine-making – rich land and warm sun combined with thousands of years of human toil and experimentation have produced about 500 varieties of vine here. Visit the 9th-century Bodbe Nunnery, where St. Nino, the 4th-century female evangelist of Georgians is buried. The nunnery lies on the edge of Sighnaghi, a fortified town famous for its wine and carpet making culture. Enjoy magnificent views of the Kakheti area and the general charm of this picturesque town. Return to Tbilisi for our final night. 

After an early breakfast, bid farewell to Tbilisi and transfer to the airport for our return flight.