Themed tours in Georgia

How a themed tour differs from a standard one

A standard tour tries to fit as many sites as possible into a day. A themed tour does the opposite: fewer places, but more time and context for each. On a wine tour you might spend two hours in one cellar, if the winemaker gets going.

We pick the guide to match the subject. An archaeological route is led by a historian, an architectural one by someone who works in the field, a photography tour by a photographer who knows what each place looks like at what hour.

How we choose the season and the timing

Some subjects are tied to the calendar. Rtveli, the grape harvest, runs from mid-September to late October, and only then can you take part in picking and pressing. Vardzia and Dmanisi are punishing in high summer, so we steer those towards spring and autumn.

On photography tours the day is set by the light rather than by convenience: departure is often before sunrise, with a long break in the middle of the day. Architecture and cooking routes work equally well at any time of year.

The qvevri: eight thousand years and five hundred varieties

A qvevri is a clay vessel buried in the ground, and it is the earth that holds the temperature steady inside it. The method entered the UNESCO intangible heritage list in 2013 - not as a technology but as a living practice still passed down within families.

Archaeological evidence puts winemaking in Georgia at roughly eight thousand years old; the earliest traces come from Neolithic settlements in the South Caucasus. That figure is not a tourist exaggeration but the result of published research.

The number of grape varieties is another reason the wine theme does not fit into a single day: more than five hundred indigenous varieties are on record in the country. In practice you meet ten or fifteen - Saperavi, Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Kisi, Khikhvi - and the logic of a tasting is built around them.

The wine regions and rtveli

Kakheti produces most of the country's wine, but it is not the only region, and on a thematic tour that difference is the interesting part. In Imereti the qvevri is used with less skin contact and the wine comes out lighter. In Racha there is Khvanchkara, naturally semi-sweet.

In Adjara and Guria the grape is Chkhaveri - light, rosé, suited to coastal food. If wine is your main theme we combine two or three regions, and it is then that it becomes clear 'Georgian wine' is not one thing.

Rtveli runs from mid-September to the end of October. In that window you can genuinely work in a cellar - picking, pressing, filling the qvevri. It is the only time of year when that is possible, which is why we book those dates a fortnight ahead.

The food tour: the supra and the tamada

A Georgian supra is not a meal but a structure. The tamada sets the order of the toasts and that order is fixed: peace, parents, the dead, the guests. On a food tour the guide explains this, because without it dinner simply looks long.

The dishes are regional and that is a subject of its own. Khachapuri is a boat with an egg in Adjara, flat in Imereti, cheese on top as well in Samegrelo. Khinkali is a mountain dish and carries meat; in the lowlands it also comes with vegetables. On one tour we taste three or four versions.

The practical part: many food tours continue into the kitchen itself. Folding khinkali and flattening khachapuri are harder than they look, and it is that part people remember best. We send the recipes on afterwards in writing.

Archaeology: Dmanisi, Vani and Uplistsikhe

Dmanisi is 85 kilometres from Tbilisi and a site of international importance: the hominin remains found there are about 1.8 million years old and count as the earliest discovered outside Africa. Excavation has continued since the 1990s.

Vani is another era entirely - a Colchian city dated between the 8th and 1st centuries BC. The gold jewellery found there changed the understanding of Colchis and is displayed in the museum on the site.

Uplistsikhe is a third type: a town cut into rock, inhabited from the start of the first millennium. On an archaeological tour the three work together, because they show three different layers - prehistoric, classical and medieval.

Monasteries: from the 6th century to the 12th

A Christian heritage tour is built chronologically rather than geographically. The 6th century is the period of the thirteen Assyrian Fathers - Davit Gareja, Shio-Mgvime, Zedazeni. It is the earliest layer and architecturally the simplest.

The 11th and 12th centuries are the golden age: Svetitskhoveli, Alaverdi, Gelati, Nikortsminda. The scale grows sharply, stone relief appears on the façades, and mosaic and fresco inside. It was in those two centuries that what we now call Georgian church architecture took shape.

The Katskhi pillar deserves separate mention - a forty-metre limestone monolith with a small church on top. Climbing it is closed to visitors, and the view from below is enough for the idea to land.

Vardzia and rock-cut architecture

Vardzia is 12th century and was completed under Queen Tamar. It is cut into the slope of Erusheti mountain and once held up to six hundred chambers on thirteen levels - this was a town rather than a monastery.

An earthquake in 1283 brought down the outer face of the slope and exposed the caves. That is why you see a cross-section today: what was originally covered by rock now stands open.

Vardzia is 260 kilometres from Tbilisi and four hours' drive, which makes it a very long day in a single-day format. On a thematic tour we usually combine it with Rabati and Borjomi across two days. You spend the night in Akhaltsikhe or close to Vardzia, which frees up the morning light.

Tbilisi art nouveau: stairwells and façades

The first part of an architectural tour is the years 1890 to 1910. In those two decades Tbilisi acquired the residential buildings that are now the city's calling card - European façades, local detail.

The point here is the interior: painted stairwells, stained glass, cast-iron banisters. These are not museums but working apartment buildings, and entry always has to be arranged.

The tour usually runs through Sololaki and Vera. Three or four stairwells in one route - more than that is repetition, because the detail starts to resemble itself and the eye adjusts. The façades, on the other hand, we look at along the whole route.

Soviet modernism: a route of its own

This is the layer standard tours step around, though it is precisely what draws architects and photographers. The main object is the former Ministry of Highways building - 1975, by the architects George Chakhava and Zurab Jalaghania.

Its idea is that the building does not destroy the slope: horizontal volumes interlock with each other and touch the ground at only five points. A bank occupies it now, so going inside is restricted, while looking from outside is free.

The route also takes in the Chronicle of Georgia - Zurab Tsereteli's monumental columns above Tbilisi - and the former Wedding Palace, designed by Victor Jorbenadze in 1985. All three fit into one half-day tour, because they are twenty minutes apart.

Photo tours: light, locations, rhythm

A photo tour differs in that the light sets the route rather than convenience. That means leaving before sunrise, a long break in the middle of the day and a second outing in the evening. The structure of the day is different.

The choice of locations works differently too. At Kazbegi what matters is not only Gergeti church but where you shoot it from and at what hour. In Svaneti the point is morning light on Ushba and Shkhara, which depends on the cloud.

Group size matters particularly here: more than two or three people gets in the way on a photo tour, because you end up in each other's frames and agreeing how long to stay at a stop becomes difficult. So we normally run photo tours for one or two people and do not mix groups.

What a specialist guide means in practice

On a thematic tour the guide is chosen for the subject rather than simply for availability. On a wine route that is often a winemaker or a sommelier; on an archaeological one, somebody with the relevant training; on an architectural one, an architect.

The practical result is that answers are specific rather than general. When you ask why this wine is that colour, the answer will be about the length of contact with the skins, not 'it is the tradition'.

That carries its own limitation: a specialist guide is not free on every date. So we book thematic tours at least a week ahead, and during the harvest season, earlier still.

Combining two themes: when it works

Some pairs sit together naturally, because they land in the same places. Wine and food are one day - the tasting runs into lunch. Archaeology and history likewise, because the sites are the same and only the angle differs.

Others do not. A photo tour and a wine tour contradict each other within a day: one needs sunrise, the other an afternoon start and an unhurried pace. In that case we propose separate days.

The rule is this: if two themes demand the same hours, they cannot be combined. We say so plainly in the offer and propose an alternative rather than doing both of them by halves.

The season by theme

Not every theme works all year, and that has a direct effect on planning. The wine theme is available at any time, but taking part in rtveli is only possible in September and October.

Archaeological routes run from April to November: Dmanisi and Vani are open ground, and in winter it is cold there and the paths are muddy. Vardzia is reachable in winter too, though the road depends on the weather.

Food, architecture and monastery routes work equally well all year - those three are the most reliable choice for the winter months, when the mountain directions close.

How deep we go: three levels

A thematic tour has three depths and we agree which in advance. The first is introductory: the theme in one day, with the principal sites and the general context. It is for someone the subject interests but who has no prior knowledge.

The second level is specialised: two or three days with a narrow focus. In wine that means one region and five or six cellars; in archaeology, one period. Here the guide is already talking about detail rather than introduction.

The third is professional and we rarely propose it ourselves: it is for when you work in the field yourself and need to see particular people and collections. In that case the route is built around meetings rather than sites.