Today we said goodbye to our Azerbaijani guide and driver and ventured into Georgia; and I am pleased to report that the border experience was simple and fast - thankfully. Inside Georgia our first stop was the village of Telavi where we learned about the making of bread and a style of desert called churchkhela. The significant thing about the bread is the style of the oven in which it is baked. It is round, almost a cylinder, standing with an opening at the top and a fire at the bottom. It's a bit like a large Indian Tandoori. The dough to be backed is stuck to the internal side of the cylinder. Some of the photos will explain better than my words can.

Chruchkhela is a desert made by stringing walnuts on a thread, then covering the nuts with a brown mixture made from fruit juice and flour. The sausage looking result is then hung to dry. Again the photos do a better job at explanations.

Qvevri is a style of wine making unique to a small number of villages and families in Georgia. Surprisingly the story of this unusual wine making technique starts with the making of large clay pots or urns which seem also to called Qvevri. The pots are built up in layers 10cm at a time and then fired in a kiln at 1000°C for a week before being useful for wine making.

Two types of wine are made in these pots. The first is made by placing the squeezed juice of the grape harvest (without skins/seeds and other solids) in the pot and allowing it to ferment. This makes a wine that appears similar to a "normal" wine, with about the same alcohol content and a somewhat different more bitter taste. The second type of wine is made by placing the skins and other solid bits from the grape crushing in a pot along with water and aging in that way for 3 months to 12 months. This style of wine is very strong with an alcohol content of 50% to 70%.

During our travels, between the bread making and the wine making we paid a visit to a hilltop castle and church. To be honest I have forgotten the details but it seems this place was the home and fortress of the many kings that ruled this province of Georgia.