Day 4 in Republic of Georgia 2026 Trip

On Day 4 in the Republic of Georgia (June 27th) we left West Georgia and travelled almost three hours east with our first stop being Mtskheta Village, east of Tbilisi. In Mtskheta we had lunch and a wine tasting with winemaker Lago Bitarishvili (the Wizard of the Chinuri grape). After lunch we received a special treat – a tasting of his wife’s cherry liqueur or Chacha.  It sells out so fast they had no bottles to sell to us. And believe me, we wanted to take some home!

After yet another amazing meal at Lago’s Winery we proceeded to the Kartli region of Central Georgia. Near the town of Ateni we visited the Cave City of Uplistsikhe. People started digging dwellings in the sandstone here around 500 B.C with the Romans occupying the area during the early centuries A.D. Sometime around the 11th century a stone church was added. When the Mongols invaded in the 13th century the city was abandoned. We all agreed that this was an impressive place to visit.

We then travelled to our destination for the evening – Nika Vacheishvili’s winery-guesthouse – where we would eat and sleep for the night. This compound is in a small isolated valley that is absolutely stunning in its beauty. It felt like Shangri-La. During dinner one of the cats even reached out to me in friendship.

The father-in-law of the owner makes 50 different varieties of Chacha. This sprightly older gentleman (see photo) offered his homemade Chacha to us at dinner and again at breakfast the next morning. So that we would not offend our enthusiastic and gracious host, several of us took him up on his offer. The cherry Chacha at breakfast was especially good! To rationalize drinking Chacha for breakfast I put it in the same category as having a mimosa or Bloody Mary for breakfast. So, Jonathan Nelms and I had two!

Before breakfast and after doing some Yoga I spent the early morning walking among and admiring the cherry trees on the property. The trees were absurdly large with huge clumps of cherries. I counted 23 cherries in one clump!  My friend Jill back home would have loved making jam with these cherries. She makes jam from the cherries from our single, much smaller cherry tree on our farm. I must admit, I had cherry tree envy. So, I did what any normal cherry-loving guest would do. I started eating these delicious cherries. After about 20, I made myself comfortable in a hammock strung between two of these beautiful and productive trees. 

My 30 minutes in that hammock may have been my favorite moment yet on this trip – lying in a hammock under two huge cherry trees early on a crisp morning in the mountains of central Georgia…  I felt like I was nestled in a cocoon between these cherry trees with their bountiful and leafy limbs. And it got even better when the breeze picked up, rustling the leaves over my head and causing a few ripe cherries to plop on the ground.  And as the sun peeked over one of the mountains that enclosed this small, beautiful valley I did not want the moment to end.  But breakfast featuring fresh local yogurt and cherry flavored Chacha was calling me. 

 Nika Vacheishvili, the former Georgian ministry of culture owns this compound. We met him last night. Unfortunately, the governing party in Georgia, the Georgian Dream Party, which has been in power since 2012, seems to be getting more corrupt with increasing ties to Russia. I am guessing that may have been one of the reasons our host left politics. When he did, he bought this place and settled his family in this small community, which is fairly isolated. 

At dinner last night several of us talked about ways Russia continues to encroach on the sovereignty of the Republic of Georgia. You see, John Nelms, the owner of Supra and the organizer of this trip, is not the only one on this trip with ties to Russia and Georgia. My fellow travelers Kaitlyn, Igor, and Andrew, who were part of this discussion, also have ties. Kaitlyn studied in Russia and works for the Federal Government. Andrew’s grandfather had to flee Georgia in 1921 when the Russian Bolsheviks invaded the Democratic Republic of Georgia. The Russians would control this country for the next 70 years. And although Andrew and his family still have close ties to this country, his grandfather never returned to his homeland.  And Igor, who is from the former Soviet Republic of Lithuania, which is now independent, fled that country when it was under Soviet rule. He said it was a difficult transition. When Igor first arrived in the Inited States and was struggling, he wondered if he had made the right choice. He is now a successful physician in New York. Igor and Andrew’s grandfather are two of hundreds of thousands of immigration success stories that the United States has produced. 

I asked the obvious question, “With all of this Russian encroachment, aren’t people concerned that one day, Georgia could become like its neighbor Abkhazia, which has become nothing more than a Russian puppet state, closed to foreigners?” Igor and Andrew gave me desperate glances and said “Of course.” Igor even said that is why he chose not to wait any longer to take this trip. In a few years, it may not even be possible to visit this beautiful country with its unique culture and food, inhabited by warm and gracious people. And in a way, it made me feel better about missing Gracie’s Wedding and missing the 4th of July celebration with my family. As I suspected when I signed up for this trip, the opportunity to visit this country may not last forever…