Destination Guide
The Caucasus republic, not the American state — a country of stone watchtowers, a wine region older than most, and mountains that close roads without apology.
Tbilisi sits in a valley on the Mtkvari River, its old town a mix of Persian, Ottoman, and Soviet-era layers that rarely resolve into a single style — which is more or less the point. Kakheti, the wine region east of the capital, has been producing wine in buried clay vessels called qvevri for a method that predates most of what is now called natural winemaking by thousands of years.
Svaneti, in the northwest, is reached by a mountain road that closes for weather without much notice — the stone defensive towers that give the region its look were built for exactly the isolation that still applies today. Kazbegi, closer to Tbilisi, offers a shorter version of the same high-Caucasus scenery for travelers without the time for Svaneti's longer drive.
The name causes confusion at airport check-in counters worldwide; it refers here to the country, not the state of the same name.
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