Georgian Beauty: A visit to Kakheti
Features | 07.06.13 | 15:49
Photo: Gayane Lazarian/ArmeniaNow.com
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
On the slope of huge mountains stretches the Alazani valley with
heavily loaded vineyards and golden grain fields flanking the River
Alazani.
Photo: Tinati Bicholashvili
The administrative center of Kakheti or Kakhetia, with 410,000
population, is its highland urban settlement Telavi. One of its
residents, Tinati Bicholashvili, says Kakhetia is Georgia’s largest
province with hectares of vineyards and grain fields, the area was
once considered as its bread reserve.
`There used to be a sea where now the Alazan plane is, and the
surrounding mountains were its shores. So this big plate was once full
of water,’ says Bicholashvili, whose academic background is in
philology.
Deputy mayor of Telavi Alexander Tegerashvili tells the fable of how
Kakhetia was created: `When God was allotting lands, Georgians were
standing in the line, waiting for their share. After a long wait they
left, and when they returned God told them there were no more spare
lands left, he had given away all. Not to leave Georgians empty-handed
God gave them what he had kept for himself, which is the heavenly land
of Kakhetia.’
Telavi was officially recognized a city in 1801, but had been founded
much earlier. For a long time it was considered to be one of the
country’s economic centers, a junction of main trade roads from East
and West. The marketplace smells like a big pot of Georgian spices,
pleasant to the eye for the colorful scenery they present. Like
Armenians, they too speak loudly creating a buzz of emotionally
colored speech and gestures, which to a stranger might seem like
everybody is arguing. To the question on how much home-made wine
costs, the response comes in Armenian: `Hye es? (Are you Armenian?’)
Deputy mayor Tegerashvili says Armenians settled in Telavi in the 18th
century, when King Irakli II (Hercules II) moved some 200 Armenian
families from Gyanja (Nagorno Karabakh) to Telavi.
`Irakli II did it on purpose to help revive the city, and Armenians
were known as good craftspeople and merchants. As a result Telavi,
indeed, bloomed and prospered, becoming the center of trades and
crafts,’ he says.
The red-tiled roofs of Telavi and architecturally unique
yellow-bricked houses have painted the city with the hues of sunrise.
The old historic houses and those of Tsar period are being restored,
as one of president Mikheil Saakashvili’s projects. Irakli II’s
Persian-style palace is also part of the restoration project. Telavi
residents take special pride in the 900-year-old plane tree.
Tegerashvili says they are doing their best to spur the development of
tourism there, however the high season for tourists remains to be
autumn, when crops are being harvested in Telavi – many visit that
part of Georgia specifically to watch the grape pressing and
winemaking process.
The elaborately decorated wooden balustrades of balconies on Rustaveli
street speak about the glory of craftsmen who once lived and created
there. One tufa house, just where the street starts, however, stands
out among them. A 73-year-old woman, Rima Badasyan, who has spent half
a century in Telavi, is standing at the door, welcoming her guests and
inviting them in.
`Do you know the story behind the city name Telavi? They say when
Armenians got here and saw the settlement, they said `Te lavi [if it’s
good], we will stay, if not we will go back,’ tells the woman with a
broad smile, adding that her mother-in-law had ordered the stones for
their house from Artik town in Armenia.
She says Armenians and Georgians have a lot in common; both her sons
are married to Georgian women.
`This merging takes place involuntarily. We speak Armenian in our
family, if we don’t, we might become Georgian, want it or not. My
Georgian daughters-in-law like Armenian cuisine – dolma (vine leaves
with ground beef stuffing), tatar borani (large home-made pasta cubes
usually served with natural yoghurt and garlic), and I like Georgian
satsivi (chicken in white sauce with nuts and spices),’ she says.
Philologist Bicholashvili appreciates the fact that Rima keeps
speaking Armenian.
`When Rima speaks Armenian, I can feel her Armenian roots, the power
of the Armenian tradition, and all that is precious to me, so are her
relations with other people. She has lived here, formed her own
family, keeps living here, and it is very difficult to preserve your
identity in a foreign environment,’ he says.
Rima shows her wine cellar with clay jars half-buried in earth in
which her husband and sons used to ferment wine. She says years ago
they used call her `cellar Rima’; she adds that the locals always
liked Armenian lavash (flat bread) she baked.
`The smell of lavash was enough to have my neighbors come over –
Armenians, Georgians, Azeris… we’d lay a table with lavash, cheese and
wine and turn it into a real feast. I wouldn’t be able to live in
Armenia now, I love Telavi, Kakhetia,’ says Rima.
Bicholashvili says it is hard to leave Kakhetia – a heavenly place
with ancient palaces, fortresses and vineyards, where people always
come back once they have seen it.
http://armenianow.com/society/features/46729/kakheti_georgia_georgian_wine_production_armenians