Telavi and Batonis Tsikhe

Telavi is the administrative and practical centre of Kakheti — the market, the hospital, the banks and by far the widest choice of accommodation in the region are all here. The town is built in terraces on the slope of the Tsiv-Gombori range, and from the main avenue the Alazani Valley and the Caucasus wall open out directly ahead. This is the natural base from which Alaverdi, Ikalto, Tsinandali and Gremi can all be reached in a single day.

In the centre stands Batonis Tsikhe, the royal residence of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Erekle II's palace, two small court churches, a bathhouse and the enclosing wall. The complex has been restored and works as a museum, with a historical exhibition, the royal rooms and a walk around the courtyard perimeter. In front of it is the well-known equestrian statue of Erekle II, and the terrace beside it gives the town's best panorama.

A short walk away, in its own small enclosure, stands the Telavi plane tree — an oriental plane estimated at around nine hundred years old, with a trunk some eleven metres around. The town market, five minutes from the castle, is worth a stop in its own right: churchkhela, Telavi cheese, fruit, and local wine sold by the bottle or straight from plastic canisters.