Gearing up for our second day-tour with Envoy. Today's tour should be way more relaxed as we head to the east of the country to visit the town of Sighnaghi (city of love), stop at a few wineries and do some wine tasting, and then visit the Gremi Cathedral near Telavi before heading over the Gorbomi Pass (part of the "Lesser" Caucasus) before arriving back in Tbilisi.

Understandably, because of his late night on the town, Efren didn’t want to get out of bed, and we toyed with the idea of cancelling the tour. It’s a good thing we didn’t as today’s trip would turn out to be one of the most enjoyable. To help get Efren moving, Craig headed to the opposite side of Freedom Square to the Dunkin’ Donuts. The tour started at 9 and it was 7:45 and with Efren still struggling to get out of bed we didn’t really have any other options. D&D didn’t open until 8am, and even at 8:15 they were still brewing coffee and putting out donuts. Craig arrived back with food in tow around 8:30 as Efren was dragging himself out of bed.

A few minutes later we were in front of the Courtyard waiting for the bus from Envoy. Memories of yesterday’s hell-bus still fresh in our minds, we were relieved when a small van with 3 other passengers pulled up. Our incredibly wonderful tour guide, Nika, popped out and introduced himself and let us know he was our guide for the day. In the van already were Cristina and Erica from yesterday. We didn’t see Venkat, and given he was out drinking until 4am we assumed he was still in bed. It turns out he was actually signed up for a different tour offered by Envoy that day. We waited a few minutes for our final passenger – Namrata, an Indian woman living in Dubai, who was part of #Kazbegisurvivors yesterday. A nice small group for a change! The 5 of us, along with Nika and the driver, embarked on our wine tasting extravaganza!

On the outskirts of town we stopped to pick up some bread that we just coming out of the circular clay oven (known as a tone – think “to-nay”) and cheese that was locally made. We munched on these snacks while we continued the several hour drive to Sighnaghi. As we approached we stopped at an overlook of the town. Sighnaghi is located in the Kakheti region of Georgia – its far eastern province that is generally flat and dry – and is the cradle of Georgian wine making. Today, again, the weather was so-so – not raining – but partly to mostly cloudy. The overlook of the town revealed a quaint, somewhat gentrified place that reminded us a bit of an Italian hill-town.

We descended into the town and walked around a bit as Nika told us more about the history of the town. Of note is the town is surrounded by walls which are the longest ramparts in Georgia. We walked along the walls and enjoyed the expansive views over the plains. After our brief visit we drove a short distance to Numisi, a 16th century home and winery where we enjoyed visiting the old homestead including seeing the qvevri, other paraphernalia used to make wine, and checked out the wine cellar. We then got to taste some of their homemade wine as well as sampled the infamous chacha – a very strong grappa like liquor made from the fermented stems, seeds, and skins of the grapes.

After drinking we goofed around putting on traditional Georgian hats and coats and pretended to shoot off rifles. Fun, but those outfits are not meant for warm summer weather! Back to the car for the short drive to our next place, the famous Kindzmarauli winery. On the way Nika shared more information about Georgia, including discussion of the South Ossetia breakaway republic and talking about Georgia’s unique alphabet. The alphabet is a beautiful assortment of squiggles and curves. Today there are 33 letters in the alphabet, down from 38 after 5 were deemed “too complicated”. Nika tried to get us to be able to pronounce the difference between several “K” sounds – “K”, “KH”, etc. He laughed at our feeble attempts at pronounciation.

At Kindzmarauli we had a proper wine tasting experience of 5 different varieties, topped off with a tour of the winery seeing the handling of the grapes, barrels for aging, etc. We particularly liked the sweet 16/16 variety – a sweet port-like wine. The first 16 stands for 16% alcohol (strong) and the second 16 stands for 16% sugar (sweet). Nika shared with us his favorite brand and we bought a bottle on the sly to give him as a tip at the end of the day for being such a great tour guide.

Part of the joys of traveling is meeting other travelers. For sure, that was the case with this tour. We didn’t see any blockbuster sites, but had a great opportunity to learn more about an important component of Georgia’s history and to bond with new friends. Several of the folks on the tour live in countries where alcohol is illegal. It was lamentable that they were unable to bring any bottles home to share with friends and family. However, it was enjoyable seeing their reaction to alcohol – in some cases it was the first time they ever drank any! Nika seemed a bit surprised at having a bunch of light-weights on his tour – Georgians drink wine from a very young age and are known for drinking lots of it.

After Kindzmarauli we were ready for what was quickly becoming one of our favorite Envoy tour traditions – lunch! We traveled to a family’s house where we were greeted with the assortment of delicious foods we had come to expect. On the menu today were the salads, cheese and other starters we had seen last night. On the menu today, however, was some truly unbelievably delicious khatapuri and the most delicious eggplant stuffed with walnut paste. Trust me, it tastes way better than it sounds! After a hearty meal and the usual rounds of toasts with delicious wine, we were back out on the road.

Our next stop brought us to the citadel at Gremi, which apparently used to serve as the former capital of Eastern Georgia. After a brief tour of the museum we climbed the tower for commanding views of the surrounding plains. As Nika was describing more about the citadel we were approached by a stray dog who took a particularly liking to Nika. He liked us even more after we gave him the remainder of the bread and cheese that we bought earlier in the day.

It was now time for the ~2 hour drive back to Tbilisi. On the way we drove over the Gombori Pass just as the sun was setting and enjoyed beautiful views. Clouds/fog were coming over the Lower Caucasus and to us it almost had a San Francisco air to it. The dropping temperatures added to that feeling. Gombori Pass is at 1620m, and we put that into context against the wonderful 16/16 wine we had earlier in the day. To commemorate the great day, we stood about 4 meters down from the sign marking the 1620m mark and took some group pictures. We tried to jump and get in-air shots, but the effects of the wine and old age (for some of us) made that a tricky proposition!

We arrived back in Tbilisi (lots of traffic around the city) about 7:30pm. We messaged Venkat to find out what happened to him and learned he went on the Davit Gareji tour offered by Envoy that day. We were planning on doing that on our own tomorrow, and based on his favorable recommendations we solidified those plans. We also made plans to meet up with him for dinner at a restaurant near Meidan that has nightly Georgian Dancing. Food at the Café Alana was a bit disappointing, but the singing and dancing was wonderful. A little while later we saw Erica and Cristina arrive at the restaurant as well, and it gave us one more chance for some pictures. Cristina was around for a few more days, but Erica was leaving on a flight in a few hours, so it was our last chance to hang out with her and her ever-present selfie stick!

After dinner we stopped at Vino Underground with Venkat and shared a bottle of wine. This time we wrapped things up around 11pm (we’re all too old to do the 4am thing 2 nights in a row!) and headed back to the Courtyard. Efren and I decided to do the Davit Gareji tour the next day. Envoy didn’t offer a tour that day, but we learned of a cheap “transportation only” option that would bring us there (about 3 hours away), give us a few hours to explore the site, and then bring us back for 25 GEL (about $10). The bus left from the park right next to the Courtyard at 11am, so that was easy. It also allowed us to sleep in for a change!