Akhaltsikhe & Georgian Food

We took a marshutka from Kutaisi to Akhaltsikhe and when we got off we were admiring the cars set up as hardware shops and were trying to work out which way to go to get to our hotel when a bustling woman approached us offering accommodation at her guesthouse. We had already booked a room a hotel so politely declined her offer. Not giving up she offered home cooked meals and a husband who could drive us to Vardzia and other places of interest in the area. She spoke a few words of English but was delighted I could speak Russian so we could converse quite easily. She pointed out our hotel (directly across the road from the bus station!) and explained where we could find her later.

Beside the Akhaltsikhe bus station – who needs a building when you can set up shop in your car?

After settling in to our nice, quiet hotel we found our friend Jasmine and booked in breakfast the following day and a taxi ride with her husband to Vardzia. We then had a walk around Akhaltsikhe and found somewhere to have dinner. Rather disappointing on the vegetarian front- the khachapuri (cheesy bread sort of like a pizza) had incredibly salty cheese that I couldn’t eat… never mind.

Amaghleba Church, Akhaltsikhe

The views of Rabati Castle all lit up at night were rather spectacular, as was the place by day. The castle really dominates the town and the area around it. The Rabati neighbourhood is a rather unique place being very ethnically and religiously diverse. Here you can still find a Georgian Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic & Catholic churches, a synagogue and a mosque!

Rabati Fortress, Akhaltsikhe

Inside the castle complex there is a mosque with a dazzling gold dome, a church, a citadel, museum, lovely ponds, colonnaded pavilions, nice landscaped gardens and lots of watch towers you can climb up for good views of the castle complex and the city. There is also a two storey madraseh, Islamic school, built in the 1750s. The place will never get on a UNESCO list as not much of it is original – the ramparts, the citadel and the 9th/ 10th century Orthodox church were rebuilt in 2011-2012. The Mosque, Madraseh and the minaret were restored at this time. So although not entirely authentic, it is still a pretty cool place to wander around!

Top: Church, Bottom: Mosque, both inside the Rabati Castle complex.

(L) The Madraseh (Islamic school) & (R) Inside the mosque @ Rabati Castle.

Views from the citadel. Top: looking down on the castle complex, Bottom: looking out over the castle walls and towers to the town of Akhaltsikhe.

Top: inside the arched pavillion, Bottom: Rabati Castle by night.

We had lunch in a restaurant at the castle- cheap and pretty good, like most of the food in Georgia! A word on Georgian vegetarian food options…. aside from the various khachapuri (cheesy bread things) there are some other key Georgian dishes available for the vegetarian (many are actually vegan). Salads consist of tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and onion and are made to order, so always a good fresh complement to the heavier cheesy bread dishes. You can also get this salad with a walnut dressing. Khinkali are the famous Georgian dumplings, often filled with meat but you can usually order different types… I had mushroom, potato and cheese kinkhali. Both the mushroom and potato ones had lots of pepper in them and were surprisingly tasty. I wasn’t a big fan of the cheese ones. Kinkhali are incredibly cheap so a great option for the super budget traveller. Locals seem to order huge plates full of them… a few drink rounds later when the remaining khinkali are cold staff often take them away then fry them up and serve them again.

Typical salad. (L) Lobio- beans in clay pot. (R) Khinkali – dumpliings.

Lobio, a bean stew that comes in a clay pot is nice and filling and a more wholesome, healthier option. Mchadi– a cornbread is often served with this. We tried a few versions of this but it was a bit dry and not terribly tasty. Soko Kecze is a mushroom dish of mushrooms baked in a ketsi dish, with or without butter and cheese. It was a bit cheese-overload often at meal times so I got the plain baked mushrooms which were nice. Akhali Kartopili are potatoes in large cubes usually, sometimes also served in a ketsi dish. At one place the cook was a bit heavy on the herbs and spices but the other times I got potatoes in Georgia they were delicious. A lot of dill is used on these potatoes. A traditional sauce eaten with potatoes is tkemali sauce, made from green plums, garlic and herbs. It has quite a strong, unusual taste. I liked the homemade tkemali I tried but not so much that which I tried in restaurants.

Georgians make a kind of walnut paste that gets served with thin slices of fried eggplant, often rolled up with pommegranate kernels on top, or folded over as in the photo below. It’s called Nigvziani Badrijani. This was insanely good when I had it a place in Borjomi. The walnut paste was on peppers as well. Other places I tried it, this was average…. definitely worth a try more than once in case like me you get an average experience at first. When it’s good it’s really good!! Also on the plate from Borjomi was spinach Pkhali – where the spinach is thoroughly chopped, cooked and mixed with garlic, onion, herbs and walnuts. Again, this was tasty at the Borjomi restaurant but only ok at other places. Pkhali can be made with other vegetables as well, like beetroot which makes for a colourful plate. Both Pkhali and Badrijani are really popular, cold (vegan) dishes.

Ajapsandali is another great dish for a vegan, so delicious and I saw how to make it when workawaying. Basically in a pot with oil you put onions, eggplants, green beans, peppers, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes and leave them to break down. Then later add lots of greens (parsley, dill…) and plenty of garlic crushed with salt. Yum! It is similar to Ratatouille.

Bread you can buy hot from little places all over Georgia for almost nothing, (L):Pkhali & Nigvziani Badrijani. (R): Ajapsandali cooking.

As mentioned above khachapuri is a kind of cheesy bread. You can get various types, including one that is a pizza size bread base filled with cheese and then more cheese on top! There are also bread boats filled with various things… I tried a beany/vege one and a mushroom one. The plain bread that you can buy from little bakers in every town in Georgia is usually hot and fresh and we ate it by itself for lunch on the go a couple of times. It’s dirt cheap also.

Bread boats with veges (R) Khacapuri Cheese filled bread with cheese on top!

Right that’s enough about food, back to the sightseeing…

Aside from Rabati Castle and a daytrip to Vardzia, the other thing to do in Akhaltsikhe is visit Sapara Monastery, 12km SE of Akhaltsikhe. We arrived here in the morning and the place wasn’t really open. We were wandering in the grounds when a monk, about our age or a bit younger, came running to meet us, keys in hand, ready to open up the church. He spoke some English and we learnt a bit from him about the place which was great. He showed us the oldest building – from the 10th century. But the highlight was the largest St Saba’s Church from the 13th century with its incredible frescoes. The place was truly awe-inspiring and had a wonderful atmosphere. The monastery is located amongst a lot of trees and has spectacular views of tree covered hills and mountains. Just gorgeous.

Sapara Monastery, beautifully located!

Views from Sapara Monastery

Altar, Apse and ceiling in St Saba’s Church, Sapara Monastery.

(L) Altar icon. (R) Frescoes on the side wall. St Saba’s Church, Sapara Monastery.

The small 10th century church. Frescoes were painted over by the Soviets so are not in such good condition. Sapara Monastery.

We really enjoyed our few days in Akhaltsikhe. We ate breakfast and dinner at Jasmine’s house every day and utilised her husband’s taxi services to Sapara and Vardzia (see next post). If you meet Jasmine at the bus stop, book her for meals and breakfasts if not accommodation too. She is Armenian so speaks Armenian, also Georgian given she’s lived in Georgia for most of her adult life. She is fluent in Russian and the extended family that live with her speak English and German also. Meeting her family made our trip here really memorable and easy.

Bottom: Jasmine outside her house. Top: Antony with her husband, our driver.