If you’re looking for a place that has beautiful mountains, lakes, waterfalls and wineries, gorgeous landscapes, cave monasteries and history on every corner, delicious food and locals who treat every guest as if he were an angel, look no further than Kakheti.

Set to the east of the capital Tbilisi, it expands for 11.3 square kilometers and you could easily spend a week travelling around it. Some of the main sights can be reached in about 2 hours by car.

Kakheti has a long turbulent history of being part of Kartli-Iberia, independent, ruled by Iran, Georgia, the Mongols, Persia, Russia, Turks and finally becoming part of Georgia. You can see traces of the history in the architecture of some of the sights: the curved balconies in Signagi, the Tsinandali estate which looks was built in European tradition but with Persian-influenced balconies, yet hosted some of Russia’s most prominent writers.