Sighnaghi, Georgia
Jun 21, 2018
High above the Alazani valley, looking north to the Caucasian foothills is a hill with multiple ridges, and the small town atop is Sighnaghi. The surrounding areas have roots that go back three or four millenia, as shown by the finds in kurgans. Settled since Paleolithic times, bronze-age pottery, ornaments, human and animal figurines abound among swords and daggers, axes and arrows.
But Sighnaghi itself only came into prominence in the eighteenth century with establishment by King Ereckle II. The fortress walls that ramble up and down the ridges date from that time.
Being the final resting place of Georgia’s revered Saint Nino, it has its share of pilgrims and devotees. Today it sells itself as wine-lover’s paradise with shops lined with bottles, wine-tastings offered by every second café and the bazar and pavement shops selling home-made wine in plastic bottles.
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 