A view of the village of Mtsxeta, Georgia's ancient capital, from Jvari Monastery, across the river.

Istanbul was amazing. We could have easily stayed there another week or even longer. And, once I get through the 1500+ photos we took, there may be another post (and definitely a photo album or two) to wrap that trip up.

Coming back to Georgia wasn’t that difficult, though, because we knew we had a good week ahead of us when we returned: exploring some sites in the eastern part of the country, where we have spent very little time.

After some meetings in Tbilisi for various projects we’re working on, our first stop was the village of Mtskheta, which used to be Georgia’s capital way back in the day when Georgia was the Kingdom of Iberia. The government is pouring a lot of money into this area to make it all shiny and nice for tourists and right now, parts of it feel like walking through a theme park that isn’t quite finished.

Still, there are some amazing things to see — both man-made and natural — in and around the city:

The yard/graveyard of one of the ancient churches we visited.

A local man plays music and feeds the pigeons in what is now the main tourist part of town.

Inside another church -- Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, built in 1029 -- which is probably the most beautiful one I've seen yet in Georgia. There was a wedding going on, and it was also okay to take pictures (it's usually not in Georgian churches).

In the yard of the cathedral, you can see Jvari Monastery sitting high atop a hill across the river.

Me, McKinze and Lacey in front of Jvari Monastery, completed in 605 AD and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mtskheta, from Jvari Monastery. The big church in the foreground is Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, from the pictures above.

After a bit more time back in Tbilisi, a small group of us headed to the region of Kakheti in far eastern Georgia to a very small village where one of our friends lives for an event we had been anticipating for a year:

The Kakheti Grape Harvest.

As you know by now, Georgia is somewhat famous for it’s wine culture. Nowhere is this truer than in Kakheti, which, according to some anthropologists, may actually be the oldest winemaking region in the world. All of the expensive bottles of wine at the stores? They come from here in Kakheti. All of the wine featured on CNN, BBC, etc.? From here. All of the “wine tourism” money from the government? Flows right into Kakheti.

In addition to all of this fancy stuff, pretty much every household has their own mini-vineyard from which liter upon liter of homemade wine is made every year. Our friend who lives there says last year’s yield of 700 liters was a little disappointing. This year looks to be closer to 900, and we helped make it happen.

Our friend, Kamran, and the rest of us, harvesting grapes on his host family's farm.

Grapes waiting to be dumped into the juicer.

Squeezing the juice out of the grapes into a big hole in the ground, where they'll sit for the next 3-4 weeks and ferment, turning into wine.

Of course, there was a celebratory supra at the end of the day.

The next day we paid a visit to Kamran’s NGO, where we learned more about what they do and got some ideas that we can take back to our own NGOs here in Akhaltsikhe. For part of the day, Kamran had arranged for a baker to come in and teach some of the women — including a very happy McKinze — how to make beautiful cakes (that could then be sold… a lesson in home businesses, so to speak).

McKinze learning how to make and decorate a Georgian-style cake.

The next day was my birthday. McKinze and I had to go back to Tbilisi for another meeting. Kamran (and two of us friends who were visiting from the US) had to go back as well, before going to Armenia the following day. He was staying at the Marriott and surprised me and McKinze by inviting us to stay there with him. Twist my arm.

So my birthday was fantastic: Thai food for lunch and Italian for dinner, pool & hot tub, the hottest sauna I’ve ever been in (literally could not breathe a couple of times), a quick workout in the hotel’s weight room, two showers and, to top it all off, a couple of India Pale Ales brought over from the States by Kamran’s friends:

After a great night of sleep on super-soft sheets with English-language TV on in the background, and another trip to the sauna in the morning, our two weeks on the road were coming to an end. McKinze still had one more trek to make — to the other side of the country, in Batumi, to give a presentation — but I was able to head back to Akhaltsikhe.

And, while traveling is awesome, I also always look forward to coming back to a wonderful host family, delicious home-cooked meals and our bedroom that, although tiny, is the place that right now we love to call home.