Orthodox Georgia Pilgrimage

After you are met at the airport and settled in your hotel, your guide begins with a short talk on what to expect inside a Georgian church. The first visit is Sioni Cathedral in the old town, the former patriarchal see, which keeps the cross that tradition says St Nino made from vine branches bound with her own hair. A few streets away stands Anchiskhati, a 6th-century basilica that no other church in the city predates. Late in the afternoon you drive up to Sameba, the Holy Trinity Cathedral consecrated in 2004, a building so vast it dwarfs the old town below. If a vespers service is under way, stand at the back and listen to the choir. Dinner is in the old town.

Begin on the hill of Jvari, where tradition places the wooden cross Nino set up and where a small 6th-century church now stands above the meeting of two rivers. Down in Mtskheta, the convent of Samtavro marks the spot where Nino lived in a modest shelter by a blackberry bush. King Mirian III and Queen Nana are buried in its main church, and pilgrims queue at the grave of St Gabriel Urgebadze, a monk who died in 1995 and was canonised in 2012. Svetitskhoveli, the 11th-century cathedral of the Catholicos, stands over the place where tradition says Christ's robe lies. After lunch, drive a short way up a quiet valley to Shio-Mgvime, the 6th-century foundation of St Shio, one of the Syrian monks who settled in Georgia in that century. You can visit the cave where he prayed.

Leave early to beat the heat on the drive south-east into the semi-desert near the border with Azerbaijan. St David, a companion of Shio among the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers, came here in the 6th century and founded the lavra that still bears his name. Monks live here again today, and you can visit the rock-cut cells, the church and the saint's grave. Men and women may enter the lavra, but some inner parts are closed to visitors, and your guide shows you where. Fit pilgrims climb the hillside path to Udabno monastery, with its cave churches and 10th to 13th-century frescoes; the ridge lies along a disputed stretch of the border, so follow the guard's advice. Afterwards drive north to Sighnaghi for the night.

Bodbe Convent sits just outside Sighnaghi, and St Nino is buried in the small church inside its gates, where King Mirian is said to have built the first chapel over her grave. Your guide arranges for you to attend the morning liturgy with the nuns, standing as the congregation does. Below the convent, a long stairway leads down through the woods to the spring that tradition links to Nino's prayers. Pilgrims bathe there in a simple shift, and the bathhouse is separate for men and women. In the afternoon cross the Alazani Valley to Alaverdi, the 11th-century cathedral built over the grave of St Joseph, and Ikalto, founded by St Zenon and later home to a medieval academy. Night in Telavi.

A long travel day takes you from Kakheti to Imereti. Whether you cross the Gombori Pass or take the longer road via Sagarejo depends on road status, which we confirm the night before. West of the capital, take the side valley south of Gori to Ateni Sioni, a 7th-century domed church on a cliff above the Tana river. Its 11th-century frescoes, among the finest in the country, show scenes from the life of the Virgin, and a small group of nuns now looks after the church. After a late lunch in the village, rejoin the main highway and climb over the Rikoti Pass into the green hills of western Georgia. You reach Kutaisi, Georgia's second capital in the Middle Ages, in time for an evening walk along the Rioni.

In 1106 King David IV, known as the Builder, founded Gelati as a monastery and an academy of learning, and he asked to be buried under its south gate so that everyone entering would walk over him. Inside the main church, the apse mosaic of the Virgin and Child with archangels dates from the 12th century, and the walls carry portraits of kings. Ten minutes away on a river bend is Motsameta, where two brothers, the princes David and Constantine, are venerated as martyrs killed by an Arab army in the 8th century. Their relics rest in a shrine by the altar, and pilgrims crawl beneath it three times while praying. In the afternoon visit Bagrati Cathedral, built in 1003 for the first king of united Georgia, then enjoy a free evening.

On the way back to Tbilisi, stop at Katskhi Pillar, a limestone column about 40 m high topped by a tiny hermitage church. The climb is reserved for the monks, but from the base you can see the iron ladder and the small chapel at its foot. Further along the highway, Ubisa Monastery, dedicated to St George, sits in a wooded valley beside a tall defensive tower. Its 14th-century frescoes are signed by the painter Damiane, one of the few medieval Georgian artists known by name. A farewell lunch follows on the road, and you reach Tbilisi in the late afternoon. If you have an extra day, we suggest the feast-day calendar or a return visit to Mtskheta for a quiet hour of prayer.