To our surprise, the weather luckily changed, and we got a lovely sunny afternoon in Kutaisi, a city in west-central Georgia. It lies along the Rioni River, where the latter emerges from the Caucasian foothills into a lowland. One of the oldest cities of Transcaucasia, it served at...
Not far from Gelati Monastery, little Motsameta Monastery sits on a spectacular clifftop promontory above a bend of the Tskhaltsitela River. The river’s name, ‘Red Water,’ derives from an 8th-century Arab massacre. Among the victims were the brothers’ Davit and...
Today we visited the monastery complex (unfortunately under restoration) on a wooded hillside 8km northeast of Kutaisi. It is an outstanding example of Golden Age architecture and one of Georgia’s most influential churches. Gelati was a cultural hub of Georgia’s medieval...
Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the exciting 700m-long walkway project. It starts at the edge of the 100m-deep Okatse canyon and culminates in a viewing platform that hangs right out over the middle of the canyon. It’s a 2.5km hike from the visitors center (🎫17,25 GEL) near...
The attractive Abasha Canyon (🎫17,25 GEL), also known as Gachedili or Martvili Canyon, is located in Western Georgia at an altitude of 240 meters above sea level. It was carved by the erosive action of the Abasha River in the limestone rocks of the southern part of the Ashkah massif in...
In the center of the Martvili village, we found out old Soviet cable car (🎫1 GEL) built in 1986, going to the monastery. Martvili’s monastery, a medieval Georgian cultural center, sits on a serene hilltop overlooking the town and the surrounding valleys and hills. Its church dates...
Nokalakevi is an ancient Colchian fortress (🎫10 GEL) built on the banks of the Tekhuri River in Western Georgia. It’s been mooted as one of the (many) places to have housed the Golden Fleece. The oldest layer dates back to the 8th-7th centuries BC, although traces of life in this...
A rough, steep road brought us to the village Khalde located in the south of Chkhutneri ridge, in Khaldechala valley, just six kilometers from Khalde Glacier, at an altitude of 1900m above sea level. It’s a very tiny mountainous village that is not inhabited during winter. The...
Ushguli is a village community located at the foot of Mount Shkhara (5,268m) and the mouth of the rivers Enguri and Kvishiri at an altitude between 2,060 and 2,200 meters. It is considered the highest permanently inhabited place in Europe. Ushguli consists of the five villages Murkmeli...
Today we hired an off-road car (500 GEL/day) to reach remote villages hidden in Svaneti Mountains. Our first stop was the original and authentic village of Adishi, a small mountain village situated in the middle of the mountains of the Greater Caucasus – in Upper Svaneti between Ushguli...