Church · Gergeti, Stepantsminda, Kazbegi Municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Gergeti Trinity Church
გერგეტის სამების ეკლესია · Tsminda Sameba · Holy Trinity Church near Gergeti
A walled 14th-century church on the hill above Stepantsminda, standing in front of Mount Kazbek, which rises to 5,054 metres behind it.
Where it is
42.6624, 44.6205
Why go
Two things justify the climb: the position, with Kazbek filling the view behind the church, and the building's past as a refuge. The church has two storeys, including a concealed upper floor where priests and villagers hid during invasions, and in dangerous periods of the Middle Ages the Cross of St Nino was kept here before it moved to Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi. Georgia's tourism administration notes that you can walk up from town or take a local taxi. For anyone staying in Stepantsminda it is the obvious first outing.
Near Gergeti Trinity Church
Waterfall
Gveleti Waterfall
The larger of two waterfalls above Gveleti village near the Dariali gorge, a thirty-metre fall reached on foot after a short drive north from Stepantsminda.
5 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mountain
Chaukhi Pass
A high walking pass below the rock towers of the Chaukhi massif, climbed from Juta village near Stepantsminda and looking down on the Abudelauri lakes on the Khevsureti side.
20 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Lake
Abudelauri Lakes
Three small glacial lakes — white, blue and green — in the Abudelauri valley of Khevsureti beneath the Chaukhi massif, reached on foot from Roshka where the paved road ends.
22 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monument
Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument
A circular stone-and-concrete monument of 1983 on the Georgian Military Highway between Gudauri and the Jvari Pass, lined inside with a tiled mural of Georgian and Russian history above a deep valley.
23 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ