Fortress · Sachkhere, Sachkhere Municipality, Imereti
Modinakhe Fortress
მოდინახე
The ruins of a Tsereteli family stronghold on a limestone ridge about 700 metres above sea level over the town of Sachkhere, badly damaged by the 1991 earthquake.
Where it is
42.3489, 43.4022
Why go
Today it is a ruin, but the record of what stood here is clear: two long walls, one ending in a tall tower and the other in a pair of towers, enclosing a house, a chapel, a dungeon and a yard with buried qvevri. Excavations on the ridge also turned up Bronze Age material and traces of antique settlement. The name translates roughly as 'come and see', and local tradition says Papuna Tsereteli built the fortress so that he could invite a doubting future father-in-law to do exactly that. Russian forces took it after the 1810 uprising and garrisoned it, and it lost its military role afterwards. Come for the ruin and its position over Sachkhere.
Near Modinakhe Fortress
Church
Nikortsminda Cathedral
Carved reliefs of the Transfiguration, the Last Judgement, saints and real and fantastic beasts cover the façades of this St Nicholas cathedral in the Racha village of Nikortsminda, built for King Bagrat III in 1010–1014.
29 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Ubisi Monastery
A ninth-century monastery at Ubisi in Kharagauli municipality, pairing a hall church painted in the fourteenth century with a four-storey tower dated 1141.
31 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Lake
Udziro Lake (Racha)
A volcanic lake at about 2,800 metres on a small plateau between the Katitsvera and Dolomisi peaks above Glola in upper Racha, fed by snow and ice from Katitsvera.
39 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Cave
Navenakhevi Cave
A two-level limestone cave at Navenakhevi, Terjola municipality, where four halls joined by steps lead to a stalagnate seven metres thick that closes the cave.
46 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ