Narikala Fortress

Why go

Most of what stands dates from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, though a fortress occupied this height by the fourth century. The Church of St Nicholas in the lower court is a 1997 reconstruction on the proportions of a thirteenth-century church destroyed in 1818, when it was being used as a munitions store and the store exploded; it holds icons from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Around it are parts of the old royal palace, restored tunnels and a tower. Come for the view over the city and, on clear days, towards the Caucasus. The sulphur baths lie below on one side and the National Botanical Garden on the other.