Monastery · Ghrele, Akhaltsikhe Municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti
Sapara Monastery
საფარის მონასტერი · Safara Monastery
A working monastery screened by forest and yellowish cliffs near the village of Ghrele outside Akhaltsikhe, where the domed thirteenth-century Church of St Saba stands beside a tenth-century Dormition church.
Where it is
41.6021, 43.0311
Why go
Inside St Saba's, the frescoes are the reason to make the detour; they have come through the centuries in decent condition. Around the church stand a bell tower, monks' cells and farm buildings, along with the ruined walls of a fortification and of a palace used as a residence by the Jaqelis, who ruled Samtskhe from the late thirteenth century. The name means sheltered, a fair description of a monastery hidden by forest. Closed in the Soviet period, it was revived from the 1980s and is home to a monastic community again. A sensible outing for anyone staying around Borjomi or Akhaltsikhe.
Near Sapara Monastery
Fortress
Atskuri Fortress
A cliff-top fortress over the Mtkvari at Atskuri village, long a defensive post for the Borjomi valley, with a narrow tunnel cut down to the riverbank so the garrison could reach water during sieges.
18 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Khertvisi Fortress
A tenth-century citadel and ring of walls on a rocky cape where the Paravani meets the Mtkvari, on the valley road between Akhaltsikhe and Vardzia.
25 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Okros Tsikhe
A medieval fortress of the Jaqeli princes on a high rocky height above the Kvabliani valley in Adigeni Municipality, its walls of roughly trimmed stone blocks stepping down the ridge on both flanks.
25 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Vardzia
A cave monastery cut into the cliffs of Erusheti mountain above the left bank of the Mtkvari, laid out mainly in the twelfth century under Giorgi III and his daughter Queen Tamar.
32 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ