Valley · Kazbegi Municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Truso Valley
თრუსოს ხეობა · Truso Gorge
The high upper valley of the Tergi west of Kobi in Kazbegi Municipality, with mineral springs, travertine, abandoned villages and the Zakagori fortress along its floor.
Where it is
42.5956, 44.4030
Why go
Truso is the upper valley of the Tergi river, covering about 25 square kilometres according to the national tourism administration (GNTA), which places it 22 kilometres from Stepantsminda. Its interest is spread along the valley floor: mineral water rises through the ground and leaves travertine deposits that GNTA describes as orange and red and the protected-areas agency as white and pinkish; more than ten villages stand abandoned; and the Zakagori fortress complex and Keterisi monastery stand above the river. GNTA says the valley is visited on foot, on horseback or in an off-road vehicle, and asks visitors not to climb on the travertine, which damages it. The Truso Travertines and Abano Mineral Lake are protected natural monuments inside the valley and have their own pages.
Near Truso Valley
Lake
Abano Mineral Lake
A tiny protected lake in the Truso gorge, Kazbegi, whose surface bubbles as carbon dioxide rises from Upper Jurassic carbonate rock beneath it. Not the Abano Pass in Tusheti.
2 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Geological feature
Truso Travertines
White and pinkish travertine fields still being shaped by carbonate-rich spring water on the floor of the Truso valley, protected as a natural monument about two kilometres from Keterisi.
2 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.
12 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monument
Stone Heads of Sno
An open-air gallery of monumental stone portraits carved by self-taught sculptor Merab Piranishvili into granite boulders on a hillside at the edge of Sno village, Kazbegi Municipality, begun in 1984 and still growing today.
19 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ