Monastery · Aspindza Municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti
Vardzia
ვარძია
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.
Where it is
41.3808, 43.2838
Why go
The visit is a walk through the cliff itself: tunnels join floors of rock-cut rooms, a few of the wine cellars that once held qvevri survive, and at the centre sits the Church of the Dormition, where the frescoes include the young Tamar standing beside her father, who holds a model of the church. Earthquakes and centuries of war damaged much of the complex, and part of it is still used by an active monastic community, so this is not purely a museum. On the road in from Akhaltsikhe you pass Khertvisi Fortress, and the ruins of Tmogvi stand above the same valley, which makes it easy to combine the three.
Near Vardzia
Fortress
Tmogvi Fortress
The ruined walls of a medieval fortress-town on a steep height above the Mtkvari gorge downstream of Vardzia, which once guarded the route between the Javakheti plateau and the river valley.
3 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.
11 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monastery
Sapara 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.
32 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
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.
40 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ