Kartli tours off the beaten track

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Kartli is the Georgian heartland. Everyone loves to joke about and stereotype the Svans, Kakhetians, Megrelians, Gurians, or Rachans, but nobody has a Kartli joke. It’s just there, somehow, on the road from Tbilisi to the west. Tourists bypass it, unless they feel like visiting the rather macabre Stalin Museum. But Kartli is far from uninteresting – it’s the most diverse of all the Georgian regions, with some of the most spectacular ancient monuments and some of the most breathtaking views. I will have trouble talking about it in just a few paragraphs.

Kartli is usually talked about in two separate parts: Kvemo (Lower) Kartli and Shida (Inner) Kartli. Between these, the vast labyrinth of the Trialeti Range conceals forgotten villages, ancient monuments, and exquisitely peaceful hiking routes. The very southern part of Kvemo Kartli is the historical marchlands between Georgia and Armenia. Still populated by a patchwork of Armenian, Azeri, and Georgian villages, these hills are a wealth of heritage sites from many different periods and cultures. Completely forgotten masterworks of Armenian ecclesiastical architecture like Khorakert and Binadzor lie hidden in the forests, overgrown with vegetation. The remains of once-proud castles from the Georgian Golden Age like Berdiki, Chapala, Gagi, Khuluti, and Shulaveri guard strategic approaches. Even Germans left their mark here – a 19th-century wave of migrants left villages of half-timbered houses, wine factories, and blast furnaces scattered over the countryside. Pinned between two dramatic canyons stands one of the most impressive archaeological sites in Georgia: Samshvilde, inhabited for six thousand years, where the ruins of a medieval city stand amid megalithic monuments that hint of a far older civilization.

To the west, on the Tsalka plateau, prehistoric civilization flourished and left us an impressive array of artifacts and monuments. Standing stones, menhirs, dolmens, stone circles, and the remains of megalithic settlements and fortresses are scattered all over the landscape. Some ancient pagan sites were built over by medieval chapels; in the village of Tejisi, the largest standing stone in Georgia occupies pride of place inside a medieval church, which is still regarded as a holy place by the Azeri Muslims who now inhabit the village. Some impressive sites lie sunken underneath the rather scenic Khrami reservoir, emerging only in winter. One could spend days just in this area exploring all the different layers of heritage, and the quiet plateau, inhabited by just a few small agricultural villages, contributes to the feeling of timelessness.

On the northeast end of the Tsalka Plateau, the Kldekari (Cliff-door) marks the ancient road between Kvemo and Shida Kartli. Here one of the most important fortresses of medieval Georgia stands, the rulers of which were highly influential in the fragmented politics of the Middle Ages. Here is one of the most sublimely beautiful parts of Georgia, where the plateau drops away into the Algeti Valley, fronted by a range of low mountains. The colors of the peaceful landscape somehow seem more intense than usual, the birds and flowers more joyful. This is one of my favorite places to hike and camp in Georgia – you can access it from the side of the plateau or by a day’s walk from Manglisi, the more traditional entrance to Algeti National Park. Manglisi itself is a majestically dreamy hamlet, guarding the approaches to the Trialeti passes and home to megalithic sites of its own as well as one of the oldest churches of Georgia. Just a bit over an hour from Tbilisi, it’s one of the best places to plan a walking expedition. The fields, forests, and half-forgotten villages along the different valleys offer gentle yet impressively panoramic routes, and even a day trip is perfect to escape to a different world, trekking through the fields, forests, and half-forgotten villages. For the more adventurous, the Birtvisi geological formation close by is an almost psychedelic maze of canyon and rock leading to a genuine old bandit’s fortress at its heart.

Coming down the north slope of the Trialeti range from the Algeti, one enters the Tedzami valley, home to some of the richest heritage sites and loveliest forests in all of Georgia. The typical entrance to the valley is from the north side, near the village of Akhalkalaki in Kaspi municipality. A day’s journey up and down the valley is barely enough to visit all of the fascinating sites, such as Rkoni and Ikvi churches, with their masterful centuries-old frescoes and stone carvings, and the dramatic, precipitous Drisi fortress. The hills above the valley are another story entirely, full of forgotten, peculiarly decorated ancient chapels, half-abandoned villages, dark forests and rugged rocks; Saorbisi church, one of my favorite spots in the whole region, seems straight out of a fantasy.

Ateni valley and Dzama valley lie next westwardly on the north slope of Trialeti; like Tedzami, they contain innumerable old churches, fortresses, and other kinds of ruins, most of which are not even known to most Georgians, much less visited by tourists. Ateni valley possesses incredibly rugged and dramatic scenery, feeling almost like a different country with its sharp, steep cliffs and outcrops. Ateni Sioni is the most prominent of the holy sites here, and well worth a visit; towering over it is Danakhvisi mountain, a steep but quick climb affording the adventurer some of the best views of East Georgia. The network of forests, ridges, and canyons between Ateni and Tedzami is an excellent place to plan an easy-to-moderate multi-day trek; here the views are nearly constantly good and the abandoned villages provide not just extra shelter and the possibility to check interesting historical landmarks – most of their old fruit trees have survived as well. As for Dzama valley, it is much more closely forested than Ateni and leads up to a crossing in the direction of Meskheti. It has been mostly taken over by the Georgian Orthodox Church, who have built dozens of active monasteries in its side valleys – as such, it offers a rather contrasting perspective to the hiker or visitor than the ruined splendor of the past on display in Ateni. Kintsvisi Cathedral, at the entrance to the valley, has a remarkable fresco of an archangel, said to be a great bringer of good fortune.

Finally, north of the mountains, one comes to the busy, agricultural plains, and occupied South Ossetia. Across these wide landscapes, sometimes steppe-like and sometimes even desert-like, a wide variety of very interesting historical landmarks can be visited in a short time. The Golden Age, the past days of glory, left these plains full of architectural masterpieces: the cathedrals of Maghlaanti, Ruisi, Urbnisi, Samtavisi, Mchadijvari, Metekhi, Nikozi, and more – even Mtskheta should be mentioned here; although it is one of the most touristic sites of Georgia, it’s still a place that every visitor should see once, containing two of the most priceless architectural and artistic achievements of the Georgian civilization, Jvari and Svetitskhoveli. Impressive fortresses and castles lie scattered over the landscape as well: Skhvilo, Ksani, Mukhrani, and many more. Unfortunately, some very interesting historical landmarks, important to the context of this region, are currently locked behind the occupation line in South Ossetia, where their condition and future remain uncertain.

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Views over Khrami valley while hiking in Kvemo Kartli.