Meskheti tours | Off the beaten track
Also called Samtskhe, Meskheti comprises the mighty Mtkvari canyon from the wooded resort town of Borjomi on upward, as well as the stark pasturelands and terraced villages above it. If Kartli and Javakheti are the parts of Georgia where one feels the presence of the Bronze Age most, Meskheti is where the sense of the Middle Ages burns the strongest. The landscape itself calls out memories of armored horsemen with flying banners, while the most massive and dramatic castles and fortresses of all Georgia dot the open scenery.
The premiere tourist site of Meskheti is surely Vardzia, Queen Tamar’s cave town in the cliff in the most remote reach of the Mtkvari canyon. But few of the streams of tourists who hurry out and back on their day trips from Tbilisi realize how many treasures lie just a stone’s throw away. The valley is full of similar cave-monastic structures which don’t attract nearly the same amount of crowds, while the desolate plateau directly on top of Vardzia holds a wealth of medieval structures and artifacts, including the most extensive ancient tunnel system in Georgia. Just behind Vardzia, the oldest grapevine in Georgia, a tangled 400-year-old giant, grows amidst an old stone winepress, and Tmogvi Castle, guarding the valley below, is simply breathtaking.
I could keep listing places – the alien-like Stone Man of Uraveli, the last surviving pagan idol in Georgia; the majestic and unconquered Golden Fortress; the ancient Saro Megaliths, a fortress dating at minimum from the Bronze Age; the misty hills and ridges of Tori, where one rarely meets another hiker; unnamed and unmarked hot springs hidden deep in the forest. But just a list couldn’t possibly convey the depth of mystery that Meskheti holds. Even I hardly know a fraction of the treasure scattered around its landscape. The perfect place for an adventure, on the open steppe, under the open sky.
Feel free to get in touch if you would be interested in fully customized Meskheti tours with me!
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Abandoned medieval church of Zeda Tmogvi on the Vardzia Plateau.
The Mtkvari Valley as it passes by fortress ruins in Meskheti.
Mist in the Tori Mountains.
Tmogvi Fortress from above.
Okros Tsikhe, the Golden Fortress.
Another view of Okros Tsikhe.
The Mtkvari Valley passing near Atskuri village.
Horses in the mountains on the way to Imereti.
Highland summer cottages for herding families, near the pass to Adjara.
Ruins in Enteli.
The mountain panorama climbing out of Atskuri into the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park.
Horses pass through a rock formation in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park.