Things to do in Vardzia
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Tmogvi Castle
Two kilometres further along the road from Tsunda, but atop a high rocky hill on the other side of the river (which flows far below in the gorge), is the near-impregnable Tmogvi Castle, which was already an important fortification by the 10th century.
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Vanis Qvabebi
About 1.5km past Tmogvi Castle, up on the left of the road, are the remains of Vanis Qvabebi, a cave monastery that predated Vardzia by four centuries, with a maze of tunnels inside the rock.
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Walking the Upper Mtkvari Valley
A network of fascinating walking trails has been opened up between Khertvisi and Vardzia, giving access to places like Tmogvi Castle, Vanis Qvabebi and the convent of Zeda (Upper) Vardzia with its 11th-century stone church. You'll notice information boards showing these routes and describing their features in English and Georgian as you travel along the valley.
Five routes of up to 8km are marked with yellow-and-black paint stripes and arrows in a project coordinated by the Swiss-based Foundation for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions. Guesthouses with hot-water bathrooms at Gelsunda, Tmogvi and Vardzia enable you to stay overnight and enjoy exploring this fascin…
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Khertvisi Fortress
After the unremarkable town of Aspindza, you reach to the impressive 10th- to 14th-century Khertvisi Fortress, where the road to Akhalkalaki and Turkey diverges from the Varzia road. Inside the impressive walls is a square keep with rounded corners. According to legend, Queen Tamar held a competition to see who could build the best tower. A master stonemason and an apprentice were the contestants.
The apprentice outdid his master, who jumped like a bird from the tower and died impaled on the knife in his belt. From the eastern wall two tunnels lead down to the river: one served the castle's inhabitants for water, the other for communication.
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Church of the Assumption
At the heart of the cave complex is the Church of the Assumption, with its two-arched portico. The façade of the church has gone, but the inside is beautiful. Frescoes portray many New Testament scenes, and on the north wall depict Tamar before she married (shown by the fact that she is not wearing a wimple) alongside her father Giorgi III. These were painted between 1184 and 1186, the period of the church's construction. The door to the left of the church door leads into a long tunnel (perhaps 150m) which climbs steps inside the rock and emerges well above the church.
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Tsunda
Opposite the slave market is the turning to the village of Nakalakevi, whose name means 'a city used to be here'. The city in question was Tsunda, which until the 9th century was the capital of Javakheti. Tsunda's remains are just east of the north end of the next village, Tmogvi, 1km further along the road: it's worth stopping to see Tsunda's beautifully ornamented 12th-century Church of St John the Baptist, with, curiously enough, a medieval stone lavatory next to it.
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Vardzia
The cave city of Vardzia is a cultural symbol with a special place in the hearts of Georgians. In the 12th century Giorgi III built a fortification at the site. His daughter, Queen Tamar, established a monastery here, which grew into a virtual holy city housing perhaps 2000 monks, renowned as a spiritual bastion of Georgia and of Christendom’s eastern frontier.
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Rustavi
Thirty-two kilometres from Akhaltsikhe is the village of Rustavi, from where Georgia's national bard Rustaveli hails.
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slave market
Nine kilometres from Khertvisi you come to a stone enclosure beside the road, which is an old slave market.
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