Handpicked experience · Tblisi
Tblisi, Georgia
A reservoir built to fill the capital's taps, a 1689 facade carved with vine and serpents, a pass named for its stone cross, and a gorge that closes when the slopes move.
Medieval walls standing over water, with the whole valley behind them
A pass crossing where the road tops out and the view opens both ways
A canyon narrow enough to feel the mountains on both sides
A ridge church reached by whatever means you choose on the day
A ten-to-eleven-hour day from Tbilisi up the Georgian Military Highway, stopping at the fortress above the reservoir, the pass at the top, the gorge beyond the last town and the church on the ridge at Kazbegi. Mostly driving, with short walks at each stop.
An early start and a long day, built around pullouts rather than hikes. The vehicle covers the climbing; the walking is what you choose to do once stopped. The final ascent to the ridge church is either on foot or by a locally arranged vehicle, and that arrangement is not part of this booking.
The lake below the fortress is not there for the view. It was created to supply the capital with drinking water, and it still does — most of what comes out of a tap in Tbilisi has travelled from this valley through a pipeline tens of kilometres long. It also drives a hydroelectric station. The scenery is a by-product of the plumbing.
The larger church inside the fortress walls dates from 1689, and its south facade carries carving that repays a close look: a great grapevine cross, worked into spiralling tendrils, flanked by two serpent-like beasts twisted around each other. Nobody has settled what the beasts are meant to represent. It is among the most photographed pieces of stonework in the country and among the least explained.
The high point of the road takes its name from a stone cross set beside it. Travellers have marked this crossing since at least the medieval period, and the cross standing there now was put up in the 1820s, when the Russian administration was rebuilding the route as a military road. It is a waymark on a pass that has been used continuously for centuries and closed by weather for just as long.
The canyon past the last town is the narrowest part of the whole route, and the mountains above it are actively shedding material. Rockfalls, landslides and, in one serious case in 2014, a glacier collapse have blocked the road and closed the crossing for days at a time. Any itinerary this far north is subject to what the slopes are doing that week.
Site entry is settled locally, as are meals, and the ride or the walk up to the ridge church is arranged on the day. It is dramatically colder at the top than in Tbilisi. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
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The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Ten to eleven hours from Tbilisi and back, most of it driving with short walks at each stop. The vehicle does the climbing.
To supply Tbilisi with drinking water, which it still does through a pipeline running tens of kilometres to the capital, alongside generating hydroelectric power. The view is incidental to the function.
The south facade of the 1689 church shows a large grapevine cross worked into spiralling tendrils, with two serpent-like beasts entwined beside it. What the beasts represent has never been settled.
For the stone cross beside the road. Travellers have marked the crossing since at least medieval times, and the present cross was put up in the 1820s during the Russian rebuilding of the route.
Yes. The gorge beyond the last town is narrow and the slopes above it shed rock regularly; landslides and a glacier collapse in 2014 have closed the crossing for days at a time.
On foot, or by a vehicle arranged locally on the day. Neither the transfer nor a mule ride is part of this booking.
No — site entry is paid locally and meals are taken as the day allows. Transport, fuel, parking and water are covered.