Vardzia

The cave city of Vardzia against sand-coloured cliffs is a mosaic of hand-hewn windows hiding a maze of hidden rooms and snaking tunnels carved into the centre of the mountain.

There are over 400 rooms, thirteen churches and twenty-five wine cellars, with many more still being discovered. Settled under King Giorgi lll in the early part of the 12th century, this mysterious city expanded under detailed instruction from his daughter Queen Tamar into the holy monumental town and housed over 2,000 monks at its peak. It was a place where its inhabitants in living quarters carved side-by-side into the rocky cliff face faced the intricacies of daily life in rock-hewn dwellings ranging over 13 floors. There were Apothecaries, wine cellars, bakeries, and chapels. A major earthquake in 1283 shook away the outer walls, and then in 1551, the Persians defeated the Georgians, and Vardzia was looted. Since the end of Soviet rule, Vardzia has again become a working monastery, with some caves inhabited by monks.