Walking in the Vardzia cave complex in Georgia

The farthest point of my small road trip from Georgia to Tbilisi, or more precisely, its main goal, was the unique cave monastery complex of Vardzia. It represents almost a kilometer of rooms carved into the rock, the total number of which reaches 600.

Vardzia is a fortified monastery, which was created in the middle of the 12th century and served as a defensive border structure. Now the whole complex basically resembles the Heavenly Chambers from the Game of Thrones, but before the 1283 earthquake, all the rooms were hidden inside the rock, and only a few separate passages led to the surface.

Now Vardzia is one of the main tourist attractions of the south of Georgia, so buses with foreign tourists regularly follow here, and near the complex itself there are all the facilities inherent in a tourist point.

To get to the territory, you need to purchase an entrance ticket, there are 2 options: regular and with transport support. I chose the first one, but it is worth considering that before the first premises of the complex you will have to walk a bit, and to climb, and if you take into account the scorching sun, not many may like it. It’s good that there are drinking fountains at the top and a place where you can take a breath.

Ultimately, you have to go up:

Finally, the first rock-cut rooms begin:

All rooms are connected by stairs, and the dangerous sections have fences, which significantly distinguishes this place from the previously visited cave city Uplistsikhe, where it was rather dangerous to walk in some places:

The walk promised to be long, so many rooms couldn’t get around quickly:

Comparison of some rooms with the same Heavenly Chambers of the Eagle's Nest, where Tirion was serving his short-term sentence, does not leave me:

Here and there are samples of objects:

We continue to walk around the amazingly shaped rooms and rooms:

Some parts of the cave city are about to collapse:

Passages between the "floors" carved into the rock:

You can wander through the rooms, passing from floor to floor for quite a while, but do not forget that this is still a monastery complex, so there are several religious buildings that stand out immediately.

Firstly, it is a bell tower that is striking even in the general panorama of Vardzia. Only the first tier has survived to our days, once it was twice as high:

Secondly, the entire cave complex at one time began to grow from the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, which exists and is still operating:

The temple itself is located inside the rock, and restoration work was actively carried out in it. Therefore, I will show only the 12th-century murals that have been preserved in the outer arch:

For some time I wandered around different rooms, surprised that in the 12th century they could create something similar. It is possible that my walk would have continued for quite some time, but a couple more buses arrived with European tourists, and it became quite crowded, so I began to pack on my way back to Tbilisi.