Rabati castle & Vardzia
9/29/2025
We did a VERY long day trip to see the town of Vardzia and the Rabati Castle. Vardzia is about 4 hours southeast of Kutaisi. It was AMAZING, but still not sure it was worth the amount of time we sat in a van!
Vardzia is a cave town and monastery in the slopes of the Erusheti Mountain that was constructed in the 12th century for protection from invasion. The caves stretch along the cliff for about five hundred meters and up to nineteen levels. At its peak, about 7000 people lived in the caves! The monastery still exists and there are monks that still reside there. It was SO COOL!!!
The Rabati Castle is a medieval fortress that originated in the 9th-century. It has gone through extensive restoration between 2011 and 2012, and showcasing a multicultural history, with buildings from the 9th through the 19th centuries, including a mosque, church, madrasa, and prison where different cultures coexisted within the fortified walls. Unfortunately, it was getting dark by the time we arrived (it was a really long day!), so we didn’t get as good of photos as we would have liked.
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