If you wish to explore off the beaten path sights, this one day tour to Katskhi pillar and Chiatura from Tbilisi might be interesting. You will visit a monastery on 40 m high hill, where monk Maxime has been living in solitude for 25 years. The Katskhi pillar will gift you breathtaking views, and you will feel silence of this place. Plunge into the Soviet time visiting Chiatura. Look around the town riding communism-era cable cars.
Tour itinerary:
At 09:00, our driver and guide will meet you at your accommodation in Tbilisi and drive to Katskhi Pillar (3 hours, 200 km). Stunning and mysterious, this 40-meter high natural limestone monolith towers over the gorge of the Karshuna River. Atop the pillar is a monastery and reconstructed 8th-century church which was likely built by a stylite. Today it has only one inhabitant: a monk named Maxime who has been living in the monastery in silence and solitude for the past 25 years.
Continue to Chiatura, an industrial town founded in 1879. Located between steep valleys and deep ravines, Chiatura leaves an unforgettable impression on anyone visiting this off-the-beaten track Georgian destination. In Soviet Georgia the town was a center of manganese mining, and present-day Chiatura attracts visitors with a fascination for Soviet-era industrial leftovers. The city is most famous for its network of dozens of cable cars which ran above Kvirila River and served as a key means of city transport until the old ropeways were permanently shut down in the late 2010s. The historic lines have been replaced with new cable cars on which we will take a ride during our one-day Tour to the Katskhi Pillar and Chiatura.
Our final stop for today is a rock-hewn Mghvemevi Monastery. The site draws tourists and locals due to its well-preserved frescoes which document the life of Jesus and his 12 apostles.
At the end of our one-day Tour to the Katskhi Pillar and Chiatura we will drive back to Tbilisi. Drop off at your hotel/apartment.
Duration: 10-11 hours (390 km)
Price includes:
- All transfers as per itinerary;
- Sightseeing tour program with English speaking guide;
- Cable car ride;
- Mineral water (0,5l per person per day).
