5 / 5 - One review
How to get there
1 hour by car from Tbilisi
When to go
All year round
Minimum stay
One day
Uplistsikhe (Georgia)
©
@flickr cc Ilona Margalitadze
Practical information on Uplistsikhe
Reviews of Uplistsikhe
At its height, the ancient troglodyte village of Uplistsikhe had 20,000 inhabitants living in its underground passages.
My suggestion:
While you are visiting Uplistsikhe you should also take a look at the beautiful 10th century church of the same name which is on a neighbouring rocky promontory.
My review
There is something slightly unbelievable about Uplistsikhe, it looks like something that would be dreamed up by a science fiction writer. In fact it's hard to imagine that what looks from afar like a gallery of caves was in fact a town heaving with people who lived in the caves they had carved from the rocks. I realised as I got closer to the site, that seems to be suspended on a rocky promontory pierced with galleries, caves and majestic openings.
Uplistsikhe was created before the region was converted to Christianity and there are still some pagan temples. It was abandoned in the 12th century but became famous in the 50s when it was rediscovered by archaeologists. You can imagine how surprised they must have been when they found this fantastical site, a real high point of a trip to Georgia.
©
@flickr cc Ilona Margalitadze
