5 / 5 - One review
How to get there
2 hours from Tbilisi by car or by public transport
When to go
All year round
Minimum stay
One day
Dmanisi (Georgia)
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Nicolas Landru
Practical information on Dmanisi
Reviews of Dmanisi
Dmanisi is a triple site, triply interesting! It's the birthplace of the 'Dmanisi Man', the oldest hominid known in Eurasia. The site also hosts the ruins of fortified medieval city. One of the most beautiful churches of the south of Georgia is also there.
My suggestion:
Make sure you go to 'Nakalakari' (the fortified city) in Dmanisi, and not to the town of Dmanisi! Located 20 kilometres away, the latter is a working town covered in concrete from the Soviet era. It's an easy mistake to make. I paid the price...
My review
Dmanisi is an important place in Georgia; its multiple dimensions incarnate the cultural and touristic richness of the country! When I managed to find the site, after a first failed attempt due to a stupid mistake, I was literally breathless.
The natural site is amazing, luscious, with a little basalt plateau located at the exit of a beautiful canyon typical of Lesser Caucasus. The Georgians of the Middle Ages built a city there, one of the most powerful ones in Kartli. The ruins of this city are substantial and picturesque. At the foot of the ruins of the city of Dmanisi, Sion Church. a magnificent seventh century church, is extremely well preserved. Photogenic, curious with its look of two buildings built one in the other, it adds to the charisma and the spiritual feeling of this place.
Finally, even if you can no longer really see the traces, I had a thought for the Dmanisi Man, found in 2001 during archaeological excavations who, at 1.8 million years old, is the oldest hominid found outside of Africa. You can admire him in the National Museum in Tbilisi...
©
Nicolas Landru
