There are three significant cave towns in Georgia: Uplistsikhe (6th-4th century BCE), Vardzia (12th century CE), and David Gareja (6th century CE). These sites have distinct features that are unique to each, so I was naturally inclined to visit all three. Because I have already shared photos of David Gareja along with the Rainbow Mountain excursion, this set of photos will mainly focus on Uplistsikhe and Vardzia.
Uplistsikhe
UPLISTSIKHE lured me first because it was an important center of trade and culture along the Silk Road. The entire cave system covers an area of approximately 19.8 acres. Georgia’s major earthquakes have damaged a vast portion of the rock-cut architecture, but many vestiges of ingenuity in design and detail remain. The presence of a theater awed me. One room has an oculus and its walls bear markings of its raiders throughout the centuries. The first photo in this set is not of mere round holes overlooking a spectacular landscape, but evidence of Georgia’s ancient wine-making tradition. The holes are where they buried the qvevri, the clay vessels used in fermentation. It is the same technique that they use in natural wine-making today, and which sets their wines apart from the rest of the vinification world.
Vardzia
VARDZIA is close to the Armenian border. Some of its caves were already inhabited since the Bronze Age and then developed into a shelter from invasions during King Giorgi’s time, but it was under Queen Tamar’s reign in the 12th century, Georgia’s Golden Age, when it flourished as the complex cave city of 50,000 people. It is 13 stories high, although 19 during its zenith. The water system, the underground river, the ventilation, the frescoes decorating the church, the carvings, its library, apothecary, wine cellars, and monastery, are nothing short of impressive. The black figures you might see moving from afar are Georgian Orthodox monks. Amazingly so, the monastery is still being actively used up to this day. But even more impressive to me is the fact that at the peak of Georgia’s Golden Age, the king was a woman.
The Book-Butterfly 