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Vardzia is a ruined honeycomb of arched passageways and artificially enlarged caves on a steep mountainside in Georgia. It is on a "tentative list" for UNESCO World Heritage status.
I was there 7 or 8 years ago, it is (or was) an incredibly difficult place to get to but more than worth the effort: awe-inspiring, peaceful and every footstep redolent of a magnificent history. The scale of it is the more impressive when one realises that a huge portion has been destroyed over the years in earthquakes etc. Taken together with Uphiltsike (another cave city), the David-Gareja cave-monasteries, the old mineral-water station at Borjomi, Telavi's Palace of Irakli III (and wineries) and Tbilisi's architecture and museums, Georgia is an absorbing and relatively unspoilt place for the traveller to visit.
I was there 7 or 8 years ago, it is (or was) an incredibly difficult place to get to but more than worth the effort: awe-inspiring, peaceful and every footstep redolent of a magnificent history. The scale of it is the more impressive when one realises that a huge portion has been destroyed over the years in earthquakes etc. Taken together with Uphiltsike (another cave city), the David-Gareja cave-monasteries, the old mineral-water station at Borjomi, Telavi's Palace of Irakli III (and wineries) and Tbilisi's architecture and museums, Georgia is an absorbing and relatively unspoilt place for the traveller to visit.
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