Vardzia caves. Georgia, a once hidden city. Sept. 22
Vardzia is located on the Erusheti mountain in south western Georgia close to the the borders with Turkey and Armenia
A river valley with some stunning views
This is what we are here to see a civil engineering marvel from the 12th century. It has been remarked that it looks like something from Lord of the Rings, I don't know, never seen the film never read the book.
This is what is left of it. As a result of devastating earthquake in 1283 two thirds of the underground and hidden city were destroyed, leaving the rest, what would have been the deepest into the mountain, exposed as today.
A myriad of walkways , tunnels and stairs on the side of the mountain
Affording some spectacular views
Towards the end of the 11th C the kingdom of Georgia was resisting the onslaught of the Mongol hordes, sweeping across Eurasia. Queen Tamar ordered the construction of this underground sanctuary in 1185, carving into the side of the Erusheli mountain, a hidden city became reality
On completion the hidden fortress extended over 13 levels with over 6000 habitable rooms, a throne room and a large church and it's own piped water supply.
The only access to was via a hidden tunnel near the banks of Mtkvari river.
Swifts are a common site during the summer in Georgia, mainly the chimmney swift.
Spare a thought for these beautiful creatures, they eat insects that are a garden pest. Evolution has not been kind to them, they have very long wings and very short legs, if they land on the ground it is virtually impossible for them to take to flight. They do everything on the wing.....everything!!!
Some of the old stone staircases between levels still noticeable
There are still five monks who live here and at 7:00am each day they ring the bells ( No, I don't know why either)
Carved deep into the rock, this was the spiritual focal point of the cave city, the only light coming from three windows, an impressive building
Every wall still bearing the original paintings depicting the life of JC, and at lower levels depiction of various saints and commemoration of Queen Tamar, the instigator of the construction of the whole complex.
The Angel Doors, that would take you through the iconostasis to the sanctuary
Since 2012, in conjunction with the Courtauld Institute of Art, London a comprehensive conservation of the artwork was begun
and so through tunnels and old passage ways traversing the 500 yd length of the city eventually coming back down. 800 years ago, no heavy machinery, CAD drawings or sophisticated modelling, just a gang of monks and a queen, really?
Those that thought the walk was too dangerous and had stayed milling about by the bus certainly missed a treat. Thoroughly enjoyed this, I hope you did too.
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Awesome captures and views @grindle 😊 love the swifts and the bells. Those stand out.
Amazing to imagine this place. What a build… ok… excavation.
Thanks for sharing. Happy Friday 👋🏻
Cheers @littlebee4 , amazing place, it’s now Sunday night, where I am, have a good week ahead
Cheers @grindle 👋🏻😊
Good night to you then.
Thanks a lot, enjoy your new week and have fun exploring!
👍
Congratulations @grindle! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 7000 comments.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out our last posts:
Oh, wow, a hidden city and all those tunnels, I would enjoy exploring it and we can just imagine how it was, before the earthquake. Awesome, how did they dig it all, without machinery...
Cheers @mipiano , the more I see of these ancient wonders the more I think of visitors from another planet!
WOW.
Just WOW!
I have never heard of this place but am now totally fascinated!
I MUST MUST go!
I wonder how many people it took to build it and how long it took (and hoe many died during the excavations....)
When I was staying on Bangkok one, there was an old man who used to ring the bell from 5am o the hour and we could not work out why, but then thought maybe cause no one had watched or clocks back in the old days and so he kept on the tradition of time keeper...
That’s a great story about the old guy , and I guess that was his duty in life, that he never shook off, I wonder if someone took his place if he died.
Yeah actually that's a great question- whether any one else- his family or maybe others in the area kept it up...?
👍 one we shall never know
What a wonderfull place to visit
Cheers @dobro2020 thanks for stopping by, it was a great place
What a myriad of caves, tunnels to explore this was most unusual!
Excellent photography, information about the region and no it is most definitely not comfortable enough to be a Hobbit house from Lord of the Rings.
@tipu curate 2
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 42/72) Liquid rewards.
Cheers @joanstewart , well worth a visit
The place was truly very beautiful. I really love going to places like that.
Cheers @mnurhiver glad you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by
I highly recommend reading The Lord of the Rings, because while I enjoy the extended edition of the film version, the books have a lot more depth.
I highly recommend reading The Lord of the Rings, because while I enjoy the extended edition of the film version, the books have a lot more depth. The caves look amazing, but don't really remind me of either hobbit holes or Helm's Deep. I'm not sure where others might see a comparison.
I don’t know, never read the books nor seen the movies, not my genre tbh.
Wow, what beautiful photographs. Thank you for sharing with us 😊
You are welcome @name0 , thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed
Hiya, @pinmapple here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #1985.
Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
Cheers @pinmapple
Felicitaciones!
Gracias por deleitarnos con tan magnífica publicación, la cual fue valorada por @Womentribe una comunidad para destacar el valioso potencial del ser humano.
*Sigue nuestras cuentas:
@Womentribe
suscribete aquí @colmena-139925
twitter
Instagram
I thoroughly enjoyed it for sure- so intriguing. You fellow tourists really missed a treat. A lot of respect to the builders. Must have been nice and cool inside as well.
The Swifts are so cute and resourceful. Evolution was not kind to them but I hope their name is an indication that the go swiftly about their business while in flight.
Yes poor swiftly, see one on the ground pick him up and throw him upwards
Cities on the rocks are truly masterpieces that we inherited from past civilizations! The most magnificent city on a mountain I have ever seen. You're really lucky to be there, dear @grindle 😊
Thank you for your kind words @olga.maslievich thank you for stopping by and chatting