Uplistsikhe

Rising above the Mtkvari River near Gori, Uplistsikhe — “the Lord’s Fortress” — is one of the oldest settlements in Georgia, a whole town carved from the rock and inhabited since the Iron Age.

At its height Uplistsikhe was a major pagan religious and trading centre on the Silk Road, home to thousands of people. Cut into the soft stone are halls, a pharmacy, a theatre, wine cellars and pagan altars, along with a later Christian basilica that marks the town’s long transformation.

Walking its streets and stairways, you move through three thousand years of history in a single afternoon — from sun-worship to Orthodox Christianity, all written into the same hillside.

Uplistsikhe sits close to the ancient capital of Mtskheta, and the two are often combined into a single day of deep history near Tbilisi.

Join us at Uplistsikhe to walk the oldest streets in Georgia, carved straight into the rock.