Abastumani Hike: Chulevi Monastery and Zanavi Fortress Route

The sights of Georgia are open to tourists all year round, but for your comfort when traveling through some of them, you need to pay attention to seasonality.

So, if you were looking for the most beautiful places in Georgia and stumbled upon a route with a visit to Abastumani, the golden fortress of Okrostsikhe and the Curtain, as well as the Monastery of Chulevi-Adigeni, then you should go along it at the end of spring (April, May), in summer or in early autumn (September, October).

Now we answer the question of what to see in Georgia, in particular, on this route.

The starting point of the route is the confluence of the rivers Otskhe and Kurtskhana. As soon as you cross the Otskhe River, you immediately enter the Kurtskhana River gorge. And the beginning of the path runs along a dirt road, sometimes passing through a river.

But then, a sharp turn, and from the river gorge you get into the Alpine zone. There are farms here that work only in summer. Next to the first of them is a spring. You can collect fresh spring water before continuing the route or even stop for the night.

Today we will go through the landscapes that have already become familiar to us and move into the zone of coniferous forests. After passing through them, you will see the fortress of Okrostsikhe, which can be viewed from the north side.

Then, after passing through the streams, we get to the mountain village of Gomaro. You can look around and imagine how the life of an ordinary villager goes in the mountains. After that, we continue on our way. After we pass through the coniferous forests and overcome a small hill climb, we will come to the fortress of the Curtain. But it will not be possible to get as close as possible, since the staircase, unfortunately, is destroyed.

Right from here, the path leads us to the next settlement along the way – the village of Curtain. And after it to the main final destination of our destination – Chulevsky Monastery.

Going on the way back, we pass through irrigation canals and past fenced fields. As soon as there is a dirt road in front of us, it will mean that soon we will be in the village, and then in the city of Adigeni.

This is the end of the journey and it's time to plan the next ones. And we will be glad to show you the new beauties of Georgia that we have found.