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| High mountains, alpine valleys and subtropical forests are just some of the natural delights of Georgia - a country in the Caucasus which also offers visitors a number of important Silk Road sites.
There are indications that goods from as far away as India passed through Georgia centuries before there was trade from China heading west on The Silk Road.
Archaeologists digging at burial sites in Georgia have found remnants of Chinese silk from the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC and Georgians began turning out their own silk from the 5th century onwards, with production reaching its highest levels around the 11th century.
As late as the 17th century, Silk Road trade still passed through Georgia and the capital Tbilisi was a major commercial centre.
Along with its Silk Road sites, which include temples, towns, monasteries and museums, Georgia is also known to international travellers for its landscapes, health spas, fine wine and cuisine, and friendly, open people.
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The Museum Town of Mtskheta, located an easy drive away from Tbilisi, is one of the world's oldest cities, founded in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Straddling The Silk Road, the city prospered and its walls, citadel and churches are on the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Uplistsikhe is an entire town hewn from sandstone rock an hour's drive from the capital. First inhabited in prehistoric times, the town eventually grew to include rock homes, a theatre and several churches with the architecture imitating the design of ancient Georgian wooden structures. The Temple Town of Vani in central Georgia was once a major religious centre for the Kholkhida civilisation of the 5th to 3rd centuries BC. Its buildings reflect contemporary Hellenistic techniques. Numerous gold objects have been uncovered there, mostly magnificent jewellery. Rock Monastery of Vardzia is an astounding structure in south-western Georgia carved from living rock in the 12th century. Half a kilometre long, the monastery has 13 separate levels with a number of homes, some of two stories, also cut from the rock. Gonia Fortress on the Black Sea coast is one of the country's better preserved archaeological monuments. It is mentioned in the Greek legend of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece and was known to Pliny in the 1st century AD. Through the ages it played an important role in Georgian history. Bagrati Temple in the centre of Kutaisi is one of the country's greatest 11th-century cathedrals. Daryal Fortress stands at the northern gate to Georgia, 180 kilometres from Tbilisi. Sioni Cathedral at the centre of Tbilisi was built from 575 to 639 AD and is the seat of the Catholic Patriarch of Georgia. Alaverdi is another beautiful 11th-century cathedral and houses the tombs of the Kakheti kings. Gremi, 30 kilometres from Telavi, contains the ruins of the ancient town and 16th-century temple. |
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