Lentekhi

Lentekhi is the centre of Lower Svaneti and one of the least visited municipal towns in Georgia. It stands in the valley of the Tskhenistskali at about 760 metres, with a population of roughly fifteen hundred.

Anyone who knows Upper Svaneti will find something different here. Lentekhi and the villages around it lie far lower than Mestia, the climate is milder and much wetter, and the valley is filled with forest — beech, hornbeam, alder. There are towers, but fewer and scattered: at Kheledi, Chikhareshi and Mele, some of them half collapsed. This is not the postcard of Ushguli but a quieter, unrestored version of the same architecture.

Historically Lower Svaneti fell under the influence of the Dadiani and later the Dadeshkeliani, and it always stood apart both from Upper Svaneti and from Lechkhumi. The language spoken is still Svan, in the Lentekhi dialect.

In the town itself there is little to see: a central square, a small museum, Soviet buildings and a bridge over the Tskhenistskali. The value lies in what surrounds it. Eastwards the valley narrows and climbs through Tsana and Zeskho towards the Zagari pass, the summer crossing into Ushguli. That road is for four-wheel drive only and only from July to September.

Tourist infrastructure is minimal: a few guesthouses, a couple of shops, an ATM. In exchange there are no crowds anywhere, which across the Caucasus has become a rare commodity.

The name of the valley, Tskhenistskali, means literally "horse water", and the river governs everything here: it rises below the Zagari, runs past Lentekhi and joins the Rioni near Tsageri. Unlike Lechkhumi downstream there is almost no vine — it is simply too wet. What there is instead is honey, vegetables and what the forest gives. The population of the municipality has fallen several times over in the last thirty years, and many of its villages come alive only in the summer months, when families drive up from Tbilisi.