Oni

Oni is Racha's second town and the last real settlement in the upper valley. It sits on the Rioni at about 830 metres; above it there are only villages, and the road steadily worsens. With around two and a half thousand residents Oni is small, but it has a school, a hospital, a market, a museum and several guesthouses.

Its history has layers. Oni was one of the centres of the medieval dukedom of Racha, and in the 19th century it was given its particular character by its Jewish community — one of the oldest in Georgia, and for a long time the town's main commercial class. The synagogue of 1895 remains the largest building in Oni.

On 29 April 1991 a severe earthquake struck Racha, one of the worst in Georgian history. In Oni a great many houses collapsed or were condemned, the population fell, and many of those who left never came back. You can still read this in the streets: restored facades stand next to empty shells, and whole blocks are only half inhabited.

Even so, the town has an agreeable atmosphere. Old houses with wooden balconies, a suspension footbridge over the Rioni, a Soviet-era central square and wooded slopes on every side. This is not a tourist town, and that is exactly the reason to give it half a day. The museum of local lore is small but covers the archaeology of Racha and the history of the Jewish community.

Oni is the practical base for Shovi, Utsera, Ghebi and the Chanchakhi valley. From June to September it comes alive; in winter it is cold and very quiet, and the road up from Ambrolauri can close for days at a time.