Vardzia

Vardzia is carved into a sheer tufa cliff on the left bank of the Mtkvari, stretching for the better part of a kilometre. Work began under George III and was completed in the reign of Queen Tamar. It was never only a monastery: this was a fortified frontier town, with refectories, a water supply system, wine presses, storerooms and hundreds of living cells linked into one honeycombed structure that could shelter an army.

Originally the halls sat deep inside the rock and were almost invisible from the valley floor. A powerful earthquake in the 13th century sheared away the outer face of the cliff and exposed the interior — which is exactly why the site looks the way it does today, sliced open like a cross-section drawing.

The centrepiece is the Church of the Dormition, which holds original 12th-century frescoes, including portraits of Queen Tamar and George III. Tamar is shown during her own lifetime, which makes the painting an unusually direct piece of medieval evidence.

What you actually walk through:

• terraced paths and stairways between levels, with short tunnels in places
• the frescoed main church
• the bell tower and upper galleries, with the full sweep of the gorge below

Part of the complex is still an active monastery, and a small community of monks lives on site.