Mestia

Mestia is the capital of the Svaneti region — a small, chaotic, charming town at 1,500 metres in the upper Enguri valley, surrounded by peaks rising to nearly 5,000 metres. The town has improved its infrastructure significantly since 2010, with new guesthouses, a few restaurants, cleared roads, and a new terminal for the small airport. The medieval Svan towers still stand throughout the town; about 30 are intact in Mestia alone, giving the skyline an extraordinary bristling quality.

The Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography holds the exceptional collection of medieval icons and goldwork that has been here since Soviet times — pieces from the 9th to 13th centuries, including enamel and gold reliquaries of extraordinary quality. The icons are kept in cases that protect them from the light, but the collection is accessible for visitors. The town market sells churchkhela (Georgian walnut candy strung in grape juice), wool goods, and local honey. The ski area at Hatsvali is a 20-minute drive from town and has modest but improving facilities.

things to do sight
A story
When Svaneti was brought under more direct Soviet control in the 1920s, authorities confiscated the icons and goldwork that had been accumulating in the region's churches since the 9th century — pieces evacuated from Tbilisi and other lowland churches during the Mongol invasions 700 years earlier. Rather than sending the collection to Tbilisi, they established a local museum in Mestia. The result is that one of the finest collections of medieval Georgian art in existence sits in a small town that most people have not heard of.