A base for exploring in Kutaisi, Georgia

On our roadtrip around Georgia this past summer, we based ourselves in several towns and villages to explore the region.

Kutaisi, in western Georgia, was one of our bases on this travel. Kutaisi is Georgia’s third largest city, after Tblisi and Batumi (the latter, we also visited during our time in Kutaisi).

The small city, of a little over 120,000 inhabitants, lies on the Rioni River. It’s a good base to visit the mountains north of the city, which we did during our stay, to be covered in a future post. I’ve also written about the haunting XX spas POST – a favorite haunt of Joseph Stalin – close to the city.

It has a pleasant downdown, with an opera that was (unfortunately) closed during our August stay. There were plenty of restaurants and cafés, with plent of outdoor seating in summer.

The elaborate Colchis Fountain commemorates the time in the 6h-5th centuries BC when this land was believed to have been the capital of the Colchis. In ancient myths, this was believed to have been the site where Jason and the Argonauts journeyed in their quest for the Golden Fleece.

We also enjoyed visiting the Bagrati Cathedral, built in the early 11th century, during the reign of King Bagrat III.  In 2010, the cathedral was added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage sites in Danger.

Restoration work began, but it would be criticized by UNESCO, and its Heritage status was removed. I can’t judge the architectural concerns raised – but as a visitor, I was impressed by the cathedral and surroundings.

We had also been looking forward to seeing the even more impressive Gelati Monastery, just a short distance outside of Kutaisi, but it was closed for its own renovation work.

There was also a pretty active covered market where we could purcahse local specialties for our hikes and travels.

Kutaisi was a pleasant base for our explorations of western and northwestern Georgia.

And it was nice to return to a small city for dinner and a walk following our busy daytime excursions.