Why go
Skhalta Monastery stands as one of the few surviving medieval monuments in Georgia's southwestern Adjara region, a land where Ottoman influence and Soviet neglect erased much of the ancient Christian heritage. Founded in the 13th century, this single-nave domed church preserves distinctive Georgian ecclesiastical architecture against steep forested slopes near the village of Makhuntseti. Its remote location spared it from the destruction that claimed so many Adjaran churches, leaving original fresco fragments and the solemn atmosphere of centuries-old monastic life. The journey demands effort—unpaved roads, mountain mists, and patient navigation—but rewards travelers with profound solitude and a tangible connection to Georgia's medieval golden age in a region where such encounters have become vanishingly rare.