Travel Guide Vani

The small town of Vani, the administrative centre of a district of Imérétie, is not an attraction in itself. Its site is splendid, on hills at the foot of the Meskhetian chain, on the edge of the Colchidian plain. Above all, it contains the ruins of Georgia's oldest city, that of a metropolis of ancient Colchis. The museum exhibiting the excavations is interesting. You can get there from Kutaisi: it is half an hour's walk from Marrutka. Vani can be a base for exploring the mountain valleys by making an "authentic" stay in the deep Imérétie. The home museum of the poet Galaktion Tabidze, located on the banks of the Rioni River, is also within easy reach.