Ananuri Fortress

Ananuri was the seat of the Aragvi dukes and guarded the road north through the mountains, and what stands is a walled compound of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries on a bluff above the Aragvi, with towers, a keep and two churches inside the walls. The larger, the Church of the Assumption, was built in 1689 and its southern facade carries a deeply carved grapevine cross flanked by dragons and angels, one of the best pieces of late Georgian relief sculpture. Inside are remains of frescoes damaged by fire. The Zhinvali reservoir filled the valley below in the 1980s, so the fortress now stands above turquoise water, which is how everyone photographs it.

What you actually see

• The carved grapevine cross - the relief on the Assumption church facade.
• Walls, towers and keep - the seventeenth-century compound.
• Fire-damaged frescoes - what survives inside the larger church.
• The reservoir below - turquoise water filling the old valley.

When to go

April to October; the reservoir is fullest and bluest in early summer and drops later in the year. Two hours. It is a fixed stop on every tour bus route north, so mornings are quieter.

Honest expectations

Tour buses arrive in numbers and the compound is small. The reservoir level drops through the summer, exposing mud banks. Stalls at the entrance are aggressive. Interpretation is limited.

Nearby

Zhinvali reservoir is below; Gudauri lies north along the highway.