Day trip To Tsalka and nearby Villages

Originally it was planned as a two day trip to Ninotsminda in the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti.  For the first day, it was planned to make stops at Tsalka reservoir, Paravani lake with an overnight in Ninotsminda.  For the second day, there were plans to visit nearby Russian Doukhobor villages of Gorelovka, Orlovka, and probably some others.

Unfortunately, once we reached Tsalka, the road literally ended, we spent about an hour of offroad driving through the villages of Sameba, Tikilisa, Sakdrioni, Aiazmi until to the turn to Nardevani village, just to discover that road has been closed by the patrol. It turns out, that during the winter time, the road is kind of always closed, and you could learn that if you would drive here from the Marnueli side, which we didn't.

There are four roads heading to Tsalka from Tbilisi side:

  • Tbilisi - Tskneti - Tsalka
  • Tbilisi - Kojori - Tsalka
  • Tbilisi - Koda - Tsalka
  • and Marnueli - Tsalka

We took the third one, or we turned right at Koda. If we were followed the Marnueli route for just some extra kilometers, we would probably learn that the Tsalka - Ninotsminda road is closed (at least that's what in the evening told me the polite guy from the hotel in Ninotsminda).

Horses on pasture

Horses on pasture 

Anyhow, it was fun and really beautiful, if there wouldn't be the offroad driving through the villages after Tsalka (which kind of already looked like Doukhobor villages to me) I wouldn't complain at all.

Road to Tsalka

Road to Tsalka

During this trip, we discovered interesting former German colonist settlement in Georgia Asureti / Elisabethtal, drive-by Algeti reservoir and Birtvisi canyon, for me, it was interesting to learn about Mount Arejvani, and of course, reaching Tsalka and Tsalka reservoir 

Road to Tsalka

Road to Tsalka

About 5 years ago seems we took the same road, during our 2-day rafting in Georgia, see: Rafting in Georgia - Khertvisi - Aspindza - Borjomi

Road to Tsalka

Road to Tsalka

We did this trip with our brand new VW Touareg on January 19, 2019. I would like to say a huge thanks to the Hotel Sonya in Ninotsminda folks, for understanding and free booking cancelation. 

Itinerary

Asureti / Elisabethtal

Asureti is an interesting village situated on the road Koda - Tetriskaro, some 45 km from Tbilisi in Georgia.  Discovered by accident, while doing (trying to do) a trip to Ninotsminda (in the region of Samtskhe-Javakheti)  in January 2019…

Algeti Reservoir

The other day during a hiking tour at Birtvisi Canyon we discovered another interesting tourism object in Georgia- Algeti reservoir. I couldn't resist making some photos here (see below).  I didn't find much information about this…

Hiking In Birtvisi Canyon (Hidden Trails Of Georgia)

The other day in the company of three we headed to Birtvisi Canyon for some hiking experience. It all started reading some info of a non-standard close to Tbilisi located destinations. And Birtvisi just popped up on this list. Turns out -…

Mount Arejvani

Mount Arjevani is located in the central part of Georgia, some 70 km west of the Tbilisi. The top of Mount Arjevani is 2,757 meters above sea level or 779 meters above the surrounding terrain. The width at the base is 24.5 km. The terrain…

Tsalka Lake / Water reservoir

Tsalka reservoir - is the largest water reservoir in Georgia,  located in the Tsalka municipality, some 100 km from Tbilisi, at 1506 meters above the sea level in the valley of Khrami river. The total area for Tsalka reservoir is 33.7 km²…

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