The Katskhi Pillar

Katski is a stairway to heaven, located near Chiatura, (13,4 km). This is the symbol of this region, as too many people get there to this natural masterpiece- kind of a wonder-place. Here lives only one monk. This is a place, where one can really feel how close the God is, the monk himself said, that it is up here in the silence, that one can feel God’s presence. Unfortunately, my sound masculine, but women are not allowed to get there. It is approximately 40 meters high. There was a time, when Katski was a kind of worshiping place, especially for pagan reasons. Later, it was a shelter for Christians, who wanted to avoid earthly sins and temptations. Now, on some rocks of Katskhi Pillar you can do some climbing and mountaineering, if you have ropes and necessary equipment. There is 131 ft ladder, and it takes about 20 minutes to get down from here. The views are wonderful here, it’s picturesque when you see how the land meets the sky.

How to get there? First, you should first get to Chitura. Form Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia) you can get there by so-called Marshutka, which runs from Tbilisi to Chiatura in every hour from Didube. (costs 6 GEL). The drive takes about 3 hours. Next, when you get there, for Chiatura to Katskhi Pillar and back you can catch a taxi and negotiate a price for about 30 GEL. Here, on the way to Katski Pillar, you can ask the driver to stop at 10th century octagonally shaped Katski Monastery just to take photos. This is worth seeing.