Chailuri fortress is located between Manavi and Kakabeti villages in the region of Kakheti (or about one hour drive from Tbilisi towards Sighnaghi) on a hill right next to the Kakheti highway.
Fortress is a small pentagonal citadel with towers. The history of this fortress is shrouded in mystery.
The fortress is well visible from the highway side, but visitors rarely take stop here, so did I made my first stop here on January 12, 2019, when returning from Sighnaghi, I should add that I took a wrong entrance road and actually didn't reach the fortress, but at least I made a couple of photos and was able to track the name and sort of history for this place. Which is complicated.
Chailuri fortress in Georgia
Here is what I was able to find about Chailuri fortress in Russian (Source) Rough translation by me.
The height of the walls reaches 3-4 meters, and their width is 1.5-2 meters. Many historians believe that it was built at the beginning of the 17th century and for a long time served as a residence for the then ruler Shadiman Baratashvili.
Some disagree with this opinion and date its appearance to the 12th century. There is even the opinion that the fortress was built specifically for the filming of the film "The Legend of Surama Fortress".
As you may have guessed, the history of the defensive structure is covered in mystery. In any case, the fortress is perfectly preserved to our time and is worth a visit.
