Abkhazia travel guide

Abkhazia is a heaven for fans of abandoned buildings. It feels like every second house in Sukhumi is abandoned. The most famous of them is probably the old government house right in the middle of town.

The cave in Akhali Atoni is recognized as one of the biggest in world. The main attraction is its sheer size, rather than the few stalagmites and stalactites. There are nine chambers measure up to 100 meters long and 40 to 60 meters high. You will enter and leave the cave system through an artificial tunnel in a small electric train. While inside the cave, you walk in guided groups (only in Russian) along paths and bridges. The guide do a lot of explanation, so the 1.4 km long journey last 1:15 hours. Bring a shirt, as the temperature below ground is 12° С.

Akhali Atoni Monastery is one of the three sights in Akhali Atoni along with Saint Simon Church and the cave. The monastery is pretty pearched on a outcrop with fine view over the rest of Akhali Atoni. It was founded by Russians monks in the 1870s and houses about 720 of them. Today, the cathedral has been turned in museum with coulurful murals.Though the trails are steep, you can walk between the church, monastery and cave, making Akhali Atoni a perfect daytrip from Sukhumi.

The autonomous archipelago of Åland is Finnish, but Swedish speaking. There are more than 6700 islands and many are connected with bridges. For longer distances there are an army of ferries (the smaller ones are free), some too small for cars. The capital is Mariehamn in the far west side. It's possible to arrive by ferry from Sweden to the far west side and traverse the archipelago by road, bridges and small ferries. Though such a trip is no longer than 200 km, it can take a couple of days with all the ferry connections.

You can enter Abkhazia from both Georgia and Russia. However, if entering from Russia you would need a double entry Russian visa, as you can't continue on to Georgia (Georgia still consider Abkhazia part of Georgia, so from their perspective you would have entered Georgia illegally by coming from Russia). So most non-Russian visitors arrive from Georgia, across one of the weirdest borders in the world.
You are not getting stamped out on the Georgian side, but you still need to register at police post and show your Abkhazian visa approval. You then walk 1.5 km - or pay for a ride in a horse cart - through no-man's land on a crappy road, which is only used by cows and Abkhazian border shoppers, who have been to Georgia to pick up a new television or aircon. Right before the Abkhazian border post you cross an old bridge, which is guarded by a few bored looking Georgian soldiers. At the first Abkhazian post the officer will call the Foreign ministry to check your visa. When confirmed, you walk into a fenced off passage, which leads to the final check point, where your whereabouts will be questioned. Finally you're through to the Abkhazian side. There are nothing else on both sides beside waiting taxi drivers and the occasional marshrutka. No money changers, no shops, no nothing.

Lake Ritsa is a pretty mountain lake with green water located at the end of a deep canyon. Apparently, Stalin had a summer cottage up here. The only way to reach Lake Ritsa is either with your own vehicle or on a (Russian) tour. In high season (July and August) a tour can be a very touristic affair with endless stops at honey and wine stands and tying ribbons at sacred waterfalls, but consider it as a part of the experience.

Akhali Atoni has three tourist sights, where Saint Simon the Canaanite Church (also known as Church of Simon the Zealot) is one of them. Like with the other sights, the area around the church is turned into, what most will call, a tacky tourist hell for the many Russian tourists. There are cafes and restaurants, small stands selling everything from local made wine to honey, and if you are looking for to have your picture taken with a hawk, owl or bear cub, that will sadly be possible too. The church itself is a 10th-century Georgian church built on the ruins of a fourth-century church and now sadly on a backdrop of an abandoned construction. The church is dedicated to Saint Simon the Canaanite, an apostle who came here in AD 55. For a more interesting way to reach the church, follow the short trail along the river, which starts at the fine old abandoned train station.

The capital of Abkhazia has a strong post war feel about it. Every second building is abandoned and the rest are mostly in a very neglected state with crooked balconies and what looks like bullet holes. Most of the smaller streets are in bad condition, and even the waterfront, which attracts so many Russian tourists in high season, is dilapidated and worn. But don't be put off by all this neglect, for it's actually the charm and attraction of Sukhumi - and Abkhazia too, for that matter.