Georgia’s subtropical Guria region:
Take a trip beyond the pages of a national bestseller

Tourists visiting Georgia next month can go on a new tour of the country's western Guria region based on a best-selling book of stories on the region’s people and places.

The Trail of the Gurian Diaries initiative will take guests on a tour of picturesque villages, medieval monuments and tasting of local produce in this subtropical part of Georgia.

Launching on July 22, the three-day travel will be organised by the Welcome to Georgia tourist company and based on a record-breaking book Gurian Diaries by author Giorgi Kekelidze.

The book, which became a local best-seller immediately following its release in 2014, is a collection of stories on customs and everyday lives of locals from villages and cities of Guria. The tourist project will aim to bring travellers to the places and people at the heart of these tales, said Welcome to Georgia.

The 19th Century AD Jikheti Convent in the Chokhatauri Municipality of Guria. Photo from The Trail of Gurian Diaries/Facebook.

Georgian and international guests are invited to join the travel group, which will depart capital Tbilisi on July 22 and visit two of the most important tourist resorts in Guria.

A trip to the Gomismta mountainous summer resort in the Ozurgeti Municipality will come before a visit to similar high-altitude resort of Bakhmaro in the Chokhatauri Municipality.

In between the two locations, guests will be guided to monuments such as the 6th Century AD John the Baptist Desert Monastery and the 12th Century AD Shemokmedi Church.

Other locations visited on the tour will include the museum of the 20th Century Georgian public and cultural figure Ekvtime Takaishvili and a tasting of locally produced tea - one of the main products the Guria region is known for.

Tour participants will see the John the Baptist Desert Monastery in the Chokhatauri Municipality of Guria. Photo from The Trail of Gurian Diaries/Facebook.

The tour group will also have the chance to taste mineral water produced in springs in Nabeghlavi village since 1958, as well as wine made by local producers.

During the three-day tour participants will stay at family guesthouses in local towns and villages before returning to Tbilisi on July 24.

The tour’s organisers said the project aimed to draw tourists to the Guria region and bring additional income to the local population.

A view of the Gomismta mountainous resort in Guria's Ozurgeti Municipality. Photo from Avtandil Jakeli/Gomismta resort/Facebook.

Gurian Diaries was published in Georgia in 2014 and gained critical acclaim. The book was translated into Azerbaijani in 2015, with an Italian translation announced earlier this year.

The stories in the book feature intimate recollections of the author's childhood and human relationships in Guria, and was awarded three literary prizes including the 2015 Guram Rcheulishvili Award, named after a popular late Georgian author.

Giorgi Kekelidze, the book’s writer, is also a founder the first Georgian digital library www.lib.ge and has worked as general director of the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia since 2012.