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AbkhaziaWhat to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting
It is believed that the Hashupse fortress or the Hashup fortress was built in the VII–X centuries AD, but there is no reliable information about the history of this place. According to some stories and scanty sources, it was possible to establish that it was one of the largest strongholds on the territory of Abkhazia, and was intended to protect the Khashupse gorge from attack from the Black Sea. To do this, a structure with three watchtowers and walls up to 10 meters high was erected on a high inaccessible rock on the left bank of the Khashupsa River. Over time, a large three-apse basilica appeared here, and a large cistern-well was hollowed out right in the stone to provide water for the village that had grown around the fortress.
Pay attention! At the time of preparing the trip and writing the article, all the sources we found on the Internet give completely false information about the location and visit of this fortress. For the real Khashup fortress in the photo in these sources, the basilica in Tsandripsha or ruins unrelated to Abkhazia are given out. We have followed the route to the fortress itself and present you its authentic description and real photos.
Today this place is practically abandoned, and there is not even a normal trail leading here, not to mention an equipped tourist route. The walls of the fortress are well preserved, but heavily overgrown with grass and trees, and are gradually being destroyed by nature and time. The cistern-well now only reminds of itself only by a small depression in the rock. And there is almost no trace of the basilica, except for a pile of stones and a wooden cross made of a pair of sticks carefully left in this place.
Nevertheless, if you are an inquisitive traveler or tourist, and have already looked at everything in Abkhazia, you can discover a new place for yourself. Lovers of all kinds of ruins and antiquities will especially like it here. But the way to the fortress and the basilica is not so simple. First you have to get to the starting point of the walking route to the fortress, and you can do this only on your own transport, group excursions are not carried here. Next, you need to climb an overgrown and poorly distinguishable path, which at first leads more or less gently, but at the last hundred meters a steep ascent begins, so in places you will have to climb, clinging to trees and roots. When you finally get to the fortress wall, there is another small part of the route to the well and the basilica, but you will have to overcome several meters of almost vertical ascent until finally you find yourself at the very top.
In total, this route will have to go a little more than a kilometer and climb almost 200 meters. It doesn't seem to be much, but given the complexity of the trail, it will easily take an hour to climb one way, and the same amount to descend. Since the trail can be very hard to see, especially in early summer, be sure to bring a smartphone with offline maps like Organic Maps, Maps Me, etc. loaded into it, this trail is clearly drawn on these maps. Be sure to wear sports or hiking shoes, there is no way to get through in beach slippers.
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock, visit for security reasons during daylight hours.
💵 Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge.
🚶 How to get there
The Hashupse Fortress and the basilica are located in the Hashupse River gorge, 25 kilometers from Gagra and 10 kilometers from the center of Tsandripsha on the way to Small Hashupse Canyon (Hashupse Fortress and basilica on the map). There is no public transport here and there are no group excursions to the fortress, but perhaps you can find an individual guide who will agree to take you and escort you along the trail.
If you can't find such a guide, then you can get here on your own by car. Up to the point where the hike starts, there is a road, though bad, but quite passable for most cars, only the lowest "puzoterki" will not be able to pass. Of course, it is better to go in good weather, because during rains and snow you can not only get stuck, but also damage the car. You need to go to this point (the beginning of the trail on the map), where you will have to park the car on the side of the road, and then only walk as described above.
💥 We remind you that it is much more interesting to get acquainted with the sights with the help of excursions, and therefore we advise you to look at online booking options on these proven search and price comparison sites: