Shiomgvime Monastery stands on the slopes of the Sarkine (Skhaltba) range, on the left side of the Mtkvari, 9km west of Mtskheta. There is a road to Shiomgvime from Mtskheta.
There are more than a hundred caves (some of them natural and some carved out by the monks) in a sheer drop of the Sarkine (Skhalta) Range, north of the monastery, where monks had lived ever since the Early Middle Ages. Most of these are inaccessible at present. The two houses to the south and northwest of the Dormition Church were built in the 19th century.
Source and more info: http://www.parliament.ge/~lika/ancient/shiomgvime/shiomgvime_show.htm
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