This was a fun tour! Our guide, Nino, was nice, informative and helped us take good pictures! Unlike other tours, Nino didn't rush us at all—and let us take our time to explore and take photos at each site, which I really appreciated. The abandoned Soviet gymnasium was cool. The homemade lunch by a family in Chiatura was fantastic (I loved the experience in the home, and it was the best Georgian food I had during my trip). However, I wish there were more stops at Soviet sites; it would've been great if we could've explored a Soviet apartment block or abandoned factory, for instance. The 2 monasteries were interesting, but not what I wanted to spend a lot of time on during a 'Soviet' tour.

Sally was wonderful!! As soon as she picked us up she enquirer as to what would interest us the most and what we really would like to see and get out of the tour. Sally made sure that we got to see sights that we would never have been able to find on our own and was a pleasure to spend a day with. She is full of lots of interesting stories and history. Chiatura was exactly what we were expecting and it is really worth the visit!! Thanks for the great day..

the day we had chosen to take the trip there were just 2 travelers, my friend and me, so we were given a ride in a brand new and spacious private car. Sally, the enthusiast guide and Georgi, the discreet and careful driver were the best one could get. Sally who spoke fluent english, had been in chiatura many times before and she was quite knowledgeable of the history and the city details. I think that Chiatura constitutes a typical representation of a soviet era mining town, though semi-abandoned today, after the mining operations have been reduced to a minimum. Its characteristics are the numerous cable cars that crisscross the sky connecting different neighborhoods, kind of flying taxis. Apart from the moody atmosphere, the town is set in a very picturesque landscape, inside a valley with a river crossing it.