Oni

Oni is the centre of Upper Racha, a small town of about 2,500 people at 830 m on the Rioni, about 30 km up the valley from Ambrolauri. It has the feel of an old market town, with old stone houses and the ridges of the Greater Caucasus rising to the north. Oni was once home to Georgia's third-largest Jewish community, after those of Tbilisi and Kutaisi, and its synagogue, built in the 1880s, is one of the finest in the country. A few Jewish families remain and look after it.

Visit the Racha Regional Museum, which holds around 14,000 objects ranging from archaeology and coins to ethnography, fine art and manuscripts, then walk the quiet streets around the synagogue. Oni is also the gateway to Upper Racha: the road continues up the valley towards Utsera, Shovi and Glola, the starting points for mountain walks. It makes a quieter base than Ambrolauri for hikers.

Oni has long been the main town of Upper Racha. From the 19th century it had a large Jewish community, and its synagogue was built in the 1880s to a design by a Polish architect, by Jewish builders from Thessaloniki. Most of the community emigrated to Israel after the Soviet Union collapsed. On 29 April 1991 a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the strongest recorded in the Caucasus Mountains, caused severe damage across the town and the surrounding villages.