Georgia Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti

Mestia is a highland townlet in northwest Georgia, at an elevation of 1,500m in the Caucasus Mountains. The townlet is dominated by stone defensive towers of a type seen in Ushguli ("Svan towers"). A typical Svan fortified dwelling consisted of a tower, an adjacent house (machub) and some other household structures encircled by a defensive wall. Unique icons and manuscripts are kept in Mestia Historical-Ethnographic Museum. Mestia is also a center of mountaineer tourism and alpinism.

Zugdidi is a city in the Western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. Zugdidi is the capital of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, which combines Samegrelo (Mingrelia) and upper part of Svaneti, and the center of the Zugdidi Municipality within. Architectural sights of the city are the Queen's palace and Niko's palace (now the Dadiani Palaces museum, both of the 19th century), as well as cathedral, churches, a botanical garden, and museums.