Tourists are discovering a fascinating destination on the edge of Europe — but it’s on a US warning list

When travelers head to the Pankisi Valley, the warnings often begin before they arrive, usually from the mouth of a concerned taxi driver, unsure they should be driving tourists to this remote destination.

“‘Why are you going there? What are you doing? I don’t know, it’s not safe for you there,’” the drivers say, according to Khatuna Margoshvili, a guesthouse owner in the rugged, beautiful valley. Pankisi in Georgia, the former Soviet country beyond the eastern fringes of Europe, has long carried a reputation shaped more by headlines than tourism. In the early 2000s, Chechens fleeing Moscow’s war on their homeland used the valley as a refuge. Russia alleged some were former Read More....