Gonio's fortress, an impressive piece of Roman-Byzantine military architecture, covers 47,000 sq metres within a rectangle of high stone walls with 18 towers. Built by the Romans in the 1st century AD, it was occupied by the Byzantines in the 6th century and by the Ottomans in the 16th century. An interesting little museum sits in the middle of the site with a cross outside marking what’s believed to be the grave of the Apostle Matthias.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
6.32 MILES
Everyone soon finds themselves strolling along Batumis bulvari, the park strip fronting the main beach, originally laid out in 1884 and now stretching 7km…
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10.9 MILES
Batumi’s Botanical Garden, 8km northeast of town, was founded in 1912 by Russian botanist Andrei Krasnov. With many subtropical and foreign species, it…
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5.73 MILES
This excellent museum showcases some of the many valuable archaeological discoveries made in Adjara, particularly at the Gonio Apsaros Fortress. The main…
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6.76 MILES
The 7m-high, ethereally moving, metal sculpture Woman and Man, by Tamar Kvesitadze, is universally known as Ali & Nino after the protagonists of Kurban…
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6.36 MILES
This 2.6km-long cable car carries you up to a shopping-cafe-restaurant complex on Anuria Hill, 2586m above Batumi, for panoramic views over the city. It's…
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6.38 MILES
Batumi’s only surviving mosque, built in the 1860s, is finely painted in pinks, greens and blues, with Quranic calligraphy on the walls – but is no longer…
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6.31 MILES
Towering over Evropas moedani is this striking portrayal of Medea, the local princess who would help her future husband Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. A…
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6.41 MILES
Georgia's tallest building (even if much of it is its needle), the 200m-high Batumi Tower boasts a mini Ferris wheel of deeply questionable aesthetic…
Nearby Adjara attractions
5.16 MILES
On the southern part of the boulevard, known as the New Boulevard, an ornamental lake hosts the Dancing Fountains, an entertaining laser, music and water…
2. Batumi Archeological Museum
5.73 MILES
This excellent museum showcases some of the many valuable archaeological discoveries made in Adjara, particularly at the Gonio Apsaros Fortress. The main…
6.09 MILES
Well displayed and well lit in an attractive neoclassical Soviet building, the small permanent collection upstairs covers Georgian art from the late 19th…
6.31 MILES
Towering over Evropas moedani is this striking portrayal of Medea, the local princess who would help her future husband Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. A…
6.31 MILES
Broad Europe Sq is surrounded by beautiful belle-époque buildings – renovated survivors from Batumi's original heyday, plus new buildings in a similar…
6.32 MILES
Everyone soon finds themselves strolling along Batumis bulvari, the park strip fronting the main beach, originally laid out in 1884 and now stretching 7km…
6.36 MILES
This 2.6km-long cable car carries you up to a shopping-cafe-restaurant complex on Anuria Hill, 2586m above Batumi, for panoramic views over the city. It's…
6.38 MILES
Batumi’s only surviving mosque, built in the 1860s, is finely painted in pinks, greens and blues, with Quranic calligraphy on the walls – but is no longer…