Adjara

Driving down the coast from Guria, you travel through Kobuleti’s Bird and Nature Reserve before arriving at the town, with its wide bay frontage on the sea. The beaches here are sandy and uncluttered. In the town’s interior, a large open and covered food market makes a stop worthwhile. Just 7 km (4 m) south of the town, on the coast at Tsikhisdziri, are the ruins of Petra, a 6th-century Byzantine stone fortress that commanded views of both sea and land. It was considered impenetrable in its day and is also thought to be the ‘Demonian Kingdom’s Castle’ mentioned in Shota Rustaveli’s epic 12th-century poem, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin.