South of Batumi

Batumi and the coastal region around it were subjected to battles and occupations from Neolithic times. Access to the Black Sea was fought over by everyone from the Greeks and Romans to the Persians, Genovese and Ottoman Turks. Vestiges of these civilizations remain throughout Georgia. Gonio-Apsaros, a fortress 15 km (9 m) south of Batumi, was a Roman fortified city mentioned by Pliny. Its ruins are still being excavated; some of the artefacts found within it are displayed in the Gonio-Apsaros Museum inside the handsome crenellated walls of the town. They’re visible from the main road. Many tourists come too to enjoy the cleaner beaches at this point of the coast, just a few kilometres north of the Turkish border at Sarpi.