Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the

Autonomous Republic of Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a'' ...

, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of the Caucasus. Much of Batumi's economy revolves around tourism and gambling (it is nicknamed "The Las Vegas of the Black Sea"), but the city is also an important seaport and includes industries like shipbuilding,

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

and light manufacturing. Since 2010, Batumi has been transformed by the construction of modern high-rise buildings, as well as the restoration of classical 19th-century edifices lining its historic Old Town.

History

Early history

Batumi is located on the site of the ancient Greek colony in Colchis called "''Bathus"'' or "''Bathys"'', derived from ( grc-gre, βαθύς λιμεν, ; or , ; lit. the 'deep harbour'). Under

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

(), it was converted into a fortified Roman port and later deserted for the fortress of

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

founded in the time of Justinian I (). Garrisoned by the Roman- Byzantine forces, it was formally a possession of the kingdom of Lazica until being occupied briefly by the Arabs, who did not hold it; In 780 Lazica fell to

kingdom of Abkhazia The Kingdom of Abkhazia ( ka, აფხაზთა სამეფო, tr; lit. "Kingdom of the Abkhazians"), also known as Abasgia or Egrisi-Abkhazia, was a Middle Ages, medieval feudalism, feudal state in the Caucasus which was established i ...

via a dynastic union, the later led the

unification of the Georgian monarchy The unification of the Georgian realm ( ka, ქართული სახელმწიფოს გაერთიანება, tr) was the 10th-century political movement that resulted in the consolidation of various Georgian Crowns into ...

in the 11th century. From 1010, it was governed by the (, viceroy) of the king of Georgia. In the late 15th century, after the disintegration of the Georgian kingdom, Batumi passed to the princes (, ) of

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000 (2016), with Ozurgeti as the regional capital. Geography ...

, a western Georgian principality under the sovereignty of the

kings of Imereti The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was Triarchy and collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia, diss ...

A curious incident occurred in 1444 when a

Burgundian Burgundian can refer to any of the following: *Someone or something from Burgundy. *Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (F ...

flotilla, after a failed

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

against the Ottoman Empire, penetrated the Black Sea and engaged in piracy along its eastern coastline until the Burgundians under the knight Geoffroy de Thoisy were ambushed while landing to raid Vaty, as Europeans then knew Batumi. De Thoisy was taken captive and released through the mediation of the emperor John IV of Trebizond.

Ottoman rule

In the 15th century in the reign of the prince Kakhaber Gurieli, the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

conquered the town and its district but did not hold them. They returned to it in force a century later and inflicted a decisive defeat on the Georgian armies at Sokhoista. Batumi was recaptured by the Georgians several times, first in 1564 by prince Rostom Gurieli, who lost it soon afterwards, and again in 1609 by

Mamia II Gurieli Mamia II Gurieli (-1625/1627) is a 17th-century Georgian prince that ruled over the Principality of Guria in Western Georgia. Son of Prince George II, he succeeded his father in 1600 after spending a decade as head of Gurian troops. As Prince, he ...

. In 1703, Batumi again became part of the Ottoman Empire. In the one-and-a-half century of Ottoman rule it grew into a provincial port serving the Empire's hinterlands on the eastern fringes of the Black Sea. After the Turkish conquest Islamisation of the hitherto Christian region began but this was terminated and to a great degree reversed, after the area was re-annexed to Russian Imperial Georgia after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.

Imperial Russian rule

It was the last Black Sea port annexed by Russia during the Russian conquest of that area of the Caucasus. In 1878, Batumi was annexed by the Russian Empire in accordance with the Treaty of San Stefano between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (ratified on 23 March). Occupied by the Russians on 28 August 1878, the town was declared a free port until 1886. It functioned as the center of a special military district until being incorporated in the Kutaisi Governorate on 12 June 1883. Finally, on 1 June 1903, with the Artvin Okrug, the Batum Okrug was established as the

Batum Oblast Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

and placed under the direct administration of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. The expansion of Batumi began with the construction of the Batumi– Tiflis–

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Transcaucasus Railway (completed in 1883), and the

–Batumi pipeline which opened in 1907. Henceforth, Batumi became the chief Russian oil port in the Black Sea. The population increased rapidly doubling within 20 years: from 8,671 inhabitants in 1882 to 12,000 in 1889. By 1902 the population had reached 16,000, with 1,000 working in the refinery for

Baron Rothschild Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first Jewish memb ...

's Caspian and Black Sea Oil Company. In the late 1880s and after, more than 7,400 Doukhobor emigrants sailed for Canada from Batumi, after the government agreed to let them emigrate. Quakers and Tolstoyans aided in collecting funds for the relocation of the religious minority, which had come into conflict with the Imperial government over its refusal to serve in the military and other positions. Canada settled them in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. British troops in Batumi, Georgia, 1920

Russian Civil War, Soviet Union, and 1991 independence

During 1901, sixteen years prior to the October Revolution, Joseph Stalin, the future leader of the Soviet Union, lived in the city organizing strikes. On 3 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gave the city back to the Ottoman Empire, confirmed in the

Treaty of Batum The Treaty of Batum was signed in Batum on 4 June 1918, between the Ottoman Empire and the three Transcaucasian states: the First Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. It was the first ...

of June 1918 between the Ottoman Empire and the new Democratic Republic of Georgia. As result of the end of World War I the British took control over Batumi from December 1918, who stayed until July 1920 when the city and province was transferred to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which gave

Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a'' ...

autonomy. In 1921 Kemal Atatürk

ceded The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

the northern part of Adjara, including Batumi, to the Bolsheviks who reconquered the Transcaucasian republics, on the condition that it be granted autonomy for the sake of the Muslims among Batumi's mixed population. When Georgia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991,

Aslan Abashidze Aslan Abashidze ( ka, ასლან აბაშიძე; born July 20, 1938) is the former leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia. He served in this capacity from 18 August 1991 to May 5, 2004. He resigned under the pres ...

was appointed head of Adjara's governing council and subsequently held onto power throughout the unrest of the 1990s. While

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

and South Ossetia areas attempted to break away from the Georgian state, Adjara remained an integral part of the republic. Instead, Abashidze turned Adjara into his personal fiefdom. In May 2004, he fled to Russia after mass protests in Batumi, which concluded the

2004 Adjara crisis The Adjara crisis was a political crisis in Georgia's Adjaran Autonomous Republic, then led by Aslan Abashidze, who refused to obey the central authorities after President Eduard Shevardnadze's ouster during the Rose Revolution of November 2003. ...

Post-1991

Batumi today is one of the main port cities of Georgia. It has the capacity for 80,000-ton tankers to take materials such as oil that are shipped through Georgia from Central Asia. Additionally, the city exports regional agricultural products. Since 1995 the freight conversion of the port has constantly risen, with an approximate 8 million tons in 2001. The annual revenue from the port is estimated at between $200 million and $300 million. Changing skyline of Batumi, Georgia

Since the change of power in Adjara, Batumi has attracted international investors, and the prices of real estate in the city have trebled since 2001. In July 2007, the seat of the Constitutional Court of Georgia was moved from Tbilisi to Batumi to stimulate regional development. Several new hotels opened after 2009, first the Sheraton in 2010 and the Radisson Blu in 2011. The city features several casinos that attract tourists from Turkey, where gambling is illegal. Batumi was host to the Russian

12th Military Base The 89th Infantry Rifle Division (russian: 89-я стрелковая дивизия; ), or the Tamanyan Division, was a distinguished division in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War. The division was primarily remembered for its second ...

. Following the Rose Revolution, the central government pushed for the removal of these forces and reached an agreement in 2005 with Moscow. According to the agreement, the process of withdrawal was planned to be completed in 2008, but the Russians completed the transfer of the Batumi base to Georgia on 13 November 2007, ahead of schedule.

Geography

Climate

Batumi has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cfa'') according to Köppen's classification. The city's climate is heavily influenced by the onshore flow from the Black Sea and is subject to the

orographic effect Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

of the nearby hills and mountains, resulting in significant rainfall throughout most of the year, making Batumi the wettest city in both Georgia and the entire Caucasus Region. The average annual temperature in Batumi is approximately . January is the coldest month with an average temperature of . August is the hottest month, with an average temperature of . The absolute minimum recorded temperature is , and the absolute maximum is . The number of days with daily temperatures above is 239. The city receives 1958 hours of sunshine per year. Batumi's average annual precipitation is . November is the wettest month with an average of of precipitation, while May is the driest, averaging . Batumi generally does not receive significant amounts of snow (accumulating snowfall of more than ), and the number of days with snow cover for the year is 12. The average level of relative humidity ranges from 70 to 80%.

Subdivisions

According to the March 31, 2008, decision of the Batumi City Council, Batumi is divided into seven boroughs, those of: *Old Batumi (ძველი ბათუმის უბანი) *Rustaveli (რუსთაველის უბანი) *Khimshiashvili (ხიმშიაშვილის უბანი) *Bagrationi (ბაგრატიონის უბანი) *Aghmashenebeli (აღმაშენებლის უბანი) *Javakhishvili (ჯავახიშვილის უბანი) *Tamar (თამარის უბანი) *Boni-Gorodok (ბონი-გოროდოკის უბანი) *Airport (აეროპორტის უბანი) *Gonio-Kvariati (გონიო-კვარიათის უბანი) *Kakhaberi (კახაბრის უბანი) *Batumi Industrial (ბათუმის სამრეწველო უბანი) *Green Cape (მწვანე კონცხის უბანი)

Cityscape

Contemporary architecture

Batumi's skyline has been transformed since 2007 with remarkable buildings and monuments of contemporary architecture, including: *Radisson Blu hotel *Public Service Hall *Hilton Batumi *Leogrand A large Kempinski hotel and casino is to open in 2013, a Hilton Hotel as well as a 47-storey Trump Tower is also planned.

Novelty architecture

Novelty architecture in Batumi includes: * Sheraton Hotel, designed in the style of the Great Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt *

Alphabetic Tower The Alphabetic Tower ( ka, ანბანის კოშკი, tr) is a 130-meter-high structure in Batumi, Georgia. The tower symbolizes the uniqueness of the Georgian alphabet and people. The structure combines the design of DNA, in its fami ...

( high), celebrating Georgian script and writing *

Batumi Piazza The Batumi Piazza is an Italian-style open public area in the city of Batumi, Georgia. Various significant buildings surround the piazza which has open air cafes, hotels, and shopping. The piazza is one of the most visited and popular sights of ...

, a mixed-used development in the form of an Italian piazza *Buildings designed in the style of a lighthouse, the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

, and an upside-down White House

Sites of interest

Main sights

Attractions include *

Adjara State Museum Adjara State Museum ( ka, აჭარის სახელმწიფო მუზეუმი) is a museum in the city of Batumi in Adjara, Georgia. See also * List of museums in Georgia (country) Museums in Georgia listed by the principal s ...

Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

Batumi Botanical Garden The Batumi Botanical Garden ( ka, ბათუმის ბოტანიკური ბაღი) is a 108 hectare area of land 9 km north of the city of Batumi, capital of Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Georgia. Located at the place called ...

*Circus *Former resort area along the Black Sea coast.

Tourist attractions

1071 - Kaukasus 2014 - Georgien - Batumi (16728246174)

* Batumi Boulevard * The statue of “Man and Woman“ AKA “Ali and Nino” by Georgian artist, Tamara Kvesitadze *

s * Cafe Fantasy * Dancing Fountains, Batumi * Dolphinarium * Piazza Square * Panoramic Wheel * Astronomical clock * Argo Cable Car * 6 May Park * Europe Square *

* Batumi Sea Port * Miracle Park *

Chacha Clock Tower Chacha Tower ( ka, ჭაჭის კოშკი) is a clock tower located in Batumi, Georgia. It was built in 2012 by the city council with a cost of one million Georgian laris. The tower is high and has four fountains. It is a replica of the ...

(defunct) * Fountain Of Neptun * Batumi Archeological Museum * Monument Of Ilia Chavchavadze

Demographics

Religion

Although there is no religious data available separately for Batumi, the majority of the region's inhabitants are

Eastern Orthodox Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

, and primarily adhere to the national Georgian Orthodox Church.National Statistics Office of Georgia
Population Census 2014: Population by Regions and Religion
, Retrieved: 6 May 2016 There are also Sunni

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, Catholic,

Armenian Apostolic , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

, Jehovah's Witness, and Jewish communities. The main places of worship in the city are: *

Georgian Orthodox The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

Cathedral of the Mother of God, and Saint Barbara Church * Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit *Saint Nicholas Church *

Batumi Mosque The Batumi Mosque ( ka, ბათუმის მეჩეთი, ''batumis mecheti'', ''orta jame'') is a mosque in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia, which is a home to a sizable Muslim community. It was commissioned by the family of Aslan Beg (the equiv ...

Batumi Synagogue The Batumi Synagogue ( ka, ბათუმის სინაგოგა, ''batumis sinagoga'') is a synagogue in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georg ...

Culture

Batumi has 18 various museums, including

State Art Museum of Adjara State Art Museum of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ხელოვნების სახელმწიფო მუზეუმი) is a museum in the city of Batumi in Adjara, Georgia. Museum collection The museum houses paintings of nat ...

. Rugby Union club

Batumi RC Batumi RC is a Georgian semi-professional rugby club from Batumi, who plays in the Didi 10 The Didi 10 (, "Big 10") is a semi-professional domestic rugby union club competition in Georgia. It is the top tier of rugby competitions in the country. ...

competes in the Pan-european

Rugby Europe Super Cup The Rugby Europe Super Cup is an annual men's rugby union club tournament organised by the continental governing body, Rugby Europe. Featuring clubs outside the traditional Six Nations strongholds of the sport, it effectively forms a third tier ...

and the Georgian

Didi 10 The Didi 10 (, "Big 10") is a semi-professional domestic rugby union club competition in Georgia. It is the top tier of rugby competitions in the country. Current Table 2018–19 Didi 10 season: List of Champions Teams 2019-20 Didi 10 ( ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

FC Dinamo Batumi FC Dinamo Batumi is a Georgian football club based in Batumi, Adjara, and current vice-champion of Erovnuli Liga, the top division of Georgian football system. The club has won the league (2021), the Georgian Cup ( 1997-98) and Super Cup (1 ...

play at the Batumi stadium.

Notable people

Notable people who are from or have resided in Batumi: * Irakli Alasania (*1973), Georgian politician,

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Herbert Backe Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe (1 May 1896 – 6 April 1947) was a German politician and SS Senior group leader (SS-''Obergruppenführer'') in Nazi Germany who served as State Secretary and Minister in the Reich Ministry of Food and Agricult ...

, Reich

Minister of Food The Minister of Food Control (1916–1921) and the Minister of Food (1939–1958) were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture. In the Great War the Ministry sponsored a network of canteens known as ...

in Nazi Germany *

Ioseb Bardanashvili Ioseb Bardanashvili ( ka, იოსებ (სოსო) ბარდანაშვილი; he, יוסף ברדנשווילי; born 23 November 1948 in Batumi, Georgia) is an Israeli and Georgian composer. His works span classical to contemp ...

(*1948), composer * Khatia Buniatishvili (*1987), a concert pianist *

Odysseas Dimitriadis Odysseas Dimitriadis (7 July 1908 – 28 April 2005) was a Georgia (country), Georgian of Greek descent and Soviet Union, Soviet classical music conductor. During his 70-year career, Odysseas had conducted a number of the world's leading orchestras, ...

(1908–2005) Greek-Soviet music conductor *

Mary, Princess Eristavi Mary Eristavi ( ka, მერი ერისთავი-შერვაშიძე; ''née'' Shervashidze; 1888January 21, 1986) was a Georgian aristocrat, fashion icon, and one of the earliest models of Coco Chanel. She held a respectable po ...

(1888–1986), Georgian princess and model * , (1887–1978), writer * Devi Khajishvili (*1991), a Hollywood actor *

Sopho Khalvashi Sopho Khalvashi ( ka, სოფო ხალვაში ; born 31 May 1986 in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia), also sometimes known as simply Sopho, is a Georgian musician of Laz heritage. Biography She claimed third prize at the commercial song co ...

(*1986), first Georgian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 *

Mindia Khitarishvili Mindia Khitarishvili ( ka, მინდია ხითარიშვილი; Batumi, born January 1, 1973) is an Israeli and Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Ge ...

(*1973), composer * Konstantin Meladze (*1963), composer and producer * Valery Meladze (*1965), singer * Katie Melua, singer *

Lado Seidishvili Vladimir (Lado) Osmanis Dze Seidishvili (also spelled Seidashvili) (born Batumi, Georgia; 21 January 1931 – 27 February 2010) was a Georgian painter and poet. In 1956, Seidishvili studied at the Tbilisi Fine Arts Academy, finishing in 1962 with ...

(1931–2010), Georgian painter and poet * Joseph Stalin (1878–1953),

General secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

* Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1925–1991 ; 1933–2012), science fiction authors *

William Horwood Stuart William Horwood Stuart (1857 – May 20, 1906) was a British diplomat. He was murdered in Batumi, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, while serving as a United States vice-consul there. Family Stuart was born in Harrow, London, in 1857 to W ...

(1857–1906), British diplomat who was murdered there in 1906 *

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( rus, Сергей Александрович Есенин, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn; ( 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one o ...

(1895–1925), Russian lyrical poet * Fyodor Yurchikhin (*1959), astronaut

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The city is served by

Batumi Airport Alexander Kartveli Batumi International Airport is an airport located south of Batumi, a city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. The airport is northeast of Hopa, Turkey, and serves as ...

, one of three international airports in the country. A

bike-sharing A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include b ...

scheme named ''BatumVelo'' allows you to rent a bicycle on the street with a smart card. The main types of public transport are buses, minibusses, and taxis. Batumi has modern electric buses. Using the service is possible by
BATUMICARD
', transit card, or debit/credit cards. Buses connect almost everywhere in the city. The port of Batumi is on one of the routes of China's proposed Eurasian Land Bridge (part of the "New Silk Road"), which would see an eastern freight link to China via Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea, and a western link by ferry to Ukraine and on to Europe.

Postage stamps

Twin towns – sister cities

Batumi is twinned with: *

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, Italy (1987) *

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, United States (1992) * Trabzon, Turkey (2000) * Vanadzor, Armenia (2006) * Volos, Greece (2007) * Yalta, Ukraine (2008) * Burgas, Bulgaria (2009) * Marbella, Spain (2010) * Kuşadası, Turkey (2010) * Ordu, Turkey (2011) * Ternopil, Ukraine (2011) *

Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...

, Israel (2011) * New Orleans, United States (2012) * Yalova, Turkey (2012) * Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan (2012) *

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...

, Latvia (2012) * Donetsk, Ukraine (2013) *

Prague 1 Prague 1, formally the Prague 1 Municipal District (), is a second-tier municipality in Prague. It is co-extensive with the national administrative district (''správní obvod'') of the same name. Prague 1 includes most of the medieval heart of ...

, Czech Republic (2013) * Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt (2014) * Ürümqi, China (2015) * Brest, Belarus (2015) * Paphos, Cyprus (2016) *

Nysa Nysa may refer to: Greek Mythology * Nysa (mythology) or Nyseion, the mountainous region or mount (various traditional locations), where nymphs raised the young god Dionysus * Nysiads, nymphs of Mount Nysa who cared for and taught the infant ...

, Poland (2017) * Mogilev, Belarus (2017) *

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Israel (2018) * Wrocław, Poland (2019) *

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

, Romania (2020)

References

*''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia.'' Georgian SSR (Supplementary Edition). 1981. pp. 16–18.

External links

Official websiteOfficial Visitor Guide to BatumiOfficial instagram of BatumiBatumi – History, Sights and PersonalitiesBatumi Photo Gallery
*Postcard from the Silk Road – Batumi...(Georgia), TRAVELS – ESPECIALLY FOR „ZNAD WILII”, Leonard Drożdżewicz, „Znad Wilii”, Viešoji įstaiga „Znad Wilii” kultūros plėtros draugija,ISSN 1392-9712 indeks 327956 nr 1 (57) z 2014 r., p. 87–98, (in Polish)http://www.znadwiliiwilno.lt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Znad-Wilii-57m.pdf

{{Authority control Georgian Black Sea coast Cities and towns in Adjara Batum Oblast Kutaisi Governorate Pontus (region) Port cities in Asia Port cities of the Black Sea Greek colonies in Colchis Port cities in Europe Self-governing cities in Georgia (country)