One of the small but interesting sights near Batumi is Petra Fortress. Admission is free and it won’t take much time for you to visit it. It can be visited right before or after visiting Botanical Garden.
GPS coordinates for Garmin/Navitel: N41.768640, E41.753477
To say the truth, it is not a fortress. It is ruined, because first buildings of the fortress are dated by 6th century A.D.
This place is habited from ancient times. At first this territory belonged to Lazes tribes. Then Byzantium Emperor Justinian built fortified city here.
A very important road that connected Byzantium, Georgia, Armenia and Persia was running through this territory. So the Fortress had an important geopolitical location.
Moreover, the Fortress was located on the hill and was protected by sea and high cliffs from the one side and by high rocks from the other side.
Because of rocks, the fortress received its name – “Petra”. This means “stone” in Greek.
And because of good location from military point of view, it received name “Kajeti Fortress” (“Enchanted Fortress”) – it was so forbidding.
The territory contains remains of fortifications, basilica ruins, graves and ruins of household buildings.
Also there is magnifying viewpoint on cliffs!
And sweet-scented lemons under the rocks 🙂
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