Monument · Batumi, Adjara
Alphabetic Tower
ანბანის კოშკი
A 130-metre tower in Miracle Park on Batumi's old boulevard, wound with two spiral bands carrying the 33 letters of the modern Georgian alphabet.
Where it is
41.6559, 41.6394
Why go
The design borrows the double helix of DNA: the letters, each about four metres high and lit by built-in LEDs, climb the shaft in two strands towards a sphere at the top. That sphere is the reason to go up rather than photograph it from the promenade. It holds an observation deck with an open terrace and a restaurant whose floor turns a full circle in an hour, with the city, the Black Sea and the Adjaran mountains in view. Designed by the Spanish architect Alberto Domingo Cabo and completed in 2011, it is a modern city landmark rather than a historic monument, and it also houses a tourist information centre.
Near Alphabetic Tower
Church
Batumi Cathedral of the Mother of God
A neo-Gothic basilica in old Batumi with two tall bell towers, built as a Catholic church by the Zubalashvili brothers and now a cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Park
Batumi Botanical Garden
A 108.7-hectare botanical garden opened in 1912 on the Green Cape, 9 km north of Batumi, set along about a kilometre of Black Sea coast and arranged in nine phytogeographic sections and three parks.
8 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Fortress
Gonio-Apsaros Fortress
A rectangular walled fort near the mouth of the Chorokhi River south of Batumi, recorded in Roman times as Apsaros, with 18 of its towers still standing along the circuit wall.
11 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Park
Mtirala National Park
A national park of mist-bound Colchic forest in the hills above the Adjara coast, named the 'weeping mountain' for its rainfall, with a component of the Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands World Heritage property.
14 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ