Tsikhisdziri

Tsikhisdziri is a village in Southwestern Georgia.

Understand

The ruins of Petra Fortress

The Roman city–fortress of Petra was founded at the behest of the emperor Justinian I in 535 and, after a series of battles during the Lazic War with Sasanid Iran, was demolished by the Romans themselves to prevent it again becoming the enemy's target in 551. Later, the locale continued to be home to a stronghold of some importance, namely, the Devils' Fortress, ts'ikhe k'ajet'isa, mentioned by the Georgian scholar Prince Vakhushti in his 1745 geography as situated near the small town of Kobuleti, on "the edge of the sea,...strong, built on a high cliff, possessing a rocky tunnel, curved as a road".

By Vakhushti's time, the village had been under the Ottoman sway. During the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29), Tsikhisdziri, then one of the frontier settlements between the Ottoman-dominated Adjara and the Russian-controlled Guria, saw fighting between the two empires. It was there that, in September 1829, the Ottoman commander of Muslim Georgian background, Ahmed-Pasha, repulsed an invasion by the Russian general Karl Hesse. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), the Ottoman military heavily fortified the heights of Tsikhisdziri, which allowed them to successfully block two Russian attempts to capture Tsikhisdziri and advance towards Batumi on 12 April 1877 and 18 January 1878. However, an eventual defeat in the war forced the Ottomans to cede Adjara to Russia. In the Soviet period, Tsikhisdziri became one of a series of sea resorts in southwestern Georgia, and it continues to enjoy summertime visitors to this day.

See

• Petra Fortress. Not the most impressive of ruins as it is mostly rubble. 8 Lari entrance fee.

Do

The Black Sea from Tsikhisdziri

• Beaches. Some of the nicer beaches in Georgia, although like all of the Black Sea coastline in this area, they are pebble beaches. The northern beach is better for swimming while the southern beach offers deeper waters and is popular for scuba diving.