Ozurgeti

Ozurgeti (ოზურგეთი in Georgian, Озургети in Russian, formerly Makharadze) is a 14,672 inhabitants town by the river Bzhuzhi, in the western part of Georgia. It's the capital and biggest town of the region of Guria, being the best place to use as base to explore the small but beautiful region of Guria. 

 How do I arrive to Ozurgeti?

  Ozurgeti is well connected with other towns in Georgia. 

• Train: there are trains that arrive to Ozurgeti from Batumi (daily; aprox. 2 hours) stopping in places like Kobuleti, and from Tbilisi (twice per day; aprox. 9 hours).
• Bus: there are marshutkas from places like Kutaisi (7 daily; aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes), Kobuleti (aprox. 45 minutes), Batumi (8 daily buses; aprox. 3 hours), and Tbilisi (every hour; aprox. 5.5 hours). There are also marshutkas to Ureki or Chokhatauri.
• Car: if you rented a car, from Ozurgeti it can be reached Shekvetili and Ureki (aprox. 30 minutes), Kobuleti (aprox. 35 minutes), Chokhatauri (aprox. 40 minutes), Poti (aprox. 1 hour) in the Kolkheti National Park, Batumi (aprox. 1 hours 5 minutes), Mtirala National Park (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Kintrishi National Park (aprox. 1 hour 40 minutes), Kutaisi (aprox. 1 hour 45 minutes) or Zugdidi (aprox. 2 hours).
  

History

  Ozurgeti was founded in the late Middle Ages, first mentioned in 1578, and it soon became the center of Guria (residence of its princes) and an important trading city. There was already a fortress in Ozurgeti in the 17th century. The last prince of Guria, Mamia V Gurieli, built a beautiful palace in Ozurgeti (dilapidated when the principality was abolished in 1829) and in 1810 a Russian protectorate was established. At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the Nakashidzes were the guardians of the city. After Guria was conquered by the Russian Empire, its status became a provincial center of Ozurgeti country and the military settlement, transferred to the new Kutais Governorate in 1846. Ozurgeti was a strategic location during the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-1878.  The city was taken by the troops of the Ottoman Empire in April 1918 (occupied until mid-June). After Georgia was occupied by the Soviet Union, a large rally was held here in 1922 to mark Georgia's Independence Day (with several people arrested). In 1923, a railway line entered the city and, from 1934 to 1990, the city was named Makharadze (to honor Filipp Makharadze, a Georgian Bolshevik revolutionary). In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev visited Makharadze and it was visited by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1982 too.
 

What can I visit in Ozurgeti?

  Ozurgeti keeps some 19th century typical Gurian wooden houses, with balconies and tile roofs, scattered in the town. It's also a good starting point to visit all the region of Guria.

These are Ozurgeti's main attractions:

• Historical Museum of Ozurgeti (10-18; free): museum that tells the history of Ozurgeti and whole Guria. It houses archeological discoveries from the Neolithic period to the late Bronze Age (including rare specimens of Colchian axes, or bronze sculptures), numismatics from Colchis, Ottoman Empire or the Soviet Union, and it has Napoleon Bonaparte’s sword. The museum has an ethnographic collection, mainly including 19th century work tools, household items or materials of different periods of heraldry and spraying. Next to the museum are the Remains of Ozurgeti Bath, ruins of baths from the late-Byzantine era.
  
• Ekvtime Takaishvili Archaeological Museum-Reserve (10-18 Tue-Sun; 3₾/ 1₾  adults/ kids): museum with a permanent exposition related to life and deeds of Ekvtime Takhaishvili, a Georgian historian, archeologist and professor. Here it can be seen some remains from Gurianta-Vashnari settlement remains (5th-8th AD) and cultural layers of different historical periods. Around the museum it's situated Palace of Gurieli, a palace built in 1860s as residence of the House of Guieli, It's the oldest building in the city and now is used as seat of the Shemokmedi Bishopric.
• Ozurgeti Fine Arts Gallery (10-18 Mon-Fri; 0.50₾/ 0.30₾  adults/ kids): small art gallery with a collection of Georgian artists such as Lado Gudiashvili, Elene Akhvlediani or Gia Bughadze. It also has samples of folk handicraft.
  
• Ozurgeti is known for its gardens, designed by the gardener Jacob Mar for Mamia III Gurieli. It's now divided into: Platanus Garden (garden with platanus trees that make a მ shape, M in Georgian alphabet) where it's situated Ozurgeti Georgian Orthodox Church, a nice church built in 1989; Samkuthkha, a triangle garden dominated by Ozurgeti Dramatic Theater, a Georgian Soviet style theater building, second largest in Georgia, with statue of Alexander Tsutsunava (a famous Georgian movie director born in Ozurgeti). Other important parks in town are the Park of Culture and Resort (park created in 1930 in front of town hall building, used as children's amusement park), the Park of 9th April or Ekadia Forest-Park (forest-park was developed in 1960s with good views of the town), where it can be found Ekadia Georgian Orthodox Church (church built in 2014).
  
• Only 7 km far from Ozurgeti it can be visited Shemokmedi Monastery, a Georgian Orthodox monastery founded in the 15th century that functioned as a seat of a bishopric and burial ground of the Gurieli princely dynasty. The larger of the churches is entirely frescoed (having fragments depicting Mamia II Gurieli), and the smaller one was built in the 1570s under prince Vakhtang I Gurieli to house a 9th century icon from Zarzma Monastery. Some of the surviving tombs belong to Rostom Gurieli and Mamia III Gurieli. Over the centuries, it had accumulated an extensive collection of various objects from other Georgian monasteries and parts of the collection (which survived the 19th century robbers) are now on display in some museums along Georgia (most of them in the Georgian National Museum, in Tbilisi).
  

Ozurgeti History Museum and Folklore Center

Ozurgeti Drama Theater

Likhauri Georgian Orthodox Church

Around Ozurgeti there are some cathedrals and churches with importance. Driving 6 km south it's located Likhauri Georgian Orthodox Church, a 12th century church built by the Kajaberi dynasty of Guria. It has a window richly decorated with Georgian ornaments, and a portal. Its original frescoes from the 15th-16th centuries were removed in the 1990s, stored in the Tbilisi Academy of Art, and painted again. Near the church there is an independent bell tower. Continuing a bit south is located Achi Georgian Orthodox Church, a single-nave hall church constructed at the 13th-14th centuries. It was favored by the Princes of Guria (housing many threasures such as a gilded silver cross mentioning Queen Tamar). The abbotship of Achi was hereditary in the Salukvadze-Takaishvili family. The whole interior is frescoed and some murals have affinities with the Palaeologan art.

Interior of Jumati Monastery

In case of wanting to explore the north of Guria, the best idea is to begin by going to Lanchkhuti (ლანჩხუთი in Georgian), a town with 6,395 people to explore the rural part of Guria and the Colchian lowlands. It was famous for the Gurian horse riders, who participated in Wild West Shows in the USA, and it can be learnt some more about the local history at Lanchkhuti Local Museum (10-18 Mon-Fri; free). Another museum in Lanchkhuti is Egnate Ninoshvili House-Museum (10-18; 1₾/ 0.50₾  adults/ kids), a small museum is situated in his former house (from 1880) where learning more about this famous Georgian writer. Around here there's Jumati Monastery, a medieval monastery whose construction is believed to have been around 16th-18th centuries, and its frescoes date back to those centuries too. Jumati Monastery was an important religious and cultural center of Guria and therefore, it kept valuable icons, relics and documents (robbed several times and now at museums such as the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum in New York). From here there are beautiful views of Guria and Mingrelia.

Eristavi Palace

The visitor can also choose to explore northeastern part of Guria. A good starting point is Chokhatauri (ჩოხატაური in Georgian), a small town with 1,815 people by river Supsa. The visitor can get to know a bit more about the local history at Chokhatauri Local Museum (10-18 Mon-Fri; free), having archaeological material, tools and ethnographic material, among others. The surrounding area to Chokhatauri is barely explored by tourists but it has some highlights that can be nice to explore. One of them is Eristavi Palace and Garden, remains of a palace and a garden from the 17th century (only remained secular sightseeing point in Guria); Erketi Georgian Orthodox Church, a 9th century hall church whose leaders were the Sharvashidzes and that keep 9th century doors and frescoes that are in need of restoration. In the innermost part of Guria there's the health resort of Bakhmaro (ბახმარო in Georgian), known for its great mountain panorama.

 

Sunse in Ureki Beach

Going towards the coast it can be explore the nice coast that the region of Guria has. Here it can be stopped at Vashnari, ruins of a town from the 4th century that has remains of a basilica, a monastery and other buildings. One of its main towns in the coast is Ureki (ურეკი in Georgian), a 1,166 inhabitants seaside resort located 30 km far from Ozurgeti. This place is know because of Ureki Beach, a popular beach famous for its black and slightly magnetic sand (that is said to have healing properties). Other seaside resorts in Guria are Grigoleti in the north and Shekvetili in the south, with the nice Shekvetili Beach too. In this last village it can be seen Shekvetili Dendrological Park (10-18 Tue-Wed and Fri-Sun), a park with 200 giant trees of unique species, 58 species of birds from all continents and an impressing bamboo grove; and Georgia Miniature Park (10-18 Tue-Sun), a park full of miniatures representing the most characteristics monuments in the country.

Where can I eat in Ozurgeti?

  Ozurgeti has a cheap culinary offer and some of the best options to try local Georgian restaurants are Khachapuri House [ხაჭაპურის სახლი] (Chavchavadze 2), Kalakuri [ქალაქური] (Gabriel Episkoposi 2) or Tonusi [ტონუსი] (Akaki Tsereteli 29).

Posted in: Europe,Georgia