Koen

The legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece is still alive and well in Batumi. Medea towers high above Europe Square on her immense pedestal. She stoically shows the gilded sheepskin that Jason and his Argonauts managed to steal from King Aietes of Colchis after completing three dangerous assignments.

Close but no cigar! One of Batumi's most remarkable buildings is the tower with the small Ferris wheel. The gold-colored Ferris wheel is the creation of David Gogichaishvili, a young Georgian architect, who made his wildest fantasy come true in 2012. This skyscraper was originally supposed to house the Black Sea Technological University (what a university should do with a Ferris wheel is a mystery to me). but that plan ultimately fell through and in 2015 the tower was sold to a hotel chain and the luxurious Le Méridien Hotel is located there. However, the Ferris wheel was never put into use...

Miracle Park actually consists of the eastern end of the Seafront Promenade. Here you will find the Alphabet Tower, the Ferris Wheel and the popular Alin & Nino statue. It is also the location where the Batumi Festival takes place in August and September. Nice.

In the old center of Batumi lies one of the city's new top attractions: the Batumi Piazza Square. This square with its Mediterranean (or perhaps more precisely Venetian) appearance was completed in 2010 and has two striking features: the tower that is clearly inspired by the Campanille of St. Mark's Square in Venice, and the mosaic consisting of 88,244,735 stones designed by the Georgian -Swiss designer Natali de Pita Amirejibi. The square is bustling, especially from noon onwards when the terraces fill up until late in the evening. An attractive and cozy square!

Somewhat lost between the marina and Gogebashvili Street is the Chacha Tower, a 25-meter-high bell tower from 2012 with four fountains at its base. The tower is a copy of the clock tower from İzmir, Turkey, although according to rumors chacha flows from the fountains in Batumi once a week...