Metravel city quest
City Batumi: free walking route “quest: in the footsteps of the Argonauts” along the sights. 8 points. Approximately 2 h. Quests and legends - straight from
Three thousand years ago, the Greeks told one another a story about the world's most daring voyage: the hero Jason gathered a crew aboard the Argo and sailed to the edge of the known world — to Colchis, in search of a golden treasure guarded by a dragon. Medea, the princess of Colchis, helped the Argonauts claim it: without her cunning and sorcery, Jason would never have succeeded.
Colchis was no invention: it was the Greek name for these very shores, in what is now western Georgia. And the legend itself seems to have had a very down-to-earth explanation: for centuries, prospectors in the local mountains caught gold dust from rivers on outspread sheepskins. When pulled out of the stream, the fleece really did turn golden. Batumi stands on this very "golden coast" — a city whose name is traced to the Greek "bathys limen", meaning "deep harbour".
Today's Batumi happily plays along with its ancient legend: Medea raises her prize above the main square, the cable car is called Argo, and on the shore two steel lovers pass through one another every night. You will walk right through the city — from the old neighbourhoods, across Europe Square and onto the seafront boulevard — piecing the legend together as you go.
What to do: 1) Read the story and task at each stop. 2) Find the place on the map and walk over to it. 3) Look around and answer the question.
The route is a level walk of about three kilometres — no climbs, just the city and the sea. We start at Piazza Square in the Old Town, near Vakhtang Gorgasali Street. Let's go!
The route points in order — what these places are and why they are interesting. Tasks and answers stay inside the quest.
You are standing in a square you will not find on old maps: Piazza was only completed in 2010, to a design by architect Vazha Orbeladze, and immediately became one of the city's landmarks.
Incidentally, that pattern beneath your feet in Piazza is described as one of Europe's largest figurative stone artworks. Now head northwest towards Memed Abashidze Street, the Old Town's main street for a stroll.
Barely a hundred steps from the clock, you emerge into the open space of Europe Square: fountains, gingerbread façades, room to breathe — and high above it all, on a slender column, a bronze female figure. There she is, the heroine of the Colchian legend: Princess Medea.
The treasure in Medea's hand, incidentally, is not just bronze: it is covered in real gilding. Now it is time to head for the sea.
From the foot of Alphabet Tower, walk a little farther along the shore. Among the skyscrapers and attractions of Miracle Park, you will see a modest stone tower just 21 metres high.
Another couple of hundred metres along the sea brings you to Batumi's most famous couple. Two eight-metre steel figures, a man and a woman, stand at the water's edge.
From Ali and Nino, follow the shore towards the passenger port terminal. In a few minutes, an elegant 25-metre tower in an Eastern style, surrounded by pools, will appear to the left of the promenade.
An optional stop — and the most Argonaut-inspired one of all. From Chacha Tower, walk along the port to Gogebashvili Street, where the cable car named after that very ship begins: Argo.
This route is part of Metravel city quests. Below are the other quests in this city and cities with quests nearby.