Just for the sake of this park on the seashore it is worth coming to Georgia! We will tell you about our impressions and discoveries in the Batumi Botanical Garden. Find out how to get to the place, whether you can swim and how much tickets cost.
My husband and I traveled to different countries and saw real miracles of garden art in Europe and Asia, so at first we did not expect anything especially from the Batumi Botanical Garden. Miracles began as soon as we got off the minibus. There was only 200 m to the entrance, we walked and could not breathe.
Thanks to the sea breezes and the proximity of the mountains, the air in the city of Batumi is quite clean, but on Cape Verde, where the botanical garden is located, it is simply magical. The scent of pine needles and flowers is mixed with the smell of fresh grass. You breathe in deeply, close your eyes and feel happy!
The territory of the Batumi Botanical Garden is large, hilly, you can't go around in a day. If this is your first time here, follow the Main Road signs. Quite wide asphalt paths are laid through the entire park, along which electric cars with tourists pass from time to time. Side paths and stairs are narrower, steeper and sometimes overgrown.
We liked that the Batumi Botanical Garden has information stands about each part of the park and signs on trees and bushes in Latin, English, Georgian and Russian. And if you want to look into the distance, use your binoculars!
Plants from a certain part of the world have been planted in every corner of the Batumi Botanical Garden. From North America you can easily travel to Australia and New Zealand, and from there to East Asia, the Himalayas and the Mediterranean.
Batumi is only 9 km away, so from the slopes here and there beautiful views of the port of the city and the bay open up.
We saw so many new plants that we felt like real botanical laymen. In the Botanical Garden of Batumi, my dream came true to touch a sequoia! Of course, such giant trees as in North America do not grow on the Black Sea coast, but Georgian sequoias are impressive. We counted a dozen trees 100-150 years old.
A feature of the Botanical Garden in Batumi is the Black Sea. Walking along the paths, you will constantly hear the sound of the surf and will be able to admire the coast from the observation platforms.
It is convenient to swim on the "Green Cape" beach from the south of the garden and on the beach, which is located at the northern end of the park, near Chakvi. There is also a small secluded beach in the center of the park, but you will have to go down to it along a steep path! We didn’t risk it.
The history of the Botanical Garden began in 1881. Many people took part in the creation of the luxurious plantings - patrons, experienced gardeners, biologists and students. Several old buildings and greenhouses have been preserved on the territory. The house of the geographer and traveler Pavel Tatarnikov, which was built at the beginning of the last century, looks best. Now the two-story mansion is occupied by the administration of the garden.
Georgians are religious people, so a cross was erected in the Botanical Garden in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called. Nearby is a tiny wooden house where the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, stayed. We learned about this when we read the text on a small tablet. A small house resembles an unprepossessing dacha, without any amenities. Probably, the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia did not care where to live in the Garden of Eden!
There are plenty of animals and birds in the Botanical Garden, but they try to stay away from tourists. Once a fast weasel crossed the road in front of us, and in the dense grass of the ravine we saw a black snake. Park rangers say that sometimes deer enter the park from the mountains.
If you enjoy bird watching, take the side path and get away from the main path. In the thicket of the forest, birds are calmer and more trusting. We saw thrushes, goldfinches, redstarts, tits, hoopoes and wagtails in tree crowns and on paths.
In the small ponds of the mirrored Japanese Garden, goldfish are found, and beautiful lizards bask in the sunny meadows and stones.
Check out the stylish landscaped area near the New Zealand section. Here, on the leaves of nymphs in a small pond, beautiful frogs sit decorously.
