Adjaran Village Festival Draws Crowds in Batumi

In late October, Batumi residents and tourists were given a great opportunity to discover the charm of the Adjaran villages, rich cuisine, ancient traditions and gorgeous folklore in Europe Square, Batumi, at the Rural Tourism Festival organized by the Department of Tourism and Resorts to mark Rural Tourism Day (October 28).

The Festival’s official name was “Gandagana,” the name of the famous and beloved Adjaran folk dance.

Special festival decorations during the festival featured picturesque characteristics of typical Adjaran villages.

The Festival included a combination of rural tourism, eco and wine tourism, each of which had its own “corner” arranged in the open air, at which the municipalities of the region presented local, traditional cuisine, samples of sweets, cheese, souvenirs and local handcrafts.

The highlight of the festival was the 150-year-old granary exhibited in the center of Europe Square.

Guests got to join in the folk-music show, weaving of wool, tobacco cutting, and culinary master classes and various competitions. They were also able to taste local wine and see the Chacha-making process.

The Gandagana Festival was held for the second time this year, generating an enormous amount of interest as well as having a positive economic impact on participating villagers, since they were able to sell the goods they exhibited. One of the cheese sellers said, he sold 700kg cheese throughout the day.

Chairman Zura Pataradze attended festival with his family.

“I am happy to see such a good turnout at this year’s festival. Rural development is one of the government’s priorities. We have planned a lot of interesting projects in the high mountainous areas. Our government continues to support the villagers to develop rural tourism,” he said.

Mariko Natsarishvili