Abastumani

Abastumani is a small mountain resort at about 1,340 m in a pine-forested gorge, 28 km west of Akhaltsikhe. In the late 19th century it was a fashionable health resort, prized for its dry mountain air, sunshine and hot springs, which were used to treat tuberculosis. Its best-known resident was Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, brother of the last Tsar, who lived here for his health. Today it is a quiet place of old wooden villas and forest walks, far less visited than Borjomi.

Two sights make the trip worthwhile. Above the town, on Mount Kanobili at about 1,650 m, is the Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory, founded in 1932, which has a small museum and runs observation sessions for visitors; a cable car has linked it with the town since 1959, so check whether it is running. In town, the church of St Alexander Nevsky, a copy of the medieval church at Zarzma built in 1899-1902, has interior paintings by the Russian artist Mikhail Nesterov.

Abastumani's hot springs were used for centuries, but the area was largely abandoned under Ottoman rule in the 16th century. After Russia took the region, a short-lived German colony was founded here in 1842, and Russian settlers followed in the 1850s under Viceroy Mikhail Vorontsov. The resort grew around Grand Duke George Alexandrovich (1871-1899), who commissioned the Alexander Nevsky church from architect Otto Simons. The astronomer Evgeni Kharadze founded the observatory in 1932.