Sukhumi

Understand

First settlement was founded here in the second and early first millennia BC by local Colchian tribes. Later in the mid-6th century BC it was replaced by the Milesian Greek colony of Dioscurias. It remained one of the Roman (and later Byzantine) strongholds in Caucasus up until being sacked by the Arabs in 736. Afterwards restored and flourished during the reigns of Abkhazian and Georgian kingdoms in the 12th–13th centuries. However, it fell to the Turks about 1570, when they built new fort here. In the late 18th century it became a capital of independent Abkhaz kingdom. Short after that in 1810 Abkhaz kingdom signed a treaty with Russian Empire to become part of it. Sukhum was a centre of the 1992–1993 Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, and thereafter was severely damaged, and the local ethnic Georgian community was ethnically cleansed from the city.

Get in

If you enter Abkhazia with a travel permit issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, you'll need to visit Sukhum, as this is the place where (if you require a visa) you will have to exchange your permit for a proper visa. The consular service is located at the ground floor of the Ministry of Repatriation on ul. Sacharova 33 (from 09:00, lunchbreak from 12:00). Visit the consulate first to establish if payment is required (e.g. for UK nationals the entry permit may be sufficient). If required, then pay your visa fee ($10 for 10 days) at Sberbank, Lakoba Ave. (opposite no. 37, 09:00-17:00) before returning to the consulate as you will need the receipt in order to obtain the visa.

Get around

Most can easily be done on foot; bookshops sell quite decent maps.

Frequent marshrutkas and lesser frequent trolleybuses ply the roads. To get to the bus/train station ("voksal") take any marshrutka/trolleybus going to the central market and then board trolleybus #1 or #3.

There are three trolleybus routes: №1 Central Market ("rynok") - Noviy rayon. Via train station. №2 Central Market ("rynok") - Kashtak. Via city center and then further southward along city coast line. №3 Central Market ("rynok") - Zheleznodorozhniy Posyolok. Via train station

See

thumbnail|Observation deck thumbnail|Cathedral of the Annunciation

Although some of the major sights of the city were destroyed by the war, Sukhum's principal attraction remained intact: an almost tropical climate with beaches, mountains, lakes, palm trees and of course the warm welcoming of locals, always mixed with a curiosity towards westerners. Russian tourists invade the seaside during the summer; the influx of new money permitted the reconstruction of the main sites, and progress, albeit slow, is visible everywhere.