The spa town of the Romanovs — mineral springs bottled for Tsars, a national park of Borjomi-Kharagauli pine forests, and mtsvadi lamb on skewers over vine wood
Borjomi is a small spa town in the Borjomi Gorge — a narrow canyon in the Trialeti range where highly mineralised carbonated water emerges from the earth at around 38°C, with a flavour strong enough that first-time visitors often react with surprise. The water has been bottled commercially since 1894 and Borjomi mineral water became one of the most recognised brands in the Soviet Union (still widely sold across the former Soviet sphere). The town was a favourite retreat of the Romanov imperial family, who built a summer palace here; the surrounding Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (850 km² of…
Borjomi's mineral springs were known to local people long before their commercial exploitation, but the town effectively dates to 1829 when Russian military forces stationed in the gorge during the Russian-Turkish war discovered the springs. Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, the Governor-General of the Caucasus, visited in 1841 and established the springs as a resort; Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich (son of Tsar Nicholas I) built a summer residence here in 1892 and brought imperial patronage. Commercial bottling began in 1894 and grew into a major regional industry. The Soviet government continued the…