Gagra

Gagra (gä`grə) or Gagry (gä`grē), city (1989 pop. 26,636), W Georgia, on the Black Sea and at the foot of the Greater Caucasus. It is a subtropical health resort.

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Gagra 

a city (since 1933), center of Gagra Raion, Abkhazian ASSR. Seaside climate health resort. Located on the Novorossiisk-Batumi Black Sea Highway. A port on the Black Sea. Has a railroad station 80 km northwest of Sukhumi. Population, 23,000 (1970).

Gagra occupies a narrow coastal belt and the slopes of the Gagra Range, which are covered with thick forests. The summers are very warm (average August temperature of 23° C), and the winters are mild (average January temperature of 6° C); precipitation ranges up to 1,400 mm a year. Methods of medical treatment include air-sun and sea therapy, as well as baths using hydrogen sulfide water; this water is similar in composition to that of Matsesta, near Sochi. Patients with respiratory diseases (of nontubercular origin), circulatory diseases, and nervous diseases are treated in Gagra. The city has sanatoriums, balneological treatment centers, rest homes, and boardinghouses; there is also a tourist center. The season lasts the whole year round, and swimming extends from May through October. Along the coast of the Black Sea stretches a beautiful seafront and park (about 14 sq km in area) with ponds and rich subtropical vegetation. Gagra has picturesque environs (the gorges of the Zhvava-Kvara and Tsikherva rivers), and to the south of the city is located the new health resort of Pitsunda. The industry of Gagra is mainly connected with services to the health resort; it includes a meat-packing complex, a dairy, a winery, and a fish-processing plant, among others.

REFERENCES

Sikharulidze, V. N. Gagra. Tbilisi, 1967.
Pachulia, V. Po drevnei, no vechno molodoi Abkhazii. Sukhumi, 1969.