Description of the attraction
There are a large number of historical monuments in Gagra, which vividly reflect events from the history of this region that took place over many centuries. The main ones are: the fortress of Abaat IV-V, or rather its ruins, the temple of the VI century, the ruins of the Bestuzhev-Marlinsky tower in 1841, the Gagra colonnade in 1951 and the palace of the Prince of Oldenburg. However, among them, the interesting natural gorge of the Tsikherva River also deserves special attention. "Tsikherva" in translation from the Abkhaz language means "Dried Spring". Tsikherva gorge is a natural border between Staraya and Novaya Gagra.
The beginning of the gorge is very poor in vegetation and is just a bare crevice in the mountains. At the same time, the attention of tourists can be attracted by the old building of the former secondary school №2, which became famous thanks to its graduates - the heroes of the Soviet Union. M Bastanjyan, R. Bartsits, V. Popkov and A. Maltsev studied at this school. Today, the school houses a historical museum of military glory, which houses a huge number of interesting exhibits that have a direct connection with the participants of the Second World War, who were originally from Gagra and the Gagra region.
In the depths of the Tsikherva gorge, there is the Evpatiya (Euphrates) cave, which is a stone "building" consisting of two small rooms. It was named after the monk Euphrates, who lived here at the end of the second half of the 19th century. Abkhaz believers greatly revered the monk. Back in 527, by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I Augustus, the Euphrates spread Christianity in Abkhazia.
Near the cave of Evpatia (Euphrates) there is a road that leads deep into the Tsikherva gorge to a waterfall, behind which a stalactite cave is hidden. It is here that the poor vegetation changes dramatically to the vegetation of the alpine and subalpine zones.
Some sections of the Tsikherva river gorge are equipped with special viewing platforms, from where an amazing panorama of Gagra, Pitsunda, the Bzyb river valley and the Mussera river opens.
