Şavşat

Hikayemiz

Şavşat is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea region, between the cities of Artvin and Kars on the border with Georgia at the far eastern end of Turkey.GeographyLike most districts of Artvin this is a beautiful hilly area surrounded by high mountains on all sides, including the 3537m Karçkal mountains to the west, and watered by many mountain streams and pools. There are trout in the largest, Şavşat Karagöl lake and a number of mineral water springs. The area has a cold inland climate, somewhat tempered by being above the Black Sea coast, but at these altitudes winter lasts a long time; it snows from November to April. The mountains are covered with pine forest, with some broadleaf forest at lower elevations.In this landscape there is little agricultural land, no industry and the only real potential income is from tourism (people on trekking holidays), herding animals on the mountainside and beekeeping. There are some fruit trees (mainly pears and apples) and some potatoes are grown in the Çoruh River valley floor. Of the land area 13% can be planted while 27% is used for grazing, 42% is forest and 17% is high mountain.The town of Şavşat is small (population 7,325) and has few amenities.ClimateThe climate in Şavşat is a mild/cool summer subtype (Köppen: Dfb) of the humid continental climate.