Phazisoba in Georgia: dates, meaning and how to experience it

By Mariam Lomidze, GTour desk · Fact-checked against the sources listed · Last checked 25 October 2026 · Editorial policy

What it is

Phazisoba (ფაზისობა) is the municipal holiday — “city day” — of Poti, the Black Sea port in the Samegrelo region of western Georgia. The name derives from “Phasis” (ფაზისი), the Greek name for the ancient settlement at the mouth of the Rioni river and for the river itself, which Greek geographers treated as a notional edge of the known world. The suffix “-oba” is the same one used for other Georgian civic and religious festival names — Tbilisoba for Tbilisi‘s city day, Mariamoba for the feast of the Dormition — and simply means “the day of” or “the festival of.”

Phazisoba is celebrated chiefly by the residents of Poti and the wider Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, with visiting guests from across Georgia and abroad. It is a municipal rather than a church festival, organised by Poti City Hall rather than the Patriarchate, and it belongs to the same post-Soviet family of urban celebrations — alongside Batumoba in Batumi and Kutaisoba in Kutaisi — through which Georgian cities reclaimed and re-staged local identity after 1991.

Historical background

• 6th century BC — Greek colonists, traditionally associated with Miletus, establish a trading settlement near the mouth of the Phasis (Rioni) river in ancient Colchis.
• 5th–1st centuries BC — Phasis develops into a major Black Sea emporium, described by Greek and Roman authors including Strabo, and figures in the Argonautica as the destination of Jason’s voyage for the Golden Fleece, ruled by the mythical King Aeëtes; see Britannica on Colchis.
• Byzantine era — Phasis is attested, according to Byzantine ecclesiastical records, as the seat of a bishopric on the eastern Black Sea coast.
• 16th–18th centuries — An Ottoman fortress known as Faş stands at the river mouth, controlling trade and the slave route out of western Georgia.
• 1829 — Following the Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Adrianople transfers the eastern Black Sea coast, including Poti, from Ottoman to Russian imperial control.
• 19th century — Poti is declared a free port (porto franco) by the Russian imperial administration, spurring its growth as a commercial harbour.
• 1872 — Georgia’s first railway line opens between Poti and Tbilisi, built to move Caucasus trade through the port; see Georgian Railway.
• 1918–1921 — Poti serves as a principal port of the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia.
• 1992 — With Georgia newly independent, Poti’s municipal authorities institute Phazisoba, a city day fixed to the last weekend of October and named for ancient Phasis.

Poti’s long identity as a gateway city — Greek emporium, Ottoman garrison, Russian free port, Soviet industrial harbour, and now a port of independent Georgia — gives Phazisoba its particular civic flavour. Unlike feast days tied to a saint or a church council, the festival commemorates a place and a continuity of trade, migration and myth stretching back to the Argonauts rather than a single sacred event, which is why organisers lean so heavily on the ancient name rather than on any patron saint.

The timing on the cusp of November also situates Phazisoba within the cluster of Georgian city days that followed the restoration of independence, when municipalities across the country revived or invented public festivals — fairs, concerts, processions — to rebuild local pride and civic life after decades of centralised Soviet administration. Poti’s version draws explicitly on Colchian and Greek antiquity in a way that Tbilisoba, with its emphasis on multi-ethnic urban life, or Batumoba, with its Adjarian Black Sea identity, do not.

Meaning and traditions

Phazisoba follows the familiar shape of a Georgian city day: a weekend of open-air concerts, folk and dance performances, craft and food fairs, sporting competitions, exhibitions on local history, and fireworks over the harbour. As a port city, Poti’s programme typically gives prominence to maritime elements — displays by the port authority and fishing fleet, boat processions on the Rioni, and events on the seaside boulevard — that distinguish it from inland city days.

Food stalls serve Megrelian (Samegrelo) specialities rather than a generic Georgian menu: elarji (a cornmeal and cheese dish beaten until elastic), gebzhalia (fresh cheese rolls in minted yoghurt), megruli khachapuri (cheese bread topped with extra cheese), and satsivi, the walnut sauce used with poultry at festive tables throughout western Georgia. Musical performances often draw on Megrelian polyphonic singing, part of the broader tradition of Georgian polyphonic singing inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; see UNESCO ICH, Georgian polyphonic singing. Local people refer to the celebration simply as “k’alak’is dghe,” the city’s day, when speaking generally, reserving “Phazisoba” for the festival’s own name and branding.

Because the holiday is young and municipally organised rather than scripted by church or ancient custom, its exact programme varies from year to year according to City Hall’s budget and priorities — a point visitors should keep in mind when planning around it.

When it happens

Phazisoba is fixed to the last weekend of October rather than to a specific calendar date, a pattern organisers have followed since 1992. In 2026 it is expected on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, and the equivalent weekend in 2027 would fall on 30–31 October — but as a locally organised festival rather than a dated religious feast, the exact programme and sometimes the exact days are confirmed only shortly beforehand by Poti City Hall, and travellers should verify locally or with the municipality before booking around it.

Phazisoba is not a national public holiday in Georgia; government offices, banks and transport across the rest of the country operate normally. Within Poti itself, the city centre, port-adjacent streets and seaside boulevard are typically closed to traffic for performances and stalls, and some municipal offices may keep adjusted hours during the festival weekend, but shops and services in the city generally remain open.

Where to experience it

The centre of activity is Poti’s seaside boulevard and central square, where the main stage, food stalls and craft vendors are set up, along with the area around the old Poti lighthouse and the port. Evening concerts and the closing fireworks are usually staged near the waterfront, giving a clear view of the harbour that has defined the city since antiquity. Visitors interested in the deeper landscape behind the festival’s name can combine a visit with the wetlands of Kolkheti National Park just outside the city, a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance; see Ramsar Convention.

As with any Georgian public gathering, modest dress is appropriate if entering a church during the visit, and shoes should be removed only where locally indicated; photographing performers and stallholders is generally welcomed but, as courtesy, best asked for first. Poti is a working port and a modest-sized town rather than a resort, so the atmosphere is informal and family-oriented rather than touristic.

Did you know

• Ancient Phasis, Poti’s predecessor, was linked by Greek myth to Jason and the Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece, with the Phasis river marking the edge of the known world for ancient geographers.
• Georgia’s first railway line, opened in 1872, ran between Poti and Tbilisi, built specifically to carry Caucasus trade through the Black Sea port.
• The wetlands surrounding Poti form part of Kolkheti National Park, recognised under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance.
• Poti held “porto franco,” free-port status, under the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, a key reason for its rapid growth as a trading town.
• Megrelian polyphonic singing, often heard at Phazisoba, belongs to the wider Georgian polyphonic singing tradition inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Practical tips for visitors

Poti lies on Georgia’s western railway and highway corridor; the nearest airport is Kutaisi, roughly an hour to ninety minutes away by road, with Tbilisi a further four to five hours east. Late October on the Black Sea coast is mild but prone to rain, so waterproof clothing is more useful than warm layers. Hotel capacity in Poti is limited

Sources

• Poti, Georgia – population and administrative data
• Law of Georgia on Local Self-Government Code
• Government of Georgia – structure of local self-governments
• Poti City Hall announcements
• Georgia Today – Poti coverage
• Civil.ge – Poti news archive