The fortress sits at the western edge of town, where the plateau drops off toward the Paravani river. What remains is a low ring of basalt walls, gatehouse fragments, and the foundations of barracks — enough to walk through and imagine the place when it mattered, but not enough to draw a crowd.
It mattered a great deal in the 19th century. Built up by the Ottomans as a forward bastion of the eyalet of Childir, it was stormed by the Russian army in 1828 in one of the celebrated actions of the Russo-Turkish war. After the Russian conquest the fort served as a military base, and Soviet barracks were eventually built on the site. Most of those, in turn, have been pulled down. Bring sturdy shoes, expect to share the ruins with grazing cows, and check the angles for the best view of the surrounding plateau.