I took a taxi to Dudube metro station for GEL4 (about NZD3) this morning. It seemed crazy that it cost only GEL4 when the taxi to my nearest metro station was GEL3 and I’d then need the hassles of using the metro. Even better, the taxi dropped me at the correct part of Dudube station which is mostrously huge and complicated with many sections for all the different destinations.
The mashrutka (van) filled and left pretty quickly with me in the best seat by the door. We were going at breakneck speeds on the motorway for a couple of hours before we had a lunch/snack stop. From there on, instead of the high speed, we had high-risk overtaking manouvres. In Armenia, they think Georgian drivers are mad. I’m quite inclined to agree.
We had a rest stop just before noon. I realise now that rural Georgian toilets are like the one in rural China, ie squat with partitions with no doors. Need to bring your own door in the form of an umbrella!
About 6 hours after we started, we reached the Black Sea Coast where there were lots of holidaymakers (walking, sitting under trees, cycling and swimming). Men in shorts! That’s something rarely seen in Georgia. There were lots of skin being shown; men with no shirts and women in bikinis.
It was another 30 minutes to the centre of Batumi. I had to take a taxi to the hostel because it was too hot and humid to try navigate the otherwise walkable distance. The Batumi Hostel appeared more like an apartment with dorms in the the upper living room and their own bedroom rented out (which was my room).
I had enough time and energy to go for a walk around the city and grab some dinner on the boulevard. It is a very civilised and pleasant place for people to come for a first world feel. It is not so glitzy in the backstreets of the old town but it is still pretty tidy. It has quite a few casinos to complement the beach life. Judging from the car number plates and languages being spoken, the city attracts a good mix of people from Russia, Belarus, Turkey, Saudi and Iran.
I think did the sights of Batumi too quickly so tomorrow will be a quiet day!
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- On Europe Square.
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- Interesting-looking building.
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- Alphabet Tower celebrates the Georgian alphabet.
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- Batumi’s boulevard.
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- Batumi’s bouulevard is seemingly endless.
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- Batumi Pier.
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- Batumi beach.
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- Batumi beach.
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- Batumi beach with the flash developments in the background.
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- Batumi Piazza’s clock tower.
