Blogs from Batumi, Adjara, Georgia, Asia
October 8th 2010
The driver of the minivan came to the train station wait area to tell us he is now boarding for Batumi, we waited half hour and off the van went, rain is still going and the roads are slippery but did not stop the driver from driving like a race car driver even in turns he does not slow down, prompting the women in the van to tell him to slow down, we stopped in one town for 15 minutes so the men can smoke and scratch their ba@#s maybe, no new passenger got on so we dont understand why we waited long. It was early eve when we arrived in Batumi, a bit disoriented we pulled out the LP and found the street we are on and eventually got to the hotel of our choice, ... read more
August 15th 2009
After a long time with no views of the sea, unless you count the Caspian of course but that's really a lake (!), Batumi was a breath of sea-breeze fresh air. It's just a shame about the hotel we chose. If you choose the cheapest room in a hotel, it's usually the cheapest room for a reason, and we paid up front for 2 nights!! It was stuffy, damp (our hand-washed clothes didn't dry in almost 2 days!), noisy (overlooking the courtyard which is used as a car park and backgammon room for the owners) and smoky because the window didn't close properly so anyone smoking in the courtyard was polluting our musky air!! We are sure if we had chosen a different room at the Hotel Iliko, and paid more, our view might have been ... read more
May 31st 2009
As spring arrived once more I felt an urge to be on the green mountains of the Black Sea. I always feel spring is the best time to be in the nature while everthing is awakening and water is coming out of every hole it finds out. So as we were in the end end of May this was the right time. The begining of my trip would be from Batumi (simply Batum in Turkish) where I would stay for two days then cross back the border and reach the Macahel region of Artvin province which is located just across the Georgian border. It was actually my second time in Batum. This region is where the origins of my grandmother and many millions of people in Turkey come from. Batum and territory around it is an ... read more
April 5th 2007
It took us total of about 2 hours to get through Turkish border at Sarpi eventually we made it to Georgia but the truck was stuck in traffic, and perhaps bureaucracy, so after hanging around on the Georgian side we were bussed to the hotel in Batumi and hoping Claire and Toni make it out soon, Jess though taking a taxi with Claire to the border caught up with us so we are all complete again. The truck came out of customs 4 hours later.We made our way to a restaurant the shape of a boat, like a Noah's ark actually. We sampled some local cuisine, good entertainment apart from the fat guy singing Georgian songs one decibel too loud for our liking, it was odd we noticed two bodyguards standing next to the singer ... read more
