European city by the sea, Batumi, Georgia

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Jason and the Argonauts landed in Batumi (referred to as Colchis in antiquity) in search of the Golden Fleece. I did not travel by sea nor did I attain a Golden Fleece like Jason, but I did take a lot of pictures to share with you and I have some fresh ideas.

Friday Archil told me that the next day we were going to Batumi for the weekend. Batumi is one of the most western cities in Georgia, hugging the Black Sea coast and positioned on the Turkish border. When Archil and I had spoken a few years ago Batumi was still looked at as a port city to the slavik nations and the Middle East, but I can tell you a lot is happening in Batumi that you might find interesting. Let me explain.



Tbilisi is in eastern traditional Georiga. To get to Batumi we had to drive over 5 hours on some new roads built by the most recent government run by Saakishvilli, and some old soviet road.

Saturday morning we woke and headed to a science fair being hosted by Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. There must have been at least 80 white tents with different schools and groups showing how science is fun. One interesting remark I must make is how these younger generations are gaining exposure to different ideas in math, and science. This kind of idea and teaching seems to help them think about different ways to solve their own problems. I was told that someof the key backers of research around the city here are European. There was a presentation contest judged and sponsored by a German Gymnasium or Government entity, where a representative from the Germany Embassy in Tbilisi spoke. I know she was just a representative for the embassy, but her English was quite bland and verbiage rather disappointing. I would recommend she go see a English tutor. The other big sponsor was a Polish university. The market in the mall I wrote about is owned by the French. The European influence in Georgia seems to be growing.

In the middle of the science fair I was standing amongst a crowd of Georgians and out of no where this guy greets me. I learned that he had retired and moved abroad from the US a few years ago and worked for the US peace corp after retiring. He was from Kutaisi towards Batumi, but was very interested in teaching English to mid level speakers. It just so turned out that aArchil and I had this conversation about increasing the cultural exchange and especially helping more Georgians learn English by using more effective methodologies. John, Archil and I got into a fairly lively discussion and here is a picture from the conversation.

After talking to John and seeing the students combine various chemicals to produce various outcomes from huge bubbles, to sticks through balloons. something hit me and it was not sitting well from breakfast and I felt sick to my stomach. My amusement with a 6th grade baking soda volcano feigned quickly as I entered a new adventure - finding a public restroom in a foreign country. After two quick fails at asking for a bathroom from strangers I ran into Archil who assisted me when it is an unfortunate moment to be lost in translation. Upon entering he told me the restroom would not be "comfortable", but I didn't quite know how to interpret that. What he meant was there will be no toilet, just a hole in the ground and toilet paper is BYO-TP. Now I must say this happening was a rarity and most if not all places I visited have high quality facilities, but don't expect much, if anything, from the public restroom sector. After I exited the bathroom Archil and I went to get Turkish coffee and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I would go on to order it at almost every stop along the way to Batumi where we sat down to dine.





In the coffee shop, we met up with Salome, Archils wife, Luka, his 2 yr old son, and Archils Uncle Gia (Gi. Is the term for Giorgi in Georgia).

We exchanged cars and upgraded to at least an 8 cylinder, diesel run Toyota Land Cruiser. We loaded up on some Socar diesel (Azerbaijan oil company) and we were off. Archil had told me about his Uncle Gia before, but it had slipped my mind this was the same uncle Gia he spoke about. Gia had lived in Georgia all his life, and is most well known for his career in politics from the end of the 1980s to the early1990s ( I believe it was 1993) Gia was the representative from Georgia to Russia. We shared any stories over our 5 our drive. It seemed to pass quickly and the initial roadways out of Tbilisi were fairly new, but at a certain point the highway turned very narrow, two lanes with houses lining the roadway. Archil and Gia explained some of the old soviet planning models, and I have noticed as I travel there are three basic construction types you see now. One is the churches, monasteries and buildings from centuries ago, the other is the soviet apartment buildings and general purpose buildings, and the third is the Saakishvilli. Any time during our trip I noticed something new or nice I was informed it was built during the last decade when Saakishvilli was the President.

We stopped twice on our drive west once at the middle of Georgia and the second in Kutasi. As we passed through rural towns I learned about the way agriculture worked in Georgia. Certain towns were known for certain goods. Some towns in the west grew citrus and tropical fruit, while towns in the southwest were known for sugar cane, others for Apples, grapes, and Plums. The farming industry is so organic it is wonderful to enjoin and eat fresh and local. In Kutaisi we stopped at Bargardi Cathedral. It was recently renovated, but was destroyed back during the last time the Persians invaded hundreds of years ago.

Even though it was dark and had started to rain that night I could see light in the distance, and we cruised into Batumi. It turns out one of Gias colleagues owned a condo on the top floor of a new high rise in the city so we were invited to stay as guests. That night we ate at the McDonalds in Batumi, and I ordered a Royal with Cheese (had to go with the Pulp Fiction reference, Pat)..I took a picture of the view at night and in the morning. What a view!

In the morning we woke early got the car and drove south towards Turkey. Within minutes from the beach mountains stretched to the sky, with a humid tropical feel to the place we drove to the Turkish border. There were no coffee shops, so we bought energy drinks and drank them on the beach. After the last sip and a quick pic we returned to Batumi. Archil, Gia, and I took a ride on some brand new cable cars, labeled ARGO, to an outlook.



Here is a view of what we saw at night and during eh day.