Blogs from Georgia, Asia - page 8

We left the mountains for a long drive to Batumi. Situated on the Black Sea coast, Batumi is 20km from the Turkish border and is Georgia’s 2nd largest city. We arrived in the late afternoon, and one of the first things I noticed was the number of casino's in town. Later, someone told me Batumi is the ‘Las Vegas' of Georgia. We went for a hunt for some real coffee as soon as we got there, and had a mediocre cappuccino (but we did find a cute kitty cat). We had dinner with half our group at a fantastic restaurant on the water – the sunset was nice shade of pink and, randomly, fireworks started in the evening. It was a nice introduction to Batumi. The next day, our Intrepid guide Tamta did a city tour ... read more

We departed Sheki for the Georgian border early on Sunday morning (which happened to be Bill's birthday!) Our leader Balash was a very good leader, shook all our hands individually and left us at the Azerbaijani- Georgian border where its approximatley a 700m walk to Georgia. We met our new leader, Tamari, on the Georgian side and were taken go our homemade lunch in the Kakheti region (which happens to be wine region). We feasted on delicious Geogian food and sampled homemade chacha, a vodka-type spirit made from grape skins. Afterward we visited a traditional winery where the wine is produced using the traditional methods of fermenting the wine underground in claypots, the wine prodded with a rake type implement and skins, stems and all thrown in which gives the white wine an amber colour. The ... read more

V noci riadne prsalo t.j. moje cerstvo oprate ponozky sa cez noc nevysusili ale este viac sa namokrili. Osadenstvo z ubytka odchadza. Ang chalan sam, cinan spolu s ukrajinkou (?) Do batumi. Ja nakonec nejdem na daytrip do druheho mesta ale zostavam tu. Presun do parku, tu do seba hodene ranajky (pecivo plnene fazulou) a len sedenie na lavicke a sledovanie ludi. Zvacsa samy dochodci. Ti len sedeli a debatovali. Pri nefunkcnej lanovke kupena pohladnica pre anu, s ktorou vcera pred spankom zaujmavy pokec ale i tak z toho nist nebude. Pohladnicu tentoraz posielam z mini posty. Tu si treba vytlacit listok s poradovym cislom Bohuzial celu prevadzku zabrzdili dvaja chlapici co mali nestandartnu poziadavku (chceli daky vypis). Situacia rovnaka ako u nas na dedinach, postarka bola v koncoch. Druha to radsej vzdala a sla asi ... read more

Pomale vymotanie sa z ubytka a opat rovnaky smer ako vcera len s tym, ze dnes otestujem blizsiu plaz v kvariati. Ranajky volim sladke, pri katedrale v cukrarni si davam zakusok a kapucino. To slabucke. Vonku cakacka na marsutku c.88 resp c.33. Druha menovana prisla skorej. Cul sa mi isol flek na sedenie. Cesta ubehla rychlo. Vacsina minibusov ma vypisany aj cennik, tak zadne ojeby ako v skurvenom irane. Vyskakujem pri hoteloch, cez jeden sa dostavam na kamenistu plaz. V porovnani so sarpi omnoho viac ludi ale oproti batumi to je nic. Berem predrazene lehatko aj so slnecnikom za 10l, v sarpi za 8l. Vcera som sa trosku pripiekol. Plavanie a nic nerobenie. Oproti sarpi je tu viac rodiniek a menej dievociek. Zrejme aj kvoli kopcu hotelikov a apartmanov. Na obed idem do restiky neptun co ... read more

On my last day, I woke up fairly early, though breakfast here does not start until 9. My friend had told me that things don't start until later here, and it was funny to note the truth of that. So, I took a shower, packed and right at 9 I walked down for breakfast, eating my favorite dish of chicken with cream sauce (I asked what the name of this was, and the girl looked at me like I was crazy. Chicken with cream sauce) and soaking it with bread. Then I went upstairs to finish packing and decided to check out. I brought my luggage downstairs, then started to walk to the Ikalto Monastery close by just before 11am. Soso said he would pick me up at 1pm to take me to Tbilisi, basically for ... read more