We are leaving Turkey after a really good and intense time there. Not only the places, archeological sites or cities but first of all the enormous hospitality of the people will remain in our minds as a great impression. It’s habited in their culture … It’s so worthful and we hope that it will stay.
In Sarpi we are crossing the border to Georgia 🇬🇪. Easy border crossing and we pay the fine of around 50 Euro, because the truck was about 3 weeks too long in Turkey. So it’s no reason to panic when the car stays longer than 90 days in Turkey.
Our first destination is Batumi, just a few kilometers behind the border.
We wake up with a bright blue sky at the beach side and a glimp on the snow capped mountains of the lesser Caucasus. After a run and sport in the morning we explore the city. And ja… we didn’t expect such a surprising modern browsing city: Batumi is the second-largest city of Georgia (180.000 inhabitants) and located on the coast of the Black Sea in a subtropical zone in Georgia’s southwest. The last years it turned into the tourism paradise and the best holiday place in Georgia.
Sure we walk the 6 km long Batumi-boulevard all along the glittering beach of Batumi.
Casinos in high-class luxury hotels, trading centres with pools, yacht-club, arts and entertainment for children is being built. The historical part of the city has turned to the area of boutiques, designer shops, bars, tea and coffee houses and young fancy people.
The architecture of Batumi is the combination of European and Asian/Oriental styles. Around every corner we get surprised by buildings with elements of Georgian, Turkish, Imperial Russian, Soviet, English, French and colonial architectures influenced in its history.
Two elevators bring us up on the “Alphabetical Tower” from where we have a wonderful 360-view over the city and the beach. The tower looks like a spiral of human DNA. The letters of the Georgian alphabet were put on this spiral. In the design lays the idea that the alphabet is the DNA of the nation.
We fall in love with the moving love statue of Ali and Nino that was created in 2010 and represents a symbol of love, despite nationality or belief.
Also in Batumi we see, meet and talk with a lot of Russians … some of them with anti-war shirts or messages. Since the war in Ukrainien Russians were leaving massale the country. Most of them bringing a lot of money that increased prices for housing and food enormous – for locals almost not affordable anymore. The economic situation in Georgia is so different (the same we heard in some places in Turkey).
In front of the town-hall, the local government-building people are protesting. They want the government of Georgia turn to an pro-Ukraine politic. It’s our first day in Georgia- we first have to read and get more information about the country, about the relationship with the neighbor countries, it’s history and economic situation. The only way to find out is to talk and ask as much as possible – thanks to our translation app and some english-speaking locals. We can’t read or recognize anything of this language yet.
