from Kutaissi to Batumi - Caucasian summer 2024 - 9
from Yerevan to Goris including visits to Chor Virap and Noravank
excursions to Chndsoresk and Tatev
from Goris to Sewan
from Sewan via Dilijan to Haghpat
from Haghpat in Armenia to Tbilisi in Georgia
Tbilisi and back home
24.07.2024 - from Kutaissi to Batumi
This morning, I wake up from a thunderstorm passing by. The weather today should be a mixture of sun and rain. And indeed, when we leave it's sunny and 25° C.
We start late at 9 a.m. as we only have a 3-hour drive ahead of us and it is probably too early to check in anyway.
Starting later is not recommended by the driver as the traffic jam in front of Batumi is building up the later it gets. That means that an additional stop in Tsalktubo is also not an option.
The drive to Batumi [↗] is quite boring on highways or well-developed roads. The landscape is green, but nothing special either. When we arrive at the Black Sea, it starts to rain.
We reach the traffic jam at 11:30am, but that doesn't matter. We are far too early to check in and the weather is only slowly improving.
But then a sudden change of plan. The driver called the hotel, and it would be hours before the rooms were ready. So, he drives us to a large parking lot near the promenade and we now have 2.5 hours to see the city.
The rain stops a couple of minutes later and we zigzag through this part of town. Of course, the weather is still very dull, and I might delete all pictures afterward (note: they turned out to be not that bad). On the other hand, the weather forecast is still so-so and depending on the app, it may or may not rain in the evening.
I walk with a small group, see the most important sights, and have a drink in the so-called piazza before we return to the bus.
Batumi is a wild mix of old buildings, ugly concrete blocks from the 1960s, and hyper-modern buildings that often have a special touch, such as a Ferris wheel built into the facade of Georgia's tallest building. Some like it, some don't - but it's interesting in any case. Only the traffic is worse than even in Tbilisi.
Our hotel is quite far from the interesting places of Batumi, even though the area seems to be the main new development area with many high-rise buildings and hotels under construction. Most of the rooms are ready and I'm lucky that mine is one of them. The plan is to stay here until 6pm or so and then slowly walk back to where we've been to get some blue hour shots.
3 hours later, 10 to 6pm, I'm ready to leave. The weather forecast still doesn't know what to expect - maybe nice, maybe a thunderstorm. But at the moment it's dry, even if there are a few dark clouds.
It takes me 20 minutes to reach the promenade. It's one of the most beautiful I've seen so far. You can walk through an avenue of large trees, ride a bike or an electric car, which you can hire here, or simply stroll along the beach - all on different paths, one next to the other. So, the promenade is 20 or 30 meters wide. There are places to play beach-volleyball, entertainment stands for the kids, and stalls where you can buy ice cream or something to drink.
I walk all the way down to the Ferris wheel and the statues of Ali and Nino [↗], taking pictures here and there. In the meantime, the dark clouds have cleared and it's nice weather, although quite humid.
I return to some of the places we've been at lunchtime, but as it's still too early for sunset and all the lights I'm waiting for are still out, I return to the piazza where we went for a beer 6 hours ago. Now there's a band playing American classics from the 80's. Ok, not exclusively American, "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions was on their song list as well. Nice. Unfortunately, slowly, but surely, I have to leave if I don't want to miss the blue hour light.
My first stop is the wedding chapel, a futuristic-looking building with a beautiful reflection in the pond around it. But before I can start taking photos, I first have to pet a dog begging for attention.
Just behind it is one of at least two dancing fountains. Nice, but not on the level of Las Vegas or similar. Mainly because the movement doesn't match the music.
I go back to the statues of Ali and Nino and the Ferris wheel and, as blue hour is now definitely over, I make my long walk back to the hotel. On the way I pass the stadium, where the local soccer club has a match in the Conference League qualifiers against a team from Montenegro (they lost 0:2).
