From the Greater Caucasus we travelled to the Black Sea.

Joseph was keen to hear some good music during the Black Sea Jazz Festival but due to our fluid, i.e. always changing, plans by the time we got around to booking all of the performances were sold out. But we wanted to check out Batumi anyway and get a taste of the Black Sea.

Batumi is Georgia’s primary sea resort but it was never intended to be. For much of its history it has been an important shipping port, while Georgia’s fun in the sun at the beach locations lay further north. But since 1993, Russia has occupied the breakaway republic of Abkhazia and Georgia has had to shift its seaside fun to Batumi.

Batumi is a semi-tropical city bursting with tourists from Central Asia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Eastern Europe who come for the casinos or relaxed beach life. We found charming little squares with cobblestone streets and some rather tacky modern architecture and sculptures.

One of the more interesting buildings in fact was a combined McDonalds/petrol station designed by a Harvard-educated young Georgian architect. The restaurant features 460 glass panels and is surrounded by a reflecting pool. Joe and I took a stroll inside and whereas the design stunned us, Joseph summed up that it still served the same old fast food crap you’d find anywhere.

We had a day to kill and it was much too hot and humid in Batumi so Kaxa drove us up into the Lesser Caucasus. We found a mountain stream away from the hordes of tourists and spent the afternoon swimming in the river and sleeping on the shore. 

We celebrated Hans’s belated 61st birthday and Joe’s upcoming 20th birthday with a splendid fish dinner and then set out for a late night sultry stroll along Batumi’s very lively boardwalk along the Black Sea.