Batumi Georgia

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 – Batumi Georgia
How fortunate we are to have these ports with such wonderful weather!! The Black Sea ports were the ones we were the most excited about visiting and so far we are being blessed with wonderful weather!!

Arrived to Batumi, Georgia, by 8:00. The mountains in the distance are massive and jagged peaks and lots of snow on them. It is a majestic sight. And then to see the snow-covered mountains and steep slopes leading down to the palm trees and marina….where else in the world can you see the snow and beach in one glance?

The sun was coming up from the east over the mountains as we headed straight in to the port of Batumi. The police were all over the ship, checking our documentation, and cleared us to disembark. We are only the third ship EVER for this port so it is all rather new to them.

Gene and I ran off to see what we could see in ½ hour and were our eyes opened. The streets are not paved and have massive pot holes filled with water and no curbing. We were shocked. It looked war-ravaged, which in fact it might be – but we found out later they are installing a new water system in the city. But why would you disrupt the ENTIRE city (except the high rent district) with such a disruption? Deep puddles all over and corrugated roofing on the side of some of the homes.

Found the local baker delivering his fresh bread so of course I could not resist. It was only 8:20 AM and I knew it was fresh….we popped in to a nice café and the pastries looked delicious. I gave her a dollar (their currency is the lari and the rate is 1.7 to the dollar) and she immediately picked up a muffin. How did she know I wanted that one??? Then I realized it was for someone else – so she gave me “Lari” in exchange for my dollar and I choose my pastry. Delicious! And about $0.30.

Ran back to the ship and I was on the tour “City Highlights and Home Visit” and it was one of the best tours I have ever taken. Diana was our guide – who started out shy at first and then she really blossomed. She is studying to be an attorney –and she told us that marrying age girls are “kidnapped” by someone who wants to marry them, are held for one-two weeks without any notice to their family and then they are married. Her brother was protecting her from this happening to her and she is studying hard. She learned English in school in Batumi and has two years remaining at University and two years of magistrate school (assuming this is her law school).

We drove up to a very high viewpoint for a panoramic view of the city and it was a crystal clear day without a cloud in the sky. The sun was brilliant and any blemish on a landscape can be forgiven with perfect weather.

According to our standards, the road was terrible. Bumpy, one lane plus, no shoulder, switch-backs…and we continued UP even further. We arrived to the home of our Georgian host and toured their home – a two-story house they built themselves 25 years ago. From my memory bank, I was reminded of my grandmother’s home about 40+ years ago. The china closet with glass panel and doors on the bottom, small square sofa, small dining table…They have chickens and a cow – a motorcycle and an older model car. His garage was immaculate with his tools on hooks secured directly in to the concrete block walls. The grandmother was in the kitchen cooking a combination bread, egg and cheese pizza – and she made enough for 60+ people!! It was very tasty and went great with the homemade vodka, wine, coffee and tea they offered us at 10:00!

The men were working on the still (vodka) and playing backgammon at a side table in the yard. There was a beautiful gazebo overlooking the city and they had a long table by its side all set for our morning tea. What fun! We toasted and tasted.

And then the best of all! A group of school children ages 6-12 danced and sang their folkloric songs and dances. And child actors are not to be underestimated! Quite a few hams in the group and we all clapped to the lively music and laughed. It was a lot of fun.

Back to the city to tour two churches – the Gothic Church of the Virgin Mary from the 19th century and the Barbara Church constructed in 1902 by the Zubalashvili brothers in the honor of their mother Barbare Tymanishvili. The first mass was held there by Georgian Catholic Padre Anselmo Mgebrishvili.

We hired a not-very pleasant taxi driver to go to the Gonio-Apsaros fortress, a Roman fortification in Adjara (state), 9 miles south of Batumi, at the mouth of the Chorokhi river near the village of Sarpi. There are 22 towers and four entry points. Additionally, the grave of Saint Matthias (St. Matthew), one of the twelve apostles, is speculated to be in Gonio fortress. The fortress was constructed in the 1st and 2nd centuries and functioned as a citadel of the Roman, and afterwards Byzantian Empire. The walls are 16 feet high with the 18 towers at 23 feet high. We continued to Sarpi, at the border of Turkey and Georgia and saw a beautiful waterfall and a bridal party there and then again at the fortress. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are days for weddings. As we got out of the cab, he asked for more money. After putting up with the car’s gears not shifting, not a kind attitude and making it an uncomfortable memory, no way was he going to get another dime from us.

We wandered around town for our last hour and finally found a beauty salon for my haircut. We had a fun time with the three women and one man who tried ever so hard to understand what we wanted. In the end, my hair is shorter than I wanted but we had some laughs out of it. The man also led us to the watch maker so we replaced two batteries for a $1 each. Running to the ship, we made it with 10 minutes to spare - -please don’t follow our example in arriving so late back to the ship!! - and the sun was streaming down on us as we enjoyed a scenic sail-away from Batumi. They had a 20 piece band and the same children at the pier dancing and singing as we left.

Their government has three branches – legislative, executive and judicial. They grow citrus products, green and black tea. The schools were teaching English, German and Russian languages but after the war in 2008, they are slowly eliminating Russian from their course offerings. (As they are neighboring countries and considering the vast difference in size and natural resources, this is very interesting.)

Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, a republic in southwest Georgia. Georgian independence from Russia was gained in 1991. It has a population of about 137,000. It is the last stop of the Trans-Caucasian Railway and the Baku oil pipeline. It is located some 12 miles from the Turkish border, in a subtropical zone, rich in citrus fruit and tea. Today it is the main port of Georgia with a capacity for 80,000-ton tankers. The oil originates from Azerbaijan and is shipped all over the world. It has significant rainfall throughout most of the year, making Batumi the wettest city in both Georgia and the entire Caucasus Region. The average annual temperature in Batumi is approximately 57 °F. The official language is Georgian which belongs to the Kartvelian language family, but it has no linguistic connection to Russian. Religion is Georgian Orthodox (84%), Muslim (10%) and Armenian Apostolic (4%). 
The average monthly income is only $90. The Currency is Lari at an exchange rate of 1.7 per US dollar.

Dinner was good; if it is not, it is your fault as you choose whatever you wish. The shows were great ---- the much anticipated Guest Talent Show and the Indonesian Crew Show. So much hard work goes in to both shows and there is amazing talent onboard. Both were wonderful but the crew show was especially good - -probably the best I have ever seen. They really seemed to want to please and it showed in every dance they performed.

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” - G.K. Chesterton