Batumi. Day 1

The introduction

It was raining in Batumi and it was kind of cold, I mean, I had just a T-shirt and shorts on and it was kind of chilly outside. We went to the boulevard and saw the beach. There weren’t many people on the beach, in fact, there were just a couple of them, as it was drizzling and stuff like that. So, we decided to go to McDonald’s, as Batumi McDonald’s is considered to be the most beautiful restaurant in this restaurant chain and everyone who visits Batumi goes there and takes pictures and posts them and so on and so forth. So when we went inside, it was colder than the outside as they had air-conditioning and, you know, everything. I didn’t really want to eat anything. Well, I did want to taste this new berries parfait, but I was really cold and I just didn’t want anything cold, so I went to the car and got my jacket and went back inside. My sister ate a mini-chicken, I guess, and my brother had two cheeseburgers or double cheeseburgers, if I remember correctly. This McDonald’s has a distinguished shape and there are flowers growing inside on the terrasse and they are just gorgeous and you would like to sit there and just watch these flowers. We took some pictures, of course and then it was time to go. Well, it was not, but we couldn’t sit there all day, right? If we wanted to sit in McDonald’s, we could just stay in Tbilisi and choose any of those McDonald’s and just sit there.

Renting a room in Batumi

We decided to see some rooms for rent. When we went outside it was raining and we sat in the car and tried to contact some people who could rent us a room, but we couldn’t really reach them, so we went to this building, where there were some people renting flats or rooms and asked if they had one. A woman had a place for rent and it would cost 60 for a day, I guess. We had some other options, so we would think about it.

Well, we had our car parked and went for a walk to search for some rooms. The first thing we saw was this hotel “Revazi” and we went in. they had rooms for 20 Laris a bed, so it would cost 60 in all for a day. The room was quite good.

Then we went to another one and saw this hotel “Parnavaz” and there was this sign on the door to ring the bell and we rang it, but no one answered, so we waited for a couple of minutes and then my sister rang it again and there was this guy asking why wouldn’t we go inside and we told him there was that sign and so on and so forth.  Well, we went inside and it was the second floor, there was this guy _ seemed like he was the owner or something like that _ and he told us about rooms available and turned out they didn’t have a room for three for four days, they just had a room for three for 2 days for 80 Laris a day. And then they showed us another room downstairs, they had it for 50 Laris, if I remember it correctly. There were three beds and air-conditioning and TV, though it was downstairs and it didn’t have any views or something. But as a whole, it was not bad, if you ask me. We took their card in case we decided to stay there and went out. They did want us to rent one of their rooms, though, but we wanted to see other options, too, of course, because the cheaper we saw a nice room, the better it was for us. Everyone wants that and we wanted that, too. So we went and went and the road seemed to not end and it was like never-ending thing. Then we went out to the boulevard and the beach and sat there.Meanwhile we tried to contact this one person, who we knew had a room for rent or something like that, somebody gave us his/her number, but we couldn’t contact him/her as he/she had their phone turned off, I guess, or was in a place where there was no connection. Anyways, we were just like that on the beach and just relaxing and looking at the sea and stuff like that.

Until we got to the beach, there was this small market, where my brother went in and he wanted some Fuse Tea and this guy came out and he asked him about that big Fuse Tea and he got it for him, but the price he said my brother had to pay was too much and if there was someone who didn’t know what cost that Fuse Tea, they would just pay him that amount of money, of course, and just go and drink it. However, my brother knew the price and he just told him that he was telling him the wrong price. After some time everything got clear and he paid the right price. Okay, why I’m telling you this? Because, when you are in another city, you don’t really know much about it and people can lie to you and things like that and you should be careful, I mean, really careful, because no one knows what could happen in just some moments and people can not help you, I guess. This was just a little incident, but imagine, what small things can do. Have you heard of a butterfly effect?Yep, that’s it! very little things can change whole world!

Anyways, after some time we decided to get back to our hunting on rooms. My brother called someone who helps people find flats and stuff like that, but this person told him that he/she only worked for rooms which cost 100 Laris and more and he/she told him to look for rooms on Pushkini street. So we went to Pushkini street, however it seemed like people didn’t really rent rooms there, at least, that’s how they looked at us when we asked about renting a room. Then there was this woman who told us that he had a room for three, but it was not there on Pushkini street, but it was in the center near Sheraton. Well, that was good. She told us that the room was on the second floor of a small house and it had air-conditioning and a TV and a refrigerator and water closet and a small kitchen and this all for 50 Laris and we were really intrigued what this room might be look like, because if it had all these things in it, why would this woman be renting it in just 50 Laris. So we told her that we were interested and we would see the room, but until then we had our car to find, because we parked it somewhere nearby Chavchavadze, but we didn’t really remember where. Then my sister remembered, that nearby it was this Hotel Revazi _ where we went in for the first time, and this woman, called Guliko (Gulo), told us that she knew this hotel and so we went. Meanwhile it started to rain and we were just walking and then she went in her store (she had this clothes shop, she showed us) and got her umbrella and we walked in the streets with that umbrella. We walked really long, if you want to know the truth. Or maybe it seemed long, because it was raining, I don’t know. But it turned out, that our car was parked just nearby Pushkini street and we could’ve just walked there and not walk on those many streets that we walked. Well, we got into the car and went to see the room.

It was a not very small yard with some small houses in it. They were two-storied and really nice. There were flowers in the yard and a small path led to our room. There were a table and chairs painted in red and the stairs were in red, too, and it kind of made everything look amazing and you just had this feeling of being somewhere else in  a  fairy-tale or something like that. So, we went into the room and there was this small kitchen set: there were two drawers and a sink and gas and electronic kettle, and place for shoes and then on your right you would go into the living room (or bedroom or whatever you can call it) and if you went straight forward you would go into the bathroom, where there were toilet, sink, mirror, shower things. There were a double-bed and a foldable chair and puffs and wardrobes and mirror and refrigerator and a small table and a TV and air-conditioning in the room and it was a cute place, if you ask me. I liked it very much and the price was reasonable, too, I mean, for that room and considering its location, the price was really good. So we took it! everything looked just amazing, you wouldn’t wish for anything else, if you want to know the truth. Besides, we were there for only four days and it was a great place for us.Well, we unpacked and stuff like that and then we went out to eat as my brother and sister were hungry.

Retro and Acharuli Khachapuri

You know, when it comes to Ajara and especially Batumi, everyone just seeks to eat Acharuli Khachapuri there, because it’s their national dish and it’s really delicious if it’s prepared correctly, I mean, if it’s prepared with good ingredients and by someone who really knows how to prepare it. There’s this restaurant chain called Retroand it’s well-known that they have a great Acharuli Khachapuri there and the prices are reasonable, too, and they prepare really good Acharuli Khachapuri, if you want to know the truth. There are two Retros in Batumi as I know, so one of them was really close to us and so we went there to eat some Acharuli Khachapuri.

Well, there were many people there and we got lucky that one table was empty and we sat there. My brother and sister decided to order one Acharuli Khachapuri and to cut it into pieces and eat them. And they insisted, so I told them that I would eat a small piece of it, too. So we ordered large Acharuli Khachapuri, which cost about 8 Laris or something if I remember correctly. When my brother ordered this the waiter was really surprised and asked him whether he knew how large this large Acharuli Khachapuri was as he thought that he was ordering this one just for himself. To tell you the truth, it was really large and those two couldn’t eat their parts till the end and there were some pieces left and I just ate them, as I don’t like when people leave the food undereaten. If you order something, or if you take something, just take enough of it, so that you won’t have to leave some pieces on the plate! So, it all cost somewhere around 10 Laris with lemonade and stuff and it was pretty good, I guess.

After that, we just went out in the boulevard and it turned out that it was really close to us, in just about 10 minutes you could be at the beach.Well, everything looked just as it was a year ago. Of course, some things have changed there, but the main things like sculptures and benches and clubs and cafes and other stuff are the same and it’s kind of a good feeling when you go somewhere and it is not changed much and you remember how things were and those things are the same after some time, too.

We  walked there for a while, until it was late and it was time to sleep, because we were all asleep in some ways, I guess. We also had a wi-fi so we uploaded some of our photos on Instagram and Facebook, of course and I didn’t even feel when I went asleep. It was raining the whole night, though and the rain drops kept me halfway up all night, but still, the first night was really okay.

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