Batumi. Day 5

The start of the day

So the day started and it was sunny and it was great, of course, and I wanted to go to the beach, well, we had planned that and then we would pack our baggage and hit the road. Of course, we wanted to swim in the sea until we did that and while the weather was good, I wanted to go outside. So, me and my sister went out, because my brother was still asleep and stuff like that. He had to sleep well, because he was the driver and it was something like 5 hours drive from Batumi to Tbilisi and of course that is not easy or something. So that, we didn’t wake him up and went to the beach.

It was a good day and people were out, swimming and sunbathing and stuff. Some were reading books and listening to music. It was a nice sea. There were not any waves, but the water was cold, if you ask me. However, I really wanted to swim, so that I went near the water and let my feet in it. The water was really cold and I just stood there waiting for myself to get ready to get into the water. While I stood there, some people went into the sea very bravely and some just couldn’t bare the cold water and didn’t go in. some time later, I got the courage to go in and dive and then swimand I did that pretty quickly, so I didn’t really feel the coldness of water. Then I started swimming and it was really cool.

My sister didn’t go into the water, if you want to know the truth. She was just there, getting suntanned and stuff like that. There were people walking on the beach carrying iced coffee in glasses and Khachapuris and katahs and swimming equipment and stuff like that. Some had this hilarious voice that I couldn’t resist but to laugh and , well, actually, they didn’t have that kind of voice it turned out when once I heard this woman shouting “Khachapuri, Khachapuri, buy some Khachapuri, hot Khachapuri” and with a high-pitch voice and then she just said to herself with a manly voice “why don’t you people want some Khachapuri?!” it was really funny, because I didn’t expect something like that and I didn’t laugh, though, of course, but it was fun.  

Well, then it was time to go home and pack those bags and get ready for the return. Besides, it was already past 12 and, you know, people usually rent rooms until 12 o’clock and then you have to empty it and go. This lady was not ordering us to empty the room exactly by 12, because she didn’t have other people in line to rent that room, but she asked us whether or not we were going to leave soon. Well, I went from the beach and was going to home, when my sister told me that. She was already at home, if you want to know the truth. I just wanted to buy a souvenir magnet in the boulevard . I looked at different fridge magnets for a long time and then it started to rain and I had to decide quickly what I would buy there. I had this dilemma of buying either magnet of Acharuli Khachapuri or a magnet of Khinkali.At last, I decided that Khinkali was better and I bought that one. Then I went home and it was kind of raining and I had these slippers on and I could barely walk as they were strange slippers, but finally I was at home and in our room and ready to pack. So, we packed all the things and put them in the car. We decided to stop in Kobuleti and eat there as my brother and sister were hungry.

On the road to Kobuleti

The road was hot, I mean, it was sunny outside and it was hot and stuff, but soon it all became cooler when we got nearby the Botanical Garden and places around it, though in Kobuleti it was still very hot there. We parked our car and went to the beach where there were many cafes and stuff like that and we could eat somewhere there. We went in this café called Cappucino and looking at the menu we ordered a pizza and an Acharuli Khachapuri. To be honest, I didn’t like the pizza idea, because I had this feeling that it would be something not very good and I also didn’t want to have an Acharuli Khachapuri, because we ate those ones each day and it was enough for me, but they wanted it, so we ordered those two. Well, the prices were reasonable. I mean, large Acharuli Khachapuri cost 5.50 Laris and pizza that we ordered was 10 Laris or something like that, though it was nothing like that with its taste. So, the order came and we started eating.

The first one was the pizza. It looked terrible and the taste was not as it was supposed to be. I mean, it was written that this pizza had some bacon in it, but it didn’t have any bacon, instead it had a very plain sausage. I know that, because I know how that sausage tastes in pizza, as we used to prepare pizza just like that. And the taste of bacon is just really different from that. So the pizza was a total bust and I knew that I shouldn’t let my brother and sister order it, but , hey, they wanted the pizza! Then this Acharuli Khachapuri came and we started eating it. It was alright. It was much better than the pizza. Though my sister didn’t really like it, because it was kind of much salty, as she said. Still, it was better than the pizza. Well, in all, it cost about 20 Laris and we returned to our car and prepared for the long road. The next stop would be in Surami _ that is the place of Nazuki. There you will find people who bake Nazuki, which is a sweet bread with raisins and stuff, and they are waving those Nazukiand telling you to buy them. To be honest, I thought that Nazuki would cost much less, but it turned out that they cost 2 Laris each.

That unplanned stop

Well, we had this another stop somewhere around Lanchkhuti that we hadn’t planned. It was an incidental stop, if you want to know the truth. there were these lines of train, where there were some cars and a driver of a jeep decided to go in front of those cars and my brother did the same and it turned out that there was a police car in the queue amongst other cars, so it was a total bust and we knew that we would get fined for that behavior. Well, the police car went for the jeep and I thought that we were out of the woods, but then we saw them and they told us to stop too. So, we would both get fined for crossing the line or something like that. They said it was 50 Laris, and if the driver had had this kind of fine in that year, it would be 100 Laris for repeating that action. Well, it was good that we got 50 Laris fine. It was really hilarious, because there were two guys in that jeep and a woman and a child, I guess, and this one guy was smoking cigarette and the other one was just walking around, smelling those flowers that someone had in their yard. Well, that process continued pretty long, because, I don’t know, those policemen usually do that and they need so much time for just something like checking your identity. They usually sit in their car while doing that, so I don’t know what they are doing, but they really waste people’s time. Well, if someone didn’t obey the rules, they are guilty for that, but that doesn’t mean that their time is not precious. Of course, I don’t know how it is to be a policeman and I can’t really judge them, but for me it really takes long to wait for them to check the identity or writing a fine or something like that. So, that took a while and we were just sitting there in our car waiting for them to write us a fineand we were, at the same time, taking pictures. I mean, what else can you do at that time, but to take some pictures and wait. At last , they did write  a 50 Laris fine and we were free to go.

The iced coffee

We went on and the next stop would be in Zestaponi, where there are Lavazza takeaway coffee and stuff like that. I remember one of them is really nice and they have a WC there, too and it’s kind of in the beginning of Zestaponi on the right side. My sister and brother wanted some iced coffee, so when we saw that takeaway, we stopped. I didn’t really know whether or not I wanted any coffee or anything, so that I went out of the car, too, and I just looked around and saw what they had, but then I changed my mind and decided that I didn’t really want anything. So I just went to the WC. There was this woman cleaning the floor there and I just stood there waiting for her to come out when she asked me if I wanted to go in and I said “yes” and she started getting out while telling me that the WC was to be paid. I was kind of surprised, because I always went there free of chargeand, well, I asked her, how much it cost and she said 30 Tetris and I took 30 Tetris from my wallet, but then I realized there was no one to pay and then she said to give it to her and so I did. Well, it was too late when I realized that she had fooled me pretty bad, I mean , the WC was actually free of charge and she just lied to me and got some extra 30 Tetris for just lying. I was kind of angry with her, but I couldn’t do anything actually. It was all in past already and I was just left angry, but that anger wouldn’t help me at all, so I just let myself be cool and forget that.

Anyways, it was not until some time until we got to Surami, where my Nazuki was. I really looked forward to buying Nazuki, because whenever we went to the seaside we never bought them and I just really wanted to buy one of them. As I’ve said already, it’s nothing fancy, just a sweet bread with raisins, but when you’re on the road and during other times, too, it’s kind of delicious and it’s not something that people eat every day, so, when you meet some people waving Nazukis and telling you to buy them, you just want to stop the car somewhere and just buy one of them and eat it. My uncle always buys Nazuki and he brings us some, too, and I didn’t think to call him and ask him where to buy some good Nazukis. I realized that later, and, well, I should have called him, because he really did know who had the most delicious Nazuki. We just stopped the car somewhere in the middle and bought Nazuki there. It cost 2 Laris eachand I bought three of them and we ate one of them while on the road. It was not something to be amazed about, but it was okay. My uncle buys better Nazukis, though, as I’ve already mentioned above.

Well, now it was time to go home without any stops or something. It would take two hours or a little more to get into Tbilisi and then to our home. There were already our father and uncle and cousin waiting for us. There were some pretty beautiful landscapes around and I just couldn’t stop taking picturesof them. It was really nice to look at the horizons and see the sunset somewhere far away.

Getting home

It was something like 9 or 10 p.m. when we got home. We took our baggage out of the car and went upstairs. My uncle and cousin were not there yet and so we waited for them for some time. My cousin is little, he’s only 5 years oldand when he visits us it’s always fun and he just loves playing Dartz and when he’s here he always plays it, so when he came the very first thing he looked for was this Dartz and he played it for a while until he got bored. Well, until he started playing he saw us and hugged us and talked to us and all the other things, of course, don’t think that he just rushed to that Dartz or anything.

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