19th September: Batumi, Georgia
Our plan in Batumi is very much to chill, eat good food, and wander the streets. First objective today was a vegan place that Kaja found and was very excited to try for breakfast. We both had smoothies, and shared some tofu scramble with pumpernickel bread and a heavenly tofu syrniki (usually a sweet, cottage cheese filled mini pancake). I’ve not had syrniki since the most recent time we were in Russia in 2015 and this was worth the wait!
Again, today was unexpectedly warm and sunny, so we made the most of the chance to walk the promenades and backstreets. Batumi has an eclectic range of architecture, including a multitude of Soviet mosaics. The old town has a fantastic cafe culture and feels very welcoming, except for the usual problem of too many cars. You can really feel the mixture of Georgian, Russian, and Turkish influence, as well as a unique Adjarian flavour – for this region is semi-autonomous and has its own dialect. We’ve also heard the call to prayer for the first time in Georgia, which was very welcome.
The extremely popular deep-flavoured, almost chocolately local ‘sand coffee’ is basically Turkish coffee heated in sand. Other treats we found were a tofu achma (pastry layered with tofu and dill), kvas served from yellow tankers (yes, tankers) on street corners, and a Turkish style falafel wrap.
I really like the subtropical vibe here. You can feel the energy in a way not dissimilar to that in Istanbul. Families relax under trees, eating soy ice cream and drinking coffee. Men meet in communal courtyards to play backgammon. Fruit sellers sell watermelon and dragon fruit. Date palms and flowering bananas line the boulevards and parks. Barrel jellyfish propel themselves in huge numbers below the sea wall. The shipyard is set juxtaposed in front of deep green mountains, which have been permanently topped with cloud during our time here. It leaves me with a strong desire to explore the entire coast of the Black Sea one day, when the geopolitical situation allows.
Batumi gets over 2.5 metres of rain per year and the humid air betrays this. Indeed, just after we watched the sun set whilst throwing pebbles into the Black Sea, large drops of rain began to fall. We made it back before the rain became heavy, although thunder rumbled around the bay as we fell asleep and the forecast was for no let up overnight. This time, the rain appears to have caught up with us, but tomorrow morning we leave Batumi and perhaps with some luck we can outrun it once more.
