Tbilisi was the farthest east we went
during this trip. A nice terminus for us. As we have some more
days and our flight back to NL is from Trabzon we travelled back to
the Black Sea coast by bus yesterday. A 7-hour trip it was, but the
Metro-buses are big and comfortable and there is even a bit catering
on board. Our bikes were in the cargo-hold beneath, I only had to
take the front wheels out.
We were so surprised when we rode into
Batumi town yesterday afternoon. We are used to scruffy streets,
paintless ramshackle houses, dirt and dust, but nothing at all of
that. The old town is spotless. Clean, everything beautifully
restored, romantic streets, a historic centre that can compete with
any western-European one. Batumi has been a seaside resort for more
then a century and the boulevard area is magnificent. Then there is
some beautiful architecture and some, rather silly, skyscrapers. This
town is a complete contrast with all the other towns in Georgia we
visited. It is the capital of an independent republic within Georgia,
we later heard. We saw the parliament building. Maybe this fact, and
the revenues of its long history as a seaside resort, result in this
totally surprising shining place.
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