Georgia. Batumi, Adjara. Our family time. Part 1
Any air travel begins with the purchase of tickets. It started like this for us. A call to her husband: "Dear, let's go to Georgia in the summer? There are good prices for tickets! ".
My relatives
So, SkyUp has become our air carrier. On the company's website, you can always find "tasty" prices in Batumi if you plan a trip in advance. We purchased tickets in January for the July-August flight.
And yes, there is nothing cooler than a long-awaited vacation day! Having packed our bags, we went to Boryspil airport as a family. The flight to Batumi is short, only 2.5 hours. In addition, due to the time difference in Batumi, we arrived an hour earlier than Kyiv.
It was +22 in Batumi, but it was very hot, everything seemed to be +35! But, of course, the smell of the salty sea is already felt at the airport.
Our realtor arrived on time and comfortably drove us to our 10-day stay in a virtually silent and environmentally friendly Toyota Prius. Comfortable housing at a nice price in a new building, besides with a sea view (though not quite close), I found on airbnb. Booked in advance, in early June.
The road to the beach we passed through the Batumi zoo, the entrance to which was free this year! In this regard, we spent daily time communicating with primates, parrots, ponies, zebras and other inhabitants of the park.
Lake Nurigel, a park with magnificent palm trees, green lawns, walking paths, benches and a small children's amusement park - this is also part of our path to the beach.
Nurigel Lake
In Georgia, the Black Sea, yes, not the cleanest sea in the universe,
but not the dirtiest either. In the morning, the sea is clear and calmer in any weather, and, of course, at this time the beach is not crowded. The beaches are pebbly, with rather large pebbles, so I highly recommend purchasing special shoes, the price is about 12 GEL ($ 4), it is easier to enter the water and you can swim in it. Sunbeds for 3 lari ($ 1), umbrellas too. You can change clothes and take a shower in Batumi for free, which you can’t do in the suburbs, for example, in Makhinjauri - there you will have to pay for this pleasure from 50 tetri ($0.17).
Sunset in Batumi is beautiful
Since we lived in the central part of Batumi, the beach was also central. And later, having cycled all over the coast of the city, I decided that these beaches are the best. The beaches near the port, you yourself understand why I don’t recommend it, and the beaches on Novy Boulevard are noisier and, moreover, there the river flows into the sea. But!
The new boulevard is very upset and soon there will be new beaches, away from the hustle and bustle and closer to the outskirts of the city.
A magnificent boulevard, green lawns and chic new buildings. There is a bike path along the entire promenade. Renting a bike is quite easy and you will have a lot of fun. Fresh sea breeze and incredible beauty around! Bicycle life hack: in the center the cost is 5-6 GEL for half an hour ($ 2), on New Boulevard 5 GEL per hour ($ 2).
Many local attractions are located near the waterfront. Alphabet Tower, Mini Ferris Wheel Tower, Ali and Nino Statue, Argo Ropeway, Marriage Palace, Bamboo Grove, etc.
The entrance to the Alphabet Tower will cost 10 lari ($3.5), the elevator will take you to the observation deck of the tower. But if you are an economical tourist, then it is better to go to the Argo cable car for 15 lari ($ 5) for an adult tourist and half the price for children under 12 years old.
An amazing view, a height that turns your head and chills your spirit will delight you when you climb, and a huge observation deck, souvenirs for every taste and budget, a cafe, ice cream and pleasant music will delight you at the top.
For 1 lari ($0.34) you can look through a telescope at the most favorite sights of the city.
The sunset prevented us a little from taking better photos, but it did not prevent us from seeing all the beauty with our own eyes.
On the one hand, the city and the sea, and on the other, the green and lush caps of the Georgian mountains.
Batumi impresses with its unique architecture, and falls in love with delicious and hearty food. Let me start off by saying that the prices here are amazing. On the market, in shops and supermarkets, products are at Kyiv prices, and sometimes even lower.
In cafes and restaurants you can enjoy delicious Georgian food at very reasonable prices. So, you can taste khachapuri in the cafe Retro from 5 to 20 GEL -7$), Adjarian, Imeretian, with cheese and/or meat.
The restaurant Tawaduri. We chose a table on the balcony of the second floor, as the room was quite noisy. An elderly Georgian was resting next to us, who, when he saw us, immediately caught himself and began to invite her husband first, then me, and then the children to his table. In general, everything looked exactly the way everyone imagines: “Hey, daragoy! ” Etc. Having accepted the invitation, we spent about 20 minutes talking with this very interesting local resident, and then, bowing ten times, returned for table for children. His life was full
but since this is not my story, I will not dive into it. Let me just say that he really turned out to be so hospitable that he even invited me to visit him and gave his mobile. However, we were on the eve of departure and were forced to refuse. Before leaving this establishment, he once again approached our table and said that our son is very handsome and that he would definitely find a bride for him in Georgia. It was an interesting experience, since young Georgians, if our daughter was alone, asked for her phone number, instagram, viber, invited for a date. And here they already offered to marry their son. In general, if we wanted to, we would place the children in Georgia.
But jokes aside, I'll tell you another life hack on how to taste the most delicious sea fish in a restaurant on the seashore at a market price! To do this, the whole cheerful company needs to go to the Batumi fish market, buy fish there for every taste,
clean it on the spot for 2 lari (0.68$) and book a table in a restaurant on the seashore, where for 5 lari (1.7$) it will be cooked on the grill. Well, it's very tasty!
We bought a salmon weighing about 2.3 kg for 42 lari ($14.4). In the restaurant, my daughter ordered a green salad for herself, and we additionally ordered another one, it turned out that the portions were so large that one salad was enough. Khachapuri is also quite impressive. In general, you will not stay hungry, this is a fact.
For lovers of very beautiful nature, which we turned out to be, I recommend visiting the Batumi Botanical Garden. This place impressed me very much, I had never seen so many varieties of trees and shrubs collected in one place.
The garden, one of the largest in the post-Soviet space, is located on an area of .113 hectares, 9 km from Batumi near the Zeleny Mys railway station.
Entrance to the Botanical Garden will cost 15 GEL for an adult ticket ($5) and 1 GEL ($0.34) for children from 10 to 16 years old, up to 10 years old free of charge. The park is divided into Lower and Upper, to see the entire park, you will need a lot of effort and energy, but it's worth it. Eucalyptus grove, bamboo grove, not the largest, but still impressive sequoia, and many, many other varieties of flora.
A bridge made of a tulip tree that once fell, but did not die, but gave life to 9 tulip trees, which cannot leave you indifferent.
There is a whole alley of such cypress trees, as in the photo, and all with different branches. I felt like I was in a fairy tale world.
The Upper Park will impress with views of the clean and green approaches to the beaches of Cape Verde and the incredibly beautiful sea.
Of course, I will touch on the topic of entertainment. And there are a lot of them in Batumi, like in other resort cities. I'll tell you about a couple of not quite ordinary, but very exciting ones. So, stand-up surfing is surfing with a paddle. Of course, this is not as extreme as ordinary surfing, but if you are scared to even think about it, let alone ride, then everyone can try stand-up surfing. And it is not very expensive - 10 lari ($ 3.5) for half an hour.
Another extreme entertainment in Batumi is to go along the embankment towards the airport in order to meet the landing plane. And I’ll be honest: not only for beautiful photos, they don’t always turn out like that, but to get incredible sensations from a huge plane flying overhead. Noise, wind and beautiful, very fast,
but at the same time, the smooth landing of the plane on the runway above my head caused me a hell of a rush of adrenaline.
You can get to the runway on bicycles, the cost of which I wrote above. It will not be difficult to find out the schedule on the website of Batumi Airport.
From a small, completely imperceptible point in the clouds to a rapidly approaching air machine overhead! It’s a pity that a new beach is being built right next to the sea, it didn’t succeed, but we still got a lot of emotions.
So, in Batumi everyone will find entertainment to their liking, delicious food and amazing Georgian wine, and beyond its environs there are mountains, waterfalls, canyons, but that's another story, which I'll tell you a little later. . .
Wedding Palace
Ferris Wheel Tower
Summer Theater
Beloved Borjomi
Bamboo Grove
Piazza
Evening Batumi
