The girls call us: „It’s from the airport!“ Justina talks with someone and nods her head... We all sit around keeping our fingers crossed – and even the other tourists are waiting for the news.
Good news! They found the backpack! However, they cannot send it to Batumi, they do not have such service. To Kutaisi yes, not here. Justina has to go tomorrow to the airport in Kutaisi to pick it up. "It does not matter! I will go! Most important, they found it!" Huraaaaah! All people in the living room are happy and start to drink toast to the found lost.
The second thing - food! After the problem with the luggage was solved successfully we can celebrate it with good lunch and of course wine. We ask the girls working at the hostel where is some interesting gastronomical place near here. They recommend us one in the building across the busy street; restaurant "Rande Vu".
We sit outside, look at the menu, yet we already know that now we want to try Georgian dumplings "Khinkali" - a typical delicacy of Georgian cuisine: dough similar to Polish dumplings, the shape of a sack "tied" at the top, with spicy stock inside. Each of us ordered six pieces (later on, we were always taking less, six is really a lot!) and a jug of wine (it means one jug for five, and then a second one)
- "Wino Damashne?" (domestic wine?) - "Da, da!" (Yes, Yes)
Claudia also ordered one soup; cold cucumber soup based on sour milk.
Of course, good moods take over and fooling around begins:
Michelle: "What is this soup like?"
Claudia: "Cold"
Michelle with irony: "COOL, I do hope NOT hot one. Just imagine: hot sour milk cucumber soup!
I think it would NOT be COOL :)
And we all laugh...
Waiting for our dumplings we started with wine. This time, Kate rushed and poured wine up to the glass edges, just like juice. "What?! There CANNOT be full glasses of wine?"
And an artistic picture by Justina:
The waitress, a nice, young girl, brought us two plates of fresh, cooked Khinkali. "Mm, Yammy Yammy"
- "How do you eat it?" - We ask each other.
- "Carefully! Do not spill liquid on you, just make a hole and drink it!"
Then we play with the plates, slowly learning the art of eating Khinkali. It‘s really art.
Something very special and creative how NOT to spill it on you.
Later the hostel girl told us that this dish - although it is so popular and tasty, it is not recommended as a dinner for a date; when a girl or a boy both sniff and risk splashing the inner liquid on them.
"Who will spill the stock, loose" :)
Given that we had only two pairs of rubber boots, we entered the sea in pairs.
Playing with the waves, full of joy that we were at the Black Sea ( indeed!) we were happy like little kids...
Fantasy! :)
In the meantime Kate was building stony towers ;)
"Voila!"
- "What time do we go?"
- "Now? or soon?"
-" I would stay here little bit more... "
Again our compromises -"Okay, so till 6 p.m ? still 30 minutes, can it be?"
- "Deal!"
.
"Jump!" :)
Then we come to a huge blue building that stretches along the promenade. It is very long and very high! Huge! We look at it and admire. "Uuu, look! The majority of the windows are empty, there are no curtains, as if the building was abandoned "
Amazing. Once it must have been wonderful, full of life, very luxurious hotel.
It is a pity that there wasn't anybody we could ask about the history of this building.
I could not get rid of the amazement of it's power so I called it, "The Titanic on the land" -
Cool name, isn't it?
Just have a look:
(The pictures are maximal big so that you could see this 'super size')
Going forward, we see another big buildings, some under construction and some only half-finished. In a moment we see a lovely, beautifully decorated tower and just behind it, enormous modern glass blocks of flats.
Batumi is a real mixture of old and new architecture.
Strolling through the city at almost every street you can find on old or a new, large but unfinished building or the most modern of all Mc'Donald's buildings.
Another active day (a lot of walking) comes to an end and it was time for relaxing "wine time"
-"Where shall we go?"
- "We will walk nearby here, we'll find a pub, a cosy bar and we'll sit down...
Another 'decision making.
- "Here?"
- "Noooo"
- "There is something!"
- "Noo it's some Kebab-bar"
At the end slightly (!) bored with 'searching' we enter a small bar. There is one table outside but no one is sitting there.
- "Hmm it's Friday and such emptiness? Well, but let's go here, do not waste time, I'm thirsty!"
We enter the bar, we look around. The small narrow room with modern décor. We stand at the bar, we are about to order a bottle of wine when a bartender asks where we are from.
- "Polsha?! Ah harasho!"
He takes a bottle and put five glasses on the bar, oh six! - For him too!
and he pours "Georgian Chacha!" (national vodka made from grape's skins, alcohol content:
40- 60% !!!).
We are surprised, we look at each other and yyyyy ...?!?! We smile and he says:
- "CHEERS!" (In Polish!)
We: "Cheers! Gaumardżos!"
Of course we decide to stay there. We comment this funny situation and the taste of this strong drink and the bartender adds in Polish:
- "For the second leg" and he pours another portion of chacha.
- "Oh noooo . another shot!"
We thank him for tasting but we say we want wine and ask what he can recommend. Half in English, half in Russian - we get on. Satisfied, we sit at the table outside. Quickly we get beautiful large wine glasses and delicious red wine. Another toast and a feeling of blissfulness...
Suddenly the manager of the bar (yes we thought he might be the manager because inside the bar he looked like the owner?) approaches us and gives each of us a beautiful, big red ROSE!
"Heeeeeeh" ?
Just like that.
Isn't it a wonderful feeling? You feel as their real guest and not as an intrusive tourist.
In which country would you get - selflessly, as a pure gentleman's gesture - five roses ?! Where the local bartender greets you so warmly and offers you local delicacy?
Astonished by Georgians' simple, good gestures and behavior, we say unanimously:
"Such things only in Georgia!"
You cannot deny. Each woman likes getting flowers!
The bar was called Escala. We do not remember the street name but it was near to our hostel Batumi (Lermontov street).
The girls from the reception wanted to go to a well-known club which is located on the 22nd floor! Okay, let's go! While waiting for a taxi we talked and exchanged information; where we were from and where we were going to.
There were four young guys from UK who came to Georgia by bike !
Amazing! Straight from London to Batumi! They left on 1st April and it was 22nd May. Their final destination was Hong Kong, which they were supposed to reach in September. What a great idea for the adventure!
It was very nice, funny and interesting. We talked about our experiences from current trips, although the boys had much more stories to tell. We have just started the trip.
Olivier - one of them - also writes a blog about their trip, the title is: 3 boys 2 continents.
I encourage you to read!
"Club 22" was on the top floor of a huge building VOX with a top terrace around and it was situated at the street cross of Kobaladze and Tbel Abuseridze street.
We do not come back very late to the hostel. The next day was supposed to begin early.
In the morning Justina and Michelle were going back to Kutaisi to pick up the luggage from the airport - another ride by 'marshutka' and we three were to continue our stroll through Batumi.
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