Hello, Black Sea — Batumi 🇬🇪
Yes, it’s that time of year, beach livin’ in June 😂 Why is that funny because my entire life in the Southern Hemisphere that’s wintertime. This time around we are spending summer in June.
It’s funny how you could suddenly “feel” holiday vibes. I saw children wearing white t-shirts written on— for the last day of school. I wonder where this tradition came from? (comment if you know)
It is strange for us. In South Africa, the academic year ends in December and starts in January. Here they end it about this time and somehow you could feel it change unknowingly.
Last Tbilisi days 👋
While we almost spent 3 months in Tbilisi, in the last week we still experienced new things. We walked the streets as Georgians, celebrated independence day, cycled around Turtle lake and looked at art in the national art museum as if we knew something about art. Then we attended a Khinkali master class in a cellar by a Georgian chef.
The moments in this city is unforgettable. We met locals and people from all over the world and been all over the world. Brazil, Belarus, Russia, Isreal, Khazakstan, UK and we could not miss the American accent in the room of course. While we had wine, cha-cha, lobiani’s and khinkali’s we all met as awkward strangers and all became friends with accents.
Before heading out to our Khinkali master class I still wanted to see the Chronicles overlooking the Tbilisi sea (artificial lake for clarity) and walking along the Tbilisi sea.
We greeted this beautiful city (for now) with a relaxing lunch at Balcony 6 overlooking old Tbilisi with our dear friend who we met in our first week in Tbilisi reflecting on our time here.
Batumi Life 🌊
On Monday we took the 8 am train to Batumi. We arrived at 13:30 in Batumi, after some hustling we negotiated for a cheaper taxi and after some confusion, of course, we finally did arrive at our apartment.
It was 30 degrees on the day we arrived, and as coastal weather goes the next day it’s been overcast weather. ⛅️ Although that didn’t stop us from going for our first run on the promenade, walking on the pebbled beach and exploring the town. Even though we are in the same country which is pretty tiny, we are surprised how different this town feels, little European, little modern and open nature spaces.
We’ve met up with our South African friends again in Batumi, but this time it’s to greet them farewell on the next journey of their travels — as they are heading to Indonesia. We met in the new season of our lives and they sure inspire and motivate us on our travels.
We spent time enjoying wine, great food and special conversations. Some of them on a promenade scooter ride and watching aeroplanes flying over the black sea. This marked our last visit (for now) as we enjoyed ice cream in the plaza with church bells ringing and Cold Play in the background.
Moments like these are sure to be remembered. As with this life, we came to realise that we will indeed experience a lot of new things and meet new people. This also means we will say goodbye more often…
We celebrated our first week in Batumi on a rainy day at Magnolia restaurant watching Tango as the rain poured outside and to our surprise enjoying a juicy vegan pizza!
Coffee update!
We’ve been talking about coffee when we arrived and as you know we actually stopped looking. We didn’t have any luck with coffee in Tbilisi but here in Batumi we accidentally walked past a great spot on our way to the sea! Creamy, tasty coffee with plant milk of course!
“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
William Jennings Bryan
Beachy Batumi cheers
Anina & Daniel
