Georgia Adventure Part Two - Batumi

 October 7, 2021

Wow!  I'm back on schedule! Up and packed, I head downstairs to check out while Ammar has his last cup of coffee. This should have been easy!  We didn't take anything from the mini bar, which surprised our little reception clerk, and there shouldn't have been other charges.  The trick is that her card reader doesn't like my card and it is the one which I used to book the room.  Apparently that's the only acceptable card and when I ask what other options there are, since I have other cards, she doesn't know, poor thing! There are lots of attempts and I suggest typing in the number but I guess that these new little portable readers don't offer that option? Finally the Tech Whiz appears (no puff of pink smoke, though) and he doesn't seem to have any trouble.

Our girl calls us a cab, Ammar comes downstairs, and oops, there's a new system and they didn't charge us initially for our last night! Here we go with the card, again;  but this time is works like a charm and the cab comes and we're off for the central train station. It's about a twenty minute ride and when we get there is looks more like a mall than a station from the outside.  Our driver told us which door goes to the Batumi train, thank goodness, and sure enough up the escalator (I love those, especially with lots of luggage and stuff) and out the door to the track where our shiny steed awaits!

With no wifi out here I can't pull up my email with the tickets, so revisit Ammar's back-up QR code!  Yay. We have seats 48 and 53 which looks pretty close on the diagram but, in fact, one is downstairs and the other is upstairs!! Ammar goes off to deal and finds 53 upstairs, although the conductor lady said we could swap with someone.  The young woman next to me said she's swap and she goes upstairs and we are exchanging texts.  Free wifi that's not password protected beats no wifi!!

The train leaves about on time, Ammar is beside me, I can type and take the occasional photo of the beautiful countryside.  Life is good!

It's about a five-hour trip to Batumi, if you catch the eight o'clock train;  otherwise there are a lot more stops and several more hours.  Five hours is plenty!  There is wifi, of sorts, and time to even catch a little nap and munch on some of our goodies.

As soon as we set foot on the local pavement there is a cabbie ready to help us with our bags and to take us to the Golden Palace!  Not quite as opulent as it sounds;  but it's less than $550 for seven nights!!  It's just that we are so spoiled now! As soon as we're settled, and Ammar has checked on Mohammad, we are off for lunch and to go exploring this coastal town.  More glitter than ours, but otherwise very similar!  We'll learn more - but we already know the weather is glorious!!

Lots of clothing shops and the inevitable pier and bar, The Unbrella.  And the souvenir shacks!  If no one talks to me I could be on Clearwater Beach!  We turn around and go in search of seafood and come to a place called Fish!  Nothing hidden in their agenda!  But they don't have Ammar's favorite shrimp, so he has to make do with pasta and shrimp while I have the most delicious roasted seabass with roasted red and green peppers and mushrooms, accompanied by an unnamed Georgian beer!  It's a light lager and lovely with the fish.

Check out the golden ferris wheel!  I think this is a hotel!

Next in the series!

We come home , check with the front desk about getting massages tomorrow, and take a nap until sunset, for which I had set my alarm.  It was pretty much nonexistent but I go back to sleep and am out for the count until Ammar wakes me around nine. He's still working, especially since Mohammad's phone is broken!  Then he goes out to find a barber and something mysterious that he saw before!  I get a shower in our new bathroom, always an adventure, and the water is just the right temperature and pressure, even if it is one of those new shower stalls with the half wall so the air never gets warm!  But the rain shower doesn't drown me when I turn on the water, so I count that as a huge victory!

No doubt that this is the bath mat!  Put your feet here!

I'm blogging and Ammar calls in from the desk to check on me before he leaves the building.  Spotify has quiet jazz and I'm caught up with my blog and Ammar will be home soon.   Life is good!