Despite my requests, it never really got warm in the room, so my gear, especially my shoes and my jacket, were still very wet in the morning.

The hotel looked deserted the previous evening, with breakfast on the top floor. I was sure I would find a heater in the breakfast room, so took all my wet stuff with me for the early meal. I was startled to see the large hall full of people, (what I believe were) local tourists lining up for the buffet table. I did find the heater, placed my stuff in front of it - but had no intention of queuing for breakfast, I went back to my room. Here I got a call from the reception that I should show up with my wet stuff, so I went back to the 8th floor, then back to the ground floor - where one employee led me down to the cellar, where a large drier stood. Nice of them, tesekür! While my apparel was in the drier, I went back up to the breakfast room, by that time, there was no line and had a relatively good breakfast and enjoyed nice views of the sea, plus a river flowing right next to the hotel. The color of the river combining with that of the sea was quite a spectacle...

Endless line of trucks

I got close to the border, the last town in Turkey, Sarp, where I exchanged some Euros for Lari, the Georgian currency. Interestingly, with a slight margin, this was the best rate I had received. Finally, I reached the border, where a little ordeal began...you see, bikers are not considered as "vehicles" and I had to master the crossing as a pedestrian.

This, in turn, meant having to go up a passenger terminal with a looong alley, full of people hauling large bundles, worn suitcases and packs. I later learned that there was a bazaar oin a town that I had passed, called Hopa, where people from Georgia would make day visits, as the prices were lower than across the border. I also learned, as I would experience later, that only the driver of the car is allowed to stay in the vehicle, all passengers must follow the pedestrian border control.

This alley was once a fancy terminal with moving staircase, none of which worked, worse, water was dripping from the roof. Quite a daunting place, I have to say. I finally reached the Turkish control point, that went rather quickly, but I had some trouble moving my bike across a barrier.

Now another looong walk in the alley that took various 90-degree turns, passed a few duty-free shops and now was in front of a very crowded Georgian passport control place, people pushing and shoving each other. I made my way to the very last line, which seemed a bit more quiet and requested the people behind me to give me some space - it was not easy maneuvering with the bicycle. The wait time was bearable, I think it took 20 minutes or so. The next challenge was to push my bike through the very narrow alley, but an exception was made for me - there was an empty space which was cordoned off, I was allowed to open it (with the help of the people behind me, tesekür).

Ouch, one more unpleasant experience - I had to have all my five bags examined in an x-ray machine, so I took them all off, then all back on.

I finally felt relieved, the worse was over. The below shows how I was greeted in Georgia, including a stray dog. There was a tourist office, offering free maps of the region and of Batumi.

The architect must have had some fun (or some chacha the day before)

Now I was in Georgia, these were Georgian waves...

Georgian waves

It was in quite heavy truck traffic and on quite flooded roads (it had been raining heavily for two weeks nonstop) that I was riding on and had to smile at an intersection, the other road veering up the Goderdzi Pass I had crossed in 2016. I absolved the remaining distance to Batumi and there I was in the center. Yes, there are some impressive buildings, but also some rather hideous ones.

Soviet-era architecture - with construction everywhere

This was my third arrival to Batumi - the first one having been in 2016, where I arrived from Odessa by ferry - me leaving the town immediately for the pass, after which I crossed into Armenia, then visited Yerevan, then I went to the border of the Karabakh region (had no permission to enter it), then back to Georgia, to Tbilisi and then the Georgian Military Road I had mentioned earlier); the second arrival was in May of 2024, where I had arrived from Borjomi by marshutka (minibus), met Katharina from Czech Republic first, then Ella - and a couple of days later left for the wonderful region of Svaneti. Due to the border and the clock change, it was already 4 pm.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the end of my biking blog - on the 18th day of my trip, after 16 days of biking, two days before the initially planned arrival, I had reached my destination of Batumi. I really enjoyed this ride, despite the less favorable weather - still, I did have a great time, experienced different cultures and met amazing people.

Even though the rest of the story is technically not part of the biking trip, I will still go into some details of what had happened - it is up to you if you want to read it or not.

So., let us see. I did not yet have a data package for Georgia, so I stopped at a café on the beach promenade, inside which stray dogs were peacefully curled up, so escaping the outside drizzle.

Mind your step when entering the café

At the café I met Peter, a traveler from Denmark, we chit-chatted for a while, sharing travel stories and experiences - he told me an interesting piece of information I took benefit of some two weeks later, that there was a night bus from Batumi to the airport in Kutaisi. Striking up conversations does make sense, doesn´t it...? 😉

Back in May, I had stayed at the so-called Orbi Towers, where a complete apartment, which was located on the 39th floor, cost only €20, but the staff was rather rude, the elevators alway busy, so did not long back there. Booking.com offered a stay in Courtyard by Marriott for €30, which did cost a bit more than Oribi, but having a luxury apartment of a Marriott chain for just €30 sounded like a great deal, so I booked it for three days, with check-out on the 29th, when Ella had time.

A few minutes after the confirmation, a rather weird text showed up, saying, quote "Hello, dear guest. Unfortunately, we cannot serve you in the indicated numbers. We have free days until 2-30. Also from 5-9. If you like, you can book". What? Heee? What the heck? What are indicated numbers anyway...?

By now, I was sure it was not in Courtyard by Marriott that I thought to have booked, still, I went to the nearby Marriott tower (in Batumi, a lot of hotels are in towers), where the rather unfriendly receptionist informed me they do not have apartments, just rooms and these cost about €100 per night - plus that they are sold out. She did mention I should try the other entrance, to an establishment called Alliance Tower, they have apartments. Here was another reception, the price now was just €60 per night, but the owner of my apartment - with the misleading "Courtyard by Marriott" advertisement is a private apartment owner. The reception was kind enough to call him on the number, here they finally confirmed that the room was not available and that I should cancel it and search for something different.

I cancelled, started my research for another place and then my WhatsApp rang - the situation changed, they claimed they do have a room, for the same price. While the ride was only 50 kilometers, I was quite tired and wet, so I agreed - all I had to do is enter the elevator. It was on the 26th floor - and I rode up. I believe they wanted to save the commission to be paid to Booking.com - and also avoid any negative reviews on that site.

Well, I would have given a couple of negative things. While overall a decent place with a kitchen, washing machine, a balcony was rather cramped, e.g. the switch of the light was behind the headboard of the bed and quite an unpleasant smell of sewage was to be felt in the bathroom. The Orbi place, onto which I had a view - the view itself was pretty -, was a lot more spacious - oh, whatever, I was not planning on spending a lot of time in the room. Still, advertising this as Courtyard by Marriott is quite a deceiving business practice, the only thing it has in common is that the apartment is in the same tower as Marriott.

Ella was working that evening (she is masseuse), so after check-in and a bit of cleaning up, I rode around Batumi and had a hachapuri (Georgian bread with cheese and an egg) in an otherwise quite empty restaurant. The Georgian elections were that day and wanted to talk politics with the waiter, although he spoke perfect English, he was not really interested in the discussion.

I got back to the hotel around 10, it was a nice feeling to retire (despite the smell in the bathroom), knowing that I was not obliged to get up early the following morning.

The distance was about 50 kilometers, here is the map.