Day 12 Georgia - Batumi

Today was dedicated to Batumi and started off very relaxed. Equipped with sweets brought from home (thank you, my girls) and a good Caucasus travel guide (thanks again), I went to the park... Finally, time and inclination to browse through it. With a good coffee, that's all I need today.

In the evening, my American travel companion arrived in town, his PCR test was quick and hitchhiking to Batumi was no problem.

After a short stroll through the less touristy side streets, we took a cable car up the mountain.

In the gondola, a man from Belarus approached me, he is here on vacation with his family. Very interesting conversation, good attitude towards life, it reminded me of my conversation with the gas station attendant yesterday. Same mindset, same vibe - the world seems to be alright from time to time.

Arriving at the top of the mountain, there was a magnificent view over Batumi and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, it was slightly hazy, so it couldn't be captured well in photographs.

In addition, there was a demonstration of an old Georgian dance for the very international audience consisting of Belarusians, Iraqis, Saudis, Americans, and surely many other nationalities...

Back in the city with the cable car (amazing view), we took a classic stroll along the promenade and through the streets of the city center. Just like everywhere else on tourist beaches, there is parasailing, banana riding, boat tours, and the selling of all kinds of trinkets, typical program.

And then we ended up at the kiosk from the previous evening. Sitting right by the road, we could observe interesting people. Obviously, cars are a status symbol here. We saw a lot of very expensive sedans and sports cars, more or less visually and technically modified.

People like to show off for 50 meters, apparently you have to show off wherever you are. This posing is not dependent on gender, women also like to lean diagonally and one-handed over the steering wheel. This used to be done with GTIs 25 years ago in my area, but hardly anyone knows that anymore.

Then I noticed the very high number of Toyota Prius hybrids here, for whatever reason there are so many of them.

But there is also a lot of junk driving around here. Bumper covers are often missing, sometimes even the headlights. The police don't seem to care about that.

Another peculiarity is that there is a high number of right-hand drive vehicles here, probably cheaper to import than comparable left-hand drive ones.

After a small table tennis match (you can rent the table for about 3 euros per hour), we went back to the hotel.

Relaxed day, the diesel doesn't have to rumble every day. But it's about time...