I'm here now (waiting to get a transit visa for Azerbaijan) and I really don't get this place. Where and why is all this money pouring into this town to build these grand boulevards and hotels? They're building a Trump Tower, there's already a Sheraton and a Radisson Blu. There just doesn't seem to be that much going on here (and the coast is nice but nothing special) to warrant all this development.

There was a pamphlet in our hotel "How to open a bank in Batumi", which gave me a good chuckle.