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Old Dec 18, 2018, 3:14 pm
  #16  
Romanianflyer
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: OTP
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Part 5: Some more Batumi seaside fun

At the end of the pedestrian boulevard and at the start of the harbour is the bottom station of a cable car which takes visitors up a hill for sweeping views over Batumi and the lush subtropical countryside.









There isn't that much to do at the top. There is a restaurant and a terrace with some good views over a small church, the nearby forested hills and the Batumi skyline.









Unfortunately, the queue going back down was much, much longer than the five minute wait at the seafront station. I ended up waiting for about 30 minutes, although in the end it wasn't that bad as I got into a fun talk with a Russian family despite my very limited Russian knowledge and their very limited English knowledge.

Back in the city I wandered a bit around the harbour waterfront until I spotted a nice restaurant overlooking the sea and figured it was about dinner time. As the sun was slowly going under the skies gave way to gorgeous purple colours (my pictures don't do it justice as it was much better in real).







I opted for some grilled trout in orange sauce and half a litre of Georgian white, which was only about 5 to 6 EUR combined.



The (obscured) sunset views came for free.







After the meal I wandered back to the main seaside boulevard, which by this time became even more crowded than it was during the day. It seemed that all holidaymakers, including families with children, just loved their 10pm stroll before going to bed or hitting the pubs. Given the gorgeous views and all the fun on offer such as a Ferris Wheel, sunset cruises, live music and other performing artists, you really can't disagree with their choice. A fun and photogenic city Batumi is for sure!













One of the fun sights on the boulevard is the revolving statue of Ali and Nino, which depictures a classic Caucasus novel about a love story between a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and a Christian Georgian girl. The statue is made in such way that the figures at first stand far apart, but eventually merge into each other after about 20-30 minutes.





By this time, I was pretty much exhausted after the long day so I just went back to my apartment, drank a wee bit of the complimentary homemade red wine until I passed out from tiredness on my bed.

Next up: Day two in Batumi, with a visit to the beautiful botanical gardens[/b]
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