Romanianflyer

Part 6: The Batumi botanical gardens

My top priority was a visit to the botanical gardens of Batumi. As my apartment was self-catering the first priority was however to score some coffee and a good breakfast pastry of two in a coffee shop. Even though I am definitely not a morning person, I don't mind it to get out of bed and walk around if the sun is shining and there is a great vibe throughout town.











I boarded an overcrowded marshrutka (the term for a minibus in ex-Soviet countries) to the botanical gardens, which are located on a cape on the northern outskirts of the city. At the parking lot drop off point you have to cross a railway line to the ticket booth. I was surprised by the huge number of Arab visitors – women fully dressed in black niqab – walking around the botanical gardens. As a local would tell me later the entire country has also managed to attract quite some tourism from Arab countries in recent years – something which I can definitely understand when comparing the hot Gulf summers with the more humid subtropical climate of Batumi.

Close to the entrance of the botanical gardens is also a small pier and a quite decent beach – which surely looked more appealing than the beach in Batumi proper. I did not have my swimming shorts with me but it would make otherwise for a nice combination with the gardens to linger a bit longer, also given the fact there were a couple of open-air bars and restaurants.







The Batumi botanical gardens are quite huge and it can easily take a few hours if you want to walk everything. As I wrote before, what makes it special is the unique subtropical microclimate and lots of precipitation that falls in this part of the Black Sea coast. There are lots of exotic looking flowers and palm trees which easily grow here.







Highlight of the park is in my opinion the small cape which has a lovely view of the nearby coastline.





Somehow I found these signs absolutely hilarious to point to “WI-FI” in between the more legit signboards to geographical points of the park.



And leaving the Wi-Fi free zone... that means I have to pay now?



On a more serious note, the botanical gardens are lovely and make for a nice excursion out of the city. It was absolutely refreshing to walk around and rest a bit on benches to lovely views of the coastline, Batumi skyline or the many flowers and trees.







After arriving back in Batumi it was about time for lunch. As I was dropped off near yesterday's dinner place and did not feel like walking too much, I opted to dine again there to the lovely harbour views.







As I was quite hungry I opted for a khachapuri and a potato-pork hotpot – which was very good. I washed it away with a surprisingly decent 4 EUR bottle of sparkling rose. Gotta love Georgia.