Summer Days in Tbilisi, Georgia #8 - To the Black Sea Shoreline

Thursday,  August 4, 2011  on to Batumi, Georgia

By mid-morning on Thursday in Tbilisi, we loaded in Gia’s Honda – Jim, myself, Gia, and Nina (his wife) and their infant son (7 months) for the long trek through the heart of this country. 

It would become a majestic marathon.  Majestic in that the road led west along vast elevated highways, only then to dip down into the valleys with mountains to the right and left.  Many rivers.  Railroads.  Further west, we came to unavoidable, mountainous territory, which meant clouds and intermitant rain and lush forests and foliage and towns imbedded in shallow valleys along the way.  Switchbacks, turns, and courageous passing of slower trucks.  It reminded me very much of driving in the Pennsylvanian mountains, or the Smokey Mountains.  As the road became more winding, there were more roadside cottage businesses selling food,craft items, etc…a virtual, endless “Estes Park” (Colorado) all the way.  Between reading and retrieving a teething ring for the little guy between me and Gia’s wife, I dozed on and off along the way.  

After 4-5 hours, we stopped in a large city and ate a very upscale McDonalds.  It was good to be out of the car for about an hour.  We had at least 2 hours to go.

The final leg led us into even more lush and well watered country of changing elevations.  The mountainous terrain extends virtually to the Black Sea, where the port city of Batumi is located.  Perhaps 200,000 people.  We arrived close to 6:00 PM, and first went to Tamadze’s 1^st floor apartment, the father of Gia’s wife, Ninah.  There were Ninah’s parents and 3 sisters, along with Gia and Ninah’s daughter, 5 year old (and precocious) Salome (sah-lo-meh, accent on last syllable), and a handsome young boy nephew.   Tamadze is the pastor of the believing church in Batumi, and his apartment sits on the bottom of a large, multi-storied complex of apartments, and just several hundred yards from the coastline of the Black Sea.

Not surprisingly, a bounteous Georgian meal was served to all of us around a small table in the kitchen/living room.  Salome was delighted to see her parents after almost a month of being with Grandpa and Grandma.  We ate and talked, but we travelers were a bit spent.  I took a walk along the shoreline of the Sea.  Here at least, the shore was full of rounded rocks, large, and small, and mostly flat.  It wasn’t the best place for swimming, although it was permitted, and I saw one middle aged woman unrobe and walk gingerly over the rocky surfaces and in to the waves lapping onto shore.  Her husband (or boyfriend) watched from where her robe lay.  The evening was gray, cloudy, with a steady drizzle.

With a pocketful of rocks, I made my way around a waterpark complex built along a portion of the area just up from the “beach” and then back up the divided, four lane which runs parallel to the shoreline and in front of Tamadze’s apartment complex, just one of many in the area.  I have “intentions” for these Black Sea ball-markers.

Soon, we made our way to the church complex which would be our lodgings for the next two nights, perhaps 2-3 miles north of Tamadze’s home.  Gated, the church complex is two stories, sitting on a long and narrow strip of land that runs west.  On the 1^st floor, a pastoral office, outside of which is the worship area (perhaps 17’x30’), with chairs, and a home-made podium up front.  Being both a painter and an artist, Tamadze has made sure the walls are both nicely painted, and adored with trims and artwork pieces, though not too many.  Mostly his.  He has a gift for this.  At the back of the worship area is a small kitchen.  Upstairs, accessed by a concrete, winding staircase, a second floor contains another kitchen area, and 4 rooms in which are twin beds or twin-bunkbeds.  Jim would take one room, I another, and there were others whom we did not know who would occupy the other rooms, somewhat come-and-go.

Using Jim Herrington’s mobile internet (USB) plug in, we accessed the World Wide Web, and then went to sleep, anticipating our meeting tomorrow regarding the Bakke Graduate University proposal. 

 (my apologies for the lack of pictures - my camera cord is back in Tbilisi)