My family and I have just returned from a trip to Georgia, which led us to discover large cities, well‑known international destinations, and small towns not yet touched by mass tourism. We met wonderful people who will stay in our hearts forever, but also some who were decidedly more irritable and unpleasant. We experienced fun moments and others that were much less so. This is the unfiltered story of what happened, and I hope you enjoy it.

Previous chapters

Chapter 1 - Alcoholic Transfer

Chapter 2 - Heading toward the ‘most precious water in the world

Chapter 3 - There’s more than just water

Chapter 4 - The Disney Castle

Chapter 5 - A thousand years of history

Chapter 6 – On the Road to the Black Sea

The trip from Akhaltsikhe toward Batumi costs 30 GEL per person (1 € = 3 GEL). The schedule board posted at the bus station shows that only four trips a day are available to the famous seaside resort on the Black Sea (with about fifteen seats per vehicle), and following Diana’s advice, we go a few days early to buy the tickets and reserve our seats.

It’s time to leave the city of the castle and the lovely hotel owner who welcomed and pampered us like family, and embark on a sort of “journey of hope” expected to last five hours. Spoiler: it will end up being almost six.

Despite an early departure — drivers don’t wait once the vehicle is full — we reach Batumi in the late afternoon. The distance between the bus station and our Airbnb is about three kilometers. Normally we’d walk, but with Bolt charging only 7 GEL to take all of us and our backpacks straight to the door, it would be crazy not to take advantage of it.

The driver, Mikhail, is a force of nature and lights up when he hears us speaking Italian. Even though six hours on the road have drained most of our energy for conversation, his enthusiasm is contagious, and we end up singing snippets of Italian songs from the 1960s together.

At the house, we’re welcomed by Shorena’s sister and mother — Shorena being the girl who actually managed the listing and who is currently in the United States for her studies. Even though the accommodation appears, perhaps for the first time in all our travel experiences, even better than it looked in the photos, it still has the usual little flaws typical of places advertised for more than four people: one chair is missing, there’s no cushion for the sofa bed, and above all, there aren’t enough glasses.

But holy joy, we’re supposed to spend 12 days in Batumi… Do you really think we’ll never need to sit at the table together for lunch, dinner, or breakfast?

People choose a house instead of a hotel for three main reasons: to save money, to live a more immersive and less touristy experience, and above all, to avoid having to hunt for a restaurant or something similar for all three daily meals. We point this out, of course, and once again the missing items arrive within minutes.

Aside from that, the house is clean, and the beds — for the first time since the beginning of this Georgian adventure — are actually comfortable, even though the bathroom has a couple of issues that can’t be fixed quickly: there’s no shower curtain (which will inevitably flood the floor every time someone washes), and in the drainage gaps there clearly hides the nest of some giant mosquito, since we’ll end up fighting its offspring practically every day.

But it’s time to give in to the call of the sea, and after a ten‑minute walk we reach the impressive boulevard that runs along the beach. It stretches for a full eight kilometers and, at first glance, has nothing to envy of iconic American boardwalks like Atlantic City or Venice Beach.

The brightly lit high‑rises towering over the area create a noticeable Dubai‑like effect, and although this is precisely the Georgian administration’s stated goal — to transform the city into the “Dubai of the Black Sea” — Batumi today still lives with clear contrasts between wealthy, flashy districts and others that are far more humble and popular.

But we’ll talk about that next time.