Batumi is the second biggest city in Georgia, home to around 180,000 residents. It’s famous for its beaches, even though they’re rocky—no sand anywhere. During the season, Batumi can get very busy. There’s a lot of gambling here, and wealthy Russians come to enjoy themselves.
Batumi has an old city core, where the traditional apartments with high ceilings are found. There are plenty of restaurants and fancy cafés here—it’s easy to get a decent latte (isn’t that the real measure of quality of life, the presence of Italian espresso machines?). However, there are streets that mark the edge of the city center, and beyond them real life begins. These areas are crowded with locals, most of them men of a particular age group, between 40 and 70. The same men seem to gather later in the day along the seashore, where they fish or play cards.
The real Batumi has narrow sidewalks, heavy traffic, and plenty of cars missing their bumpers—thanks to the rough roads and the rather adventurous driving style of their owners. Everyone seems to be either selling or buying something. The side streets are filled with markets of all kinds; once you enter one, it’s easy to get lost in the labyrinth of passages. Curtains upon curtains, shoes, clothes—genuine and fake—and even an entire district devoted to tools, screws, and machines.
So there’s the old-turned-new (the Old Town), the worn-down real Batumi, plus the abandoned building projects spreading a somewhat morbid charm, and, finally, the remnants of its glorious past—best seen in the beautiful Octopus Café, built in the Soviet eighties and luckily preserved after locals protested its demolition following the end of the Cold War.
What happened back then in Batumi has shaped another defining feature of the city today: the high-rises, mostly along the beach, built after the fall of communism. Because of these developments, some people call Batumi the “Las Vegas of the Black Sea.” Well, they clearly haven’t been to Las Vegas…
What’s far more impressive than all the public money poured into construction is the creative and inspiring mix of times, cultures, and people that make Batumi what it is.
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I love reading about your impressions of Georgia. I visited the country way back in 2013, and fell in love with it. I had the opportunity to visit many areas, but strangely never made it to Batumi–so I particularly appreciated this post!
Thank you very much for the feedback!