Exploring Batumi in all its colours

2024-12-02
/
/ New Delhi
Exploring Batumi In All Its Colours
Exploring Batumi in all its colours

Another similarity that Batumi has to Las Vegas is the sheer number of casinos in the city and especially on the Batumi Boulevard

Georgian Black Sea resort town of Batumi is often referred to as the Paris of the Caucasus countries and it attracts the rich and famous from all over the world, bewitching them with its multiple shades and hues.
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What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Black Sea? Beaches? And what comes to your mind when you imagine Black Sea in midOctober? Cold, windy beaches? That is precisely what I had expected and what I experienced as soon as I reached the city that is also called the Black Sea Capital of Georgia.

It was early in the morning in mid-October when we reached Batumi. Just like our imagination of the Black Sea, the weather too was dark and gloomy on the day of our arrival. However, this was just one of the many hues of Batumi that I was about to experience within the short span of four days that I was going to spend in the resort town that leaves visitors captivated with its culture, cuisine and charm.

I was part of a group of journalists invited by Department of Tourism and Resorts of Ajara. Barely a day before we were to depart for Batumi from India, we were told that it was unseasonably cold and wet in Batumi and knowing what cold and wet meant in Europe, I was prepared for it. But neither we nor our hosts, and I can say with certainty even the Weather Bureau, expected that Batumi would bedazzle us with a variety of different shades of its beauty!

Gloomy Grey

Kemal Turmanidze

Kemal Turmanidze

As soon as we checked into our hotel, Hyatt Centric, we were treated with beautiful views of the Black Sea as the hotel towered over the beach. It was day one and the colour grey was the theme of the day. As it was raining intermittently, but rather heavily, our hosts decided to give us tour of places that were not too outdoorsy. Therefore, the first stop on our discovery of Batumi was the Ethnographic Museum Borjgalo, the first private museum in Georgia. The museum was a good start for us as a short visit gave us in-depth information about the culture, their food habits, lifestyle, agrarian economy and the woodcarvings of Ajara, the region of which Batumi is the capital.

The entire museum took 43 years to be built, since it was mounted single-handedly, display-by-display by one person alone, Kemal Turmanidze. He started making the wooden items in 1980 and has used 16 different types of woods in making the items of the museum. It was in 2016 that the museum was established thus making it the first private museum not just in Batumi, but all of Georgia.

The best part of our visit was that the owner himself gave us a private tour of the museum explaining to us the importance of different artefacts along with the woods used in making them. No guide, however knowledgeable about Ajara, could have given us the same perspective as Turmanidze.

A Wintry White

What happens when you remove all that is dark and gloomy from grey? You get the colour white!

What happens when you remove all that is dark and gloomy from grey? You get the colour white!

What happens when you remove all that is dark and gloomy from grey? You get the colour white! And this is what Mother Nature had planned for us as we began driving from the Borjgalo Museum towards our next stop. Enroute and all of a sudden we saw that the rain and dark clouds had made way for a blanket of white as it began snowing, lightly at the beginning, but fairly moderately soon afterwards. As a result, the black-top tar road ahead of us now seemed like a thin white strip and before long, everything all around us was covered in a pure white sheet.

Our hosts told us that even they were surprised to see the season’s first snowfall so early in the year. But we were glad as perhaps even destiny wanted us to experience all seasons and colours during our stay.

Chateau Iveri, a vineyard that not only produces one of the best wines of Georgia

Chateau Iveri, a vineyard that not only produces one of the best wines of Georgia

But right now, we were headed to Chateau Iveri, a vineyard that not only produces one of the best wines of Georgia, but, as it is located at an elevation of 500 metres above sea level, it also offers some of the most spectacular views of Batumi and the Ajara region.

As soon as we reached the vineyard, we jumped out of the car to get a view of the beautiful vineyard and the hillside houses that looked very much like the villas on the French Alps. We were at the vineyard for a tour of the plantation and understand the process of winemaking and witness different types of grapes. As it was mid October, the grapes were primed for harvest or Rtveli which is an age-old colourful and vibrant activity at the vineyard. However, due to the snow, we only could see the vineyard and some varieties of grapes.

A detailed session indoors about the different kinds of wines produced at the estate.

A detailed session indoors about the different kinds of wines produced at the estate

Nonetheless, the tour of the vineyard was replaced by another experience as the organisers had prepared for us a detailed session indoors about the different kinds of wines produced at the estate.

In its relatively small area of just one hectare of land, Chateau Iveri cultivates an amazing variety of wine grapes, including the distinguished Tsolikouri, Chkaveri, and Satsuri, alongside over 10 endemic species.

We were told that the vineyard had managed to preserve its centuries-old winemaking technique, using ancient Kvevris or large clay pots that are buried in the earth for fermentation.

Besides introducing to us their wine making techniques in detail, our hosts also surprised us with a beautiful display of Georgian polyphonic singing. This classical Georgian art has been classified by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. After the introduction to the estate and its history, we were spoilt with an extensive wine tasting session where we tried out a number of wines produced on the estate.

To warm ourselves up we were also offered Chacha, a traditional Georgian grape vodka. During the course of our visit, we also learn that Chateau Iveri, like many other European vineyards offers accommodation in the form of luxury rooms with breathtaking views of nature.

The Summer Blues

The crisp, clear blue sky was clearly a note from the heaven

The crisp, clear blue sky was clearly a note from the heaven

The next morning, I was woken up by an excited call from a representative of Batumi tourism who ecstatically asked me if I had seen the weather outside. Curious and confused in equal measure, I went to the balcony of my room to find that the view from the same balcony that had given
us extensively grey vibes barely 24 hours earlier, was now wearing an entirely different look. And the colour was such that if given to a day, it might kill the mood, as in Monday blues for those at work, and if given to the sky, it might make your day, especially for those at play.

And if the blue sky were not enough to cheer you up, the mesmerising views of the Black Sea and a long range of snow-clad peaks beyond the Sea would definitely stir your heart. It was as if Mother Nature was trying to make up for the wet and dark reception that we had received soon after our arrival into the city. The crisp, clear blue sky was clearly a note from the heaven urging us to leave our rooms and begin exploration of the city on such a lovely day.

Fortunately, our hosts had also responded enthusiastically to the nature’s call and our day’s programme was almost entirely outdoors.

We began the day’s exploration with a walking city tour led by our knowledgeable guide, Giorgi Megrelidze, who within minutes had all our attention due to his in-depth knowledge of the rich and colourful history of Batumi.

Batumi Octopus had been built during the Soviet era in 1975

Batumi Octopus had been built during the Soviet era in 1975

We began the tour with a unique structure that we had seen from our hotel rooms since it stood between our hotel and the sprawling beach that lay by the sea. Megrelidze told us the structure, called the Batumi Octopus, had been built during the Soviet era in 1975 and is known for its unique design, a three-dimension Soviet-style mosaic structure that had been a popular café back in the day for locals and tourists alike.

It struck me that by building the colourful mosaic octopus right next to the sea and that too in the 1980s, the architects of the era had tried to create a symbolic representation of the symbiotic relationship that humankind has with the sea and all its inhabitants.

Alas, despite the Batumi Octopus and numerous other such universal messages for centuries about the need for humans to learn to co-exist with the nature, we have ignored them to a point that the fate of the entire world is in peril due to climate change and mindless pollution, both entirely caused by the humans.

While I was pondering over these issues, we had reached another Batumi landmark, the Batumi Boulevard that runs 7 km along the seafront and is one of the most popular sites to see in Batumi. We saw a number of students on the boulevard who our guide said were students of the Batumi State University, which is located on the boulevard. And right next to the university is the Japanese Garden that showcases the beautiful Torii gate and a red bridge making it an ideal spot for a quick photo shoot.

Other highlights of the boulevard include the Batumi Summer Theatre, which is a massive wooden building, a replica of the old theatre that was destroyed in the 1990s. Lining the boulevard are statues of a number of personalities which curiously include a Frenchman.

Michael D’Alfons, a French nobleman and horticulturist, who designed the Batumi Boulevard

Megrelidze told us that the statue was in the honour of Michael D’Alfons, a French nobleman and horticulturist, who designed the Batumi Boulevard. The Colonnades, that is considered to be the gate to the Black Sea, is another unmissable spot on the boulevard.

The AlphabetTower represents the Georgian Alphabet and portrays its 33 letters

The Alphabet Tower represents the Georgian Alphabet and portrays its 33 letters

We continue our walk and see several high rise hotels highlighting the fact that Batumi has almost all big hotel chains. The skyline is probably the reason why Batumi is called the ‘Vegas of the Caucasus’ and on this clear and sunny day the steel and glass giants reflect the beautiful sky and the sea that lies across.

Another similarity that Batumi has to Las Vegas is the sheer number of casinos in the city and especially on the Batumi Boulevard. Megrelidze told us that the casinos are very popular with not only Georgians themselves but also attract tourists, notably from across the border in Türkiye, where casinos are banned! I couldn’t help but think of the number of Indian tourists that might make a beeline for Batumi’s casinos!

Moving ahead, we were mesmerised by the modern architecture and the numerous artistic creations on the boulevard. The most interesting and informative of them all is perhaps the Alphabet Tower, with a double helical structure like the DNA. The Alphabet Tower represents the Georgian Alphabet and portrays its 33 letters. Our guide told us that this 15-year-old monument represents that the Georgian Alphabet is the DNA of Georgia as only Georgians use it.

(Left) The statue is a fascinating combination of excellent art and science, notably physics

A few metres away from the tower is the most popular site of Batumi, the Ali and Nino statue. The statue is a fascinating combination of excellent art and science, notably physics as it involves two statues made of stacked metal that move in a constant orbit and at a point they merge perfectly for a few seconds and then separate again.

The statue is a representative of the two lovers Ali and Nino, who end up in tragic circumstances and can never be together. In case you want to know more about the tragic love story there is a 1937 Austrian novel that goes by the same name. Our guide told us that the statue is also a symbolic representation of how diverse Batumi as a region is that has place for all beliefs, faiths and ethnicities.

As we mulled over the romantic tragedy, our guide tried to cheer us up saying that we were now headed to a place that would enrapture us pretty much in the same way that Ali and Nino had enraptured each other. We were headed to experience the old world charm of Batumi as our next stop was the Old Batumi town.

Though the tour so far had been beautiful, I was simply fascinated by the charm of Old Batumi, which became the highlight of the tour for me. Its narrow, cobbled streets, lined by dozens of heritage buildings, many of them dating back to the 19th century when Old Batumi was simply Batumi and undergoing massive development, the fruits of which we can still enjoy in the form of its numerous monuments and architectural wonders.

One unique spot is the Batumi Lighthouse. Though there are tens of thousands of lighthouses around the world, Batumi Lighthouse stands out as it is situated on 41°, both in terms of latitude and also longitudinally!

Beyond the lighthouse, in the Old Batumi town itself is replete with colourful houses, which don’t look their age, as most of them are very well conserved and belie their age of over 150 years! To add a touch of modernity, perhaps, many of the houses come with a generous dose of graffiti. A walk around such a place is one of my favourite activities whenever visiting any part of the world and left to myself I could easily have spent my day here discovering the many tales that these houses have to recount! But Megrelidze soon shepherded us to our next discovery, which again presented itself like yet another time of the year representing quite another season!

Warm Greens of Spring

Our next stop was literally a sea of green, right next to the Black Sea! We were in the Botanical Garden, arguably the greenest part of Batumi. Watching all the greenery around made me think that how a colour which had been rampant all over the world just a few decades earlier has started to disappear so rapidly that we had to head to specially preserved areas like a forest or a garden to be able to soothe our eyes with it!

But of course being a garden and that too a Botanical Garden, it was flush with many colours besides the green, sprinkled as it was with numerous trees and flowers in various colours, red, yellow, white or blue and of course my favourite colour, the flaming red of the autumn. The gardens boasts of one of the widest varieties of flora in the world and contains plants from nine phyto-geographic areas, mainly from East Asia, New Zealand, South America, the Himalayas, Mexico, Australia, and of course the Mediterranean.

Having visited quite a few Botanical Gardens in various countries, I found the Batumi Botanical Garden to be the prettiest of them all, not just because of what it contained, but also due to its location and what lay in its vicinity.

Overlooking the Black Sea and set on a lush green hill, that is skirted by a train track, that seems to mysteriously disappear into a tunnel, the Botanical Garden is quite a fascinating place. And to add a tinge of adventure and thrill, it also offers a zip line that is about 300 m long and set 30 m above the ground and crosses the rail track just at the point of the tunnel as it heads downwards towards the coast. The ride indeed was a memorable one!

Cameo by the rainbow

Argo cable car Batumi

The Argo cable car offers beautiful views of the city and Port of Batumi

As if Batumi was determined to complete the palette of colours, despite the short stay, as we headed back from the Botanical Garden, we were blessed to witness a bright rainbow stretching like a giant arc from one horizon to another!

Since the rainbow seemed to be there to stay for a while, our guide took us to a spot where locals were fishing and we were simply gawking at the view! As we admired the sunset and the rainbow, with a cool breeze blowing in from the sea, we could easily have been mistaken for people who had just hit the jackpot in the casino! But few would know that our real jackpot was not inside a building but the amazing display that Nature had organised for us during our stay here, relishing Batumi and its beauty in all its colours.

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