2003-07-09
After a long night out, we don't wake up until noon, and Naira laughs when we stagger into her "lobby" to have some breakfast. She cooks us an excellent brunch consisting of khachapuri (made in a tiny portable khachapuri-oven), fried eggs, cheese &qmp; bread and several different fruit juices to chose from. It rains occationally today too, not uncommon in the sub-tropic climate of Adjara. As the skies get clear and the sun comes forward, we walk down to the ferry terminal to buy tickets to Sochi, Russia. We decide to take the hydrofoil ship Kometa, leaving the day after tomorrow. You can only buy tickets one day in advance, so we have to come back tomorrow. Taking a walk around town, we find a small internet cafe. The connection is extremely bad this day so none of us are able to send any mails. Nydda has a cup of turkish coffee at the cafe and starts talking to the owner, Guga, who speaks excellent english. Guga takes the beer interrested Hobbe & HJ to the local brewery in Batumi. Unfortunately the manager is away, but if they come back tomorrow they might get a guided tour. Back at Naira's house we sit down in the comfortable chairs in the "lobby" and talk to the other two guests staying here, two sisters from Tbilisi. Since it is raining a bit, Sande, HJ & Nydda takes the opportunity to get their hair cut at the hairdresser next door. Suddenly Naira's neighbour Gela appears. He doesn't speak a word english (or german) but he has understood that HJ & Hobbe are interrested in the Batumi beer. Gela brings with him a 2 litre PET bottle filled with beer straight from the tank at the brewery. Naira also shows her hospitality by giving us home made sweet red wine. When the hairdresser is done with the three Swedes and we finished the beer & wine, Gela offers to take us on an evening trip in his Lada. He takes us down the road towards Sarpi, on the border to Turkey. We stop at the Gonio fortress a few kilometers south of Batumi before continuing south. The sun sets beautifully over the Black Sea when Gela suddenly hits the brakes and stops by a car standing on the side of the road. The seemingly deserted car rocks suspiciously back and forth. Gela smilingly honks and shouts until a man winds down the steamy window and looks out. It turns out to be a relative of Gela's having a tender moment with some girl... Arriving in Sarpi we walk along the pebble beach to a small restaurant. We have some barbecue and georgian red while trying to communicate with Gela, without much luck. After the moonlit dinner Gela takes us back to Batumi, where we head to the beach discoteque. Hobbe & HJ jump around a while on the dance floor before settling down with the rest of us to talk to two girls from Tbilisi. Once again, a bottle of vodka gets ordered. One of the girls, Olga speaks no english so Hobbe has to use his limited German vocabulary when trying to communicate. The glass of Stolichnaya doesn't improve the language skills much. Sande & Nydda talks with DJ Nika, who had a much deserved break. Nika tells that he every month pays money to the maffia to be allowed to work as a DJ, and that he'd love to come to Sweden to work. He keeps repeating "I know my work, I know my work!"
After a long night out, we don't wake up until noon, and Naira laughs when we stagger into her "lobby" to have some breakfast. She cooks us an excellent brunch consisting of khachapuri (made in a tiny portable khachapuri-oven), fried eggs, cheese &qmp; bread and several different fruit juices to chose from. It rains occationally today too, not uncommon in the sub-tropic climate of Adjara. As the skies get clear and the sun comes forward, we walk down to the ferry terminal to buy tickets to Sochi, Russia. We decide to take the hydrofoil ship Kometa, leaving the day after tomorrow. You can only buy tickets one day in advance, so we have to come back tomorrow. Taking a walk around town, we find a small internet cafe. The connection is extremely bad this day so none of us are able to send any mails. Nydda has a cup of turkish coffee at the cafe and starts talking to the owner, Guga, who speaks excellent english. Guga takes the beer interrested Hobbe & HJ to the local brewery in Batumi. Unfortunately the manager is away, but if they come back tomorrow they might get a guided tour. Back at Naira's house we sit down in the comfortable chairs in the "lobby" and talk to the other two guests staying here, two sisters from Tbilisi. Since it is raining a bit, Sande, HJ & Nydda takes the opportunity to get their hair cut at the hairdresser next door. Suddenly Naira's neighbour Gela appears. He doesn't speak a word english (or german) but he has understood that HJ & Hobbe are interrested in the Batumi beer. Gela brings with him a 2 litre PET bottle filled with beer straight from the tank at the brewery. Naira also shows her hospitality by giving us home made sweet red wine. When the hairdresser is done with the three Swedes and we finished the beer & wine, Gela offers to take us on an evening trip in his Lada. He takes us down the road towards Sarpi, on the border to Turkey. We stop at the Gonio fortress a few kilometers south of Batumi before continuing south. The sun sets beautifully over the Black Sea when Gela suddenly hits the brakes and stops by a car standing on the side of the road. The seemingly deserted car rocks suspiciously back and forth. Gela smilingly honks and shouts until a man winds down the steamy window and looks out. It turns out to be a relative of Gela's having a tender moment with some girl... Arriving in Sarpi we walk along the pebble beach to a small restaurant. We have some barbecue and georgian red while trying to communicate with Gela, without much luck. After the moonlit dinner Gela takes us back to Batumi, where we head to the beach discoteque. Hobbe & HJ jump around a while on the dance floor before settling down with the rest of us to talk to two girls from Tbilisi. Once again, a bottle of vodka gets ordered. One of the girls, Olga speaks no english so Hobbe has to use his limited German vocabulary when trying to communicate. The glass of Stolichnaya doesn't improve the language skills much. Sande & Nydda talks with DJ Nika, who had a much deserved break. Nika tells that he every month pays money to the maffia to be allowed to work as a DJ, and that he'd love to come to Sweden to work. He keeps repeating "I know my work, I know my work!"