Mtirala National Park near Batumi

After we arrived in Batumi, Georgia, we decided to disvover the this country (in the 6 days left) by car and go hiking in the northern part 'Svaneti' in the Caucasus mountains.
Batumi itself is a mixture between Las Vegas, Dubai and Nizza. Old rosty sowjet houses change with modern hotels. Casino licenses are cheap and Turkish people come to bet and gamble. My favorite place in Batumi is the local food bazaar. Old, wrinkled Georgians selling herbes, spices, whole pigs, hens and everything you can imagine. They speak only Georgian or Russian. The Georgian food is very tasty. Especially the eggplants with walnut pastry and of course the homemade wine! (but not all of them :D haha beware).
We start our journey in Batumi and reach out to the Mtirala national park in the south. It is the wettest part in Georgia. The green color of the plants is intense. We hike to a waterfall and a clear water lake and then walk the long route trough dense forest. Fun fact: Only another German couple walks the long part. All other tourists climb in Flips Flops and evening robe to the waterfall to take the best picture possible. Suddenly, we see footsteps of bears in the mud! Brown bears live in the park but we did not meet them. (Fine for me ;)Read more