Batumi

Our last stop in Georgia was the second-largest city, Batumi. This is the biggest port on Georgia's only coastline (the Black Sea), so the bay is full of huge carrier ships. It is also a slightly seedy party town, full of high-rise hotels, casinos, and new-build apartment complexes with Israeli, Russian and Emirati flags. But it's right on the Turkish border, so it makes sense for us to pass through here, and we managed to time our visit perfectly to coincide with an international rugby match being played in the local stadium.

Rugby is popular in Georgia because it resembles a folk tradition called 'lelo burti', in which two opposing villages compete once a year in an hours-long scrum to push a 16kg leather bag across a field. The number of players is unlimited, the game often crosses multiple rivers, and teammates often tap out for smoke breaks mid-game. This happens every Easter, so sadly we couldn't watch a lelo burti match this time, but we *did* get to watch Georgia thrash Canada at least. The national team are nicknamed the 'lelos' after the traditional game, and one of their chants goes 'lelo, lelo, Sakartvelo', which means 'try, try, Georgia'.

Other than the rugby, our stop in Batumi has just been a chance to work on some job applications, have a lie in, and prepare for the final sprint of the year. Although not cold, the fog was rolling in from the Black Sea and we can feel that we'll finally be facing winter weather soon. We have been so lucky throughout our time in the Caucasus, which has probably contributed to why we've loved visiting Georgia so much. It has been perfectly bright and crisp, with beautiful autumn colours for the last three weeks in the region, clear views through the mountains, and ideal temperatures for walking around and seeing the sights. We are also (as regular readers will be bored of hearing by now) obsessed with the food. Once we get a house sorted in the UK, expect plenty of Georgian dishes on rotation if you come to visit us for dinner.

We were told by of the people we met that Georgians will put a cross on absolutely anything, to express their Christian faith. Crosses on flags, clothes, cakes, hats, vehicles, mountainsides, whatever. We noticed that, inadvertantly, our travel tracker in this app has left a cross on Georgia. Our parting gift to the country that has treated us so well! 🇬🇪Read more