One of the perks of being located in the Guria region of
Western Georgia is our proximity to the Black Sea resort city of Batumi.
In an effort to see the city and swim in the Black Sea
before winter arrives, a large group of TLG volunteers descended upon the city
en masse from October 26th through 28th.
Mitch repeatedly thanked me for selling my soul to corporate
America for 2 years as we cashed in some of my Starpoints for a free stay at
the Sheraton Palace Batumi. No hostel for us!
Batumi is a lovely city with modern architecture and quaint,
old churches. There is a lot of development going on in Batumi right now –
hotels and casinos are popping up everywhere. There is a Trump Tower planned,
and Georgians are quick to tell you that Trump recently said that, “in five
years, Batumi will be the best city in the world.” He clearly is appealing to
the Georgian fondness for exaggeration and the ‘braggadocio’ culture here.
Batumi is home to the ‘Georgian language tower’, which has a
double helix with the Georgian alphabet winding its way around the outside of
the tower. The city also boasts a beautiful structure that is clearly inspired
by Islamic architecture. Ironically, however, it is a fountain where free ‘cha
cha’ (Georgian moonshine) flows during certain hours every evening. No joke.
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Despite all the charming sights Batumi has to offer, the
highlight was undoubtedly the hotel. It was a gorgeous Sheraton property, and
an amazing value for an SPG category-3 hotel (tip for all my consultant friends
out there). The complementary suite upgrade we got thanks to my Platinum status
made it an amazing value stay for the points we used.
Speaking of Platinum status, I don’t think they get many
Platinum members with large point balances staying at this hotel. When the
woman at the desk was checking me in, she literally almost choked then started
laughing when she read me my Starpoint balance. Thank you, Uncle Bain!
We had an executive suite on the 18th floor with
a wonderful view of the city. Our living space had a ½ bath, which was
particularly nice since there were 4-5 of us crashing there at any given time.
We each spent quite a bit of time in the shower, which was a rain shower (a la
hotel Kent, Melody!). Lovely.
On our first evening in town, we decided to venture outside
of the city to see a ‘castle’ at a historical site called Gonio. This ‘castle’
was more of a fortress wall and was unfortunately closed upon our arrival at
5:30, despite being told that it would be open until 7. Georgian Maybe Time at
work as usual. Having suffered an extremely crowded bus ride out there, the
likes of which I had only ever endured on the P2P shuttle at UNC, we decided to
wander around on some private property adjacent to the fortress. The farmers
passing us were friendly and didn’t seem to mind that we were picking and
eating the oranges from their trees.
As we headed back to the bus stop, we heard some voices yell,
“Hello there! Can you please help us?” Apparently two young German guys had
gotten locked in the fortress when it closed early and unannounced. They had
found a ladder, scaled the fortress walls, and tossed it over right by the path
where we happened to be walking. They threw their bags down to us, and we
steadied the ladder while they climbed out of their accidental prison. How
exciting, we got to participate in a rescue!
One of the few other times when I was able to drag myself
out of the hotel, I visited the botanical gardens on Saturday, which were
breathtaking. The weather was beautiful and the scenery picturesque as we hiked
around the gardens for a couple of hours. There was a house in the middle of
the botanical garden where we attempted to steal some kiwis from their trees,
but only Paul found one ripe enough to taste. Later we encountered some citrus
trees with an unidentifiable yellow citrus. Unfortunately, it did not taste so
great and really burned the cut on my finger. Lesson learned? We’ll see.
On Sunday, I had an amazingly relaxing day. I started the
morning with a visit to the hotel gym followed by a quick dip in the Black Sea.
It was a bit cold, but bearable once you immersed yourself in the water. The
annoying part was that the beaches are rocky, not sandy. Then I checked out the
indoor pool and hot tub at the hotel. After that, I found the hot and cold
plunge pools, the sauna, and the steam room. As I was just about to head
upstairs for a shower, I noticed the Turkish bath. When I walked in, I couldn’t
believe that the hotel had such an amazing facility at the free disposal of the
guests! I had the whole thing to myself, so I enjoyed dumping water on myself
and lying on the heated marble slab in the middle. It was a much-needed moment
of tranquility and rejuvenation before heading back to my village.
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