Batumi is the second-largest city of Georgia, located on the coast of the Black Sea in the country's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone near the foot of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. Much of Batumi's economy revolves around tourism and gambling, but the city is also an important sea port and includes industries like shipbuilding, food processing and light manufacturing.
Since 2010, Batumi has been transformed by the construction of modern high-rise buildings, as well as the restoration of classical 19th-century edifices lining its historic Old Town
I quite liked the city, it had an interesting mix of the Old Town, and the ultra-modern seafront area. We were only here for one night, but I would have liked to stay another day
The statue in motion of the young lovers was interesting as the move through each other
We had a ride on the giant Ferris Wheel in the evening - some of us enjoyed the ride more than others!
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World Palace Hotel
The somewhat over grandiosely named "World Palace Hotel" is 200 metres from the seafront, and in the centre of the city. Our room overlooked a rather uninspiring side street. The reception staff were neither helpful nor cheerful
Breakfast is served on their rooftop restaurant, which is the best thing about the hotel as it has an awe inspiring view over the sea. The food at breakfast was standard fare of reasonable quality. The staff were not into service. Although we were the only people having breakfast, they forgot our coffee, and it was a job to find them to get it as they were bunkered down with their mobile phones in the back of the bar
The position is very good as you can walk easily to anywhere in the city centre.
I think I would explore other options before booking here again
Loft Restaurant
The restaurant is part of the World Palace Hotel, and to find it you go through the hotel lobby and take the lift up to the top floor.
There is an open air terrace to dine, with views out over the sea,
Food and service is much as one gets all over Georgia - tourist food and bad service.
I recommend it because of the view. If you travel a lot, then I think if you ate at any of the street level restaurants in Batumi, then the memory would fade quickly over time, as they offer little different, the one from the other.. But you will remember eating here because of the view
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Botanical Gardens
The Batumi Botanical Garden covers 108 hectare area of land 9 km north of the city of Batumi. It is one of the largest botanical gardens in the former Soviet Union. The Garden was started by the Russian botanist Krasnov in the 1880s and officially opened in 1912. Krasnov died in 1914 and was interred at the garden which still houses his grave and statue.
Under the Soviet Union, the garden was further expanded and developed, since 1925, into a principal institution for the study of Caucasian maritime subtropical cultures. Currently, the garden consists of nine floral sectors, those of Caucasian humid subtropics, East Asia, New Zealand, South America, the Himalayas, Mexico, Australia, and of the Mediterranean. The garden collection comprises 2037 taxonomic units of woody plants, including 104 of Caucasian origin.
The Batumi Botanical Garden had formerly been operated by the Georgian Academy of Sciences. Since 2006, it is an independent institution.
These gardens were not really me, and Chris had difficulties walking the distances, mainly downhill- her bete noir - that our surly guide, George, wanted us to do inside the gardens. His goal was to see a particularly uninteresting statue of the founder of the gardens, which involved trekking down miles of nondescript green trees, broken by occasional bursts of colour from flowerbeds
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Back by road to Tbilisi, where we stopped overnight, before continuing on ...