Wartime Khachapuri

On the Batumi harbor, right in the middle of the two main quays is a nice restaurant. It makes an excellent Acharuli xachapuri.

The quay seen from the restaurant

The view is really nice, the xachapuri heavy and fat (the way it should be) and the Kazbegi is cold. Meanwhile, about 50 km North, the Russian troops are setting up checkpoints in Poti, blowing up stuff in the harbor and looting the warehouses and the recently opened free-trade zone. We ordered another Kazbegi.

Batumi was busy as ever, just without a functioning mobile phone network and ATM's empty

One of the waitresses got a txt and told us the Russians had taken Zugdidi, a quite major town for its region, and were advancing in both the central and the Western part of the country.

The harbor view of the restaurant

The night before, four jets flew over and dropped some bombs, probably on the tarmac of Batumi Airport (I wasn't sure exactly were the bombs fell as the airport looked fine driving past it, but later there was an article on Rustavi2 about the reopening of the place).

Some jellyfish moved slowly through the water making the silence even more weird

There were some coast guard ships out front but it seemed really tranquille. There wasn't any boat traffic, even though it was the only functioning major port in Georgia at the time. I ordered my xachapuri without the lump of butter in order not to OD on the fat, so I actually got to finishing it.

Georgian coast guard

When the xachapuris were finished we decided to leave, as we were in what could be considered a prime candidate for bombing. Unfortunately I didn't get another xachapuri that time.

The beach of Kobuleti, North of Batumi at the time of picture about 30 km away from Russian troops

Czars & Soviets

These pictures were taken in the city of Batumi, the seaside resort of the tiny Caucasian republic of Georgia. It's a cool place. As everywhere in Georgia, they like to put certain buildings in the spotlight, but never manage to do it exactly right. There's always something hasty and not well thought through about it. But, it does give you sweet effects after dark and in this case it shines light on two structures representing two opposites in history.

This is Batumi city hall. A Russian building. Fake-French, so to speak. It sits right on the boulevard, which is slow and lazy during the day and bustling with life (and booze) at night. The fountain also has lights in it - looking very classical there. If you would turn 90 degrees from where I was standing, you would see the ferris wheel, and some very bad-taste plastic and neon palm trees on a square that's just a little too large.

Not far from the city hall, is this odd-looking fellow. The parliament building of the autonomous republic of Achara. I really don't know what to think of this building. During the day it looks like a failed Soviet attempt at building a modern office building. At night it's freaky... like it has "Big Brother is watching you" written all over it. But I might miss the point completely. In any case, if you pass it after a night on the piss it makes for a good laugh.