We checked into our Hotel and a concert broke out outside our window

Thursday, May 21, 2015

We awoke late after our post midnight wanderings through Batumi.

Before I move on to my daily observations, I want to give a big SHOUTDOWN to the travel book publisher, Lonely Planet, whose books I have been using. I have used them in the past and have been very pleased to the point that I purchased several hundreds of dollars of books for this trip. However, they really did me a disservice with their failure to address the issue of how to use the Turkish toll roads. The book had a section on bringing your car into Turkey and it addressed the need for proof of ownership and insurance, etc. However, it made no mention of the fact that you need to go to a PTT office ASAP after entering Turkey to get a transponder or sticker to lawfully use the toll roads and avoid a major fine. The absence of that information caused us lots of grief, although we managed to talk our way out of the fine. I know that these books cannot cover everything and there will be mistakes about addresses, opinions about facilities, etc,, but this omission in my mind is travel malpractice.

No guesthouse breakfast. I miss that. It is convenient and usually good and filling, plus you oftentimes get a chance to interact with the local host. Instead I went out to get some lari, the Georgian currency. Shopped around as I found that while the currency traders give a better rate, they charge a commission, so I ended up in a bank that had the best rate I could find.

Upon trying to return to the hotel, I again was lost. I later realized that the street our guesthouse was on did not extend through. However, I did find an insurance agency. After packing we went back there to purchase local auto insurance. Apparently road and driving conditions are so bad in Georgia that western insurance companies will not issue primary auto insurance for that country. The agent spoke good English and we were able to get two months of expensive liability insurance. So now we have primary and secondary insurance on the car.

Managed to drive out of Batumi without getting lost even without GPS, but it is not very big. Took off for Tbilisi along the Black Sea and then into the mountains. Most of the roads are pretty well maintained, but they are virtually all winding, not flat, and single lane each way. There is lots of truck traffic and much of it moves slowly, particularly uphill. Passing is a wild ride, particularly around the many small business vans that are so top heavy they go very slow around the curves, but speed up on the short and infrequent straightaways. The Twingo’s limited power does not help. The Georgians are far more advanced at the process that I am, with my training in that art limited to trips on the 395 up to Mammouth Mt. before it was widened. They are particularly adept at passing you when you are behind a truck, even when you leave no room by just cutting you off and essentially daring you to hit them. As a result, you are left one spot back in the passing game. I learned to hug and even cross over the middle lane to cut them off before they jump ahead. Lots of white knuckle passing near curves.

A world class four lane highway greeted us about 50 miles outside Tbilisi, so we got in before I planned and when it was still light. GPS magically reappeared and we got to where the hotel was supposed to be. Traffic was a madhouse, so I pulled into a parking lot to get my bearings. Two attendants came over and were giving us directions. Either I did not understand or they were wrong, so that led us on a wild goose chase. Turned out we were across the street from the hotel.

Drove into underground parking. The attendant smiled and said, “a small space for a small car.” He was not kidding.

The hotel is very nice. We requested the cheaper interior courtyard room. Turned out there was a wonderful concert with a 9-piece band in the courtyard, so we simply flung open the window and enjoyed virtually front row seats while we ate chocolates, bread and jam, and drank wine.