Most images are approximately 683 x 1024 pixels in size,
numbers in front of picture descriptions are
serial numbers of the original photo files.
Pictures photo and copyright (c) Primož Jakopin 2017.
The main objective of this voyage was to explore the
possibility of reaching the karst plateau in the Arabika
massif, known for quite a few very deep caves.
It was meant to last 14 days but had to be
cut in half for several reasons, most notably for the cold weather with snow at much
lower altitudes than anticipated (August would be a far more
appropriate month for the task) and for the limited means
of moving around in the area, especially inconvenient if you are not
travelling light. In Gagra the knowledge of the deep cave existence
on Arabika is from TV reports, only other data from the travel agents was
that there were people in the past who got lost in the
mountain while searching for the caves.
The possibility to rent a car in Abkhazia or at least to
use a car, rented in Georgia or Russia, would be an immense asset -
as would be an International Airport in Sukhum.*
Otherwise the memories from the trip are highly positive,
the hospitality of the people in Georgia and Abkhazia is justly
proverbial, knowledge of Russian which the writer of these lines was
never able to practice since middle school came in very handy all
the way.
Pictures in this report were taken with the intent to show
the good side of the nature and places which meet the eye of the visitor,
sad consequences of the unfortunate events at the turn of the millenium
were largely avoided.
There is a wealth on resources on Georgia, both on Internet
and in printed form, less so for Abkhazia. The most recommended is
a tiny book in Russian, now in its third edition:
Роман Устинов: Абхазия. Практический путеводитель. Издательство «Раменская типография», Раменское, 2015. 144 стр.
(Roman Ustinov: Abkhazia. Practical Guidebook. Published by
Ramenskaja tipografija, Ramenskoe, 2015, 144 pp.)
35301. The departure hurry left the standard instrument, an SLR camera, behind - between the front seats of the author's car as depicted here. So all the following pictures were taken either by the cell phone (not of some particular quality) or by his movie camera in photography mode.
35164. Night view of the empty corridor on the first floor of the airport building
35165. View of the cloud cover above the Black Sea from the airplane window
35166. View towards the front of the maršrutka minibus interior from the back seat, during the Batumi - Zugdidi trip. On the large screen rolls a video that accompanies one of the popular Russian disco songs during the ride. The songs were nice and romantic albeit played a bit too loud.
35168. A large portrait, over 1 m2 painting on the wall of the first floor kitchen / hallway that belongs to the violet apartment
35171. The bridge, built from 1945 to 1948, was recently repaved and repainted - view west.
35173. The bridge is 800 m long though the river is not so wide. Large portions of the terrain is arable land, flooded only occasionally.
35172. View west from the middle of the bridge
35174. The actual river flows below the western end of the bridge - view downstream. The river was brown after heavy rains in recent days.
35175. View upstream.
35176. His shadow on the pavement, an accidental shot
35177. At the side of the square there is a small park, now abandoned and with a ruined statue. Here a simple lunch was prepared: potatoes and an eggplant, on a gas cooker (190 g gas cartridges are available in Batumi in just one single (hardware) store - on Pushkin street). There was no time to eat it, however, and it was consumed in Sukhum, on the waterfront.
35180. Abkhazian State Philharmonic building, recently renovated, view from the street
35181. Central government building, burnt and damaged from shelling during the war in 1992, covered with handsome travertine-like stone plates, still dominates the Sukhum skyline.
35182. Park of Freedom, to the south, in the direction of the sea, with black stone plates (in the distance) where the names of ~ 1.700 Abkhazians that died in the 1992/1993 war, are engraved.
35183. Historical and state symbols of Abkhazia, from the book А. В. Аргун: Свод карт Абхазии (от античности до наших дней). ННИКЗ «Анакопия», Новый Афон, 2012.
35186. Consular Service at Saharova street 33, where Abkhazian visa is obtained. It costed 800 rubles for two.
35187. A guide in the National Museum of Military Glory and a visitor
35189. There are many parks in Sukhum, with palms of all sizes
35194. Kakha Tsicoliya / Каха Циколия and his guest. Kakha is fluent in four languages: Mingrelian, Georgian, Abkhazian and Russian.
35195. View of the bus from the back seat. The two girls on the left were Russian but they often spoke in English, probably in the same manner as it was fashionable to speak French in Tolstoy times.
35197. The pebble coast, the sea and the sky towards the afternoon sun
35198. View west northwest with the beach and the Arabika mountain ridge descending into the sea towards the Psou river valley on the other side of the first cape.
35208. Wide view of the sunset at sea
35210. Bus station from the other side of the street
35211. Passengers disembarking from maršrutka after it arrived from Gagra
35212. Long telephoto view of the Caucasus mountain range to the northeast of the bridge ...
35214. ... and a wide view
35213. Enguri river, view upstream. The water cleared completely in the past three days.
35215. Downstream view
35216. A pool in the plain north of the bridge
35217. Eastern entrance of the bridge with Andrea and Sara from Brescia in front
35218. A monument that could be titled: Nonsense of War on the southern side of the eastern access to the bridge.
35219. A cart that takes passengers with heavy luggage or in bad weather across the bridge.
35220. Andrea and Sara during a selfie in the (really huge) Zugdidi open market
35221. View down one of the many corridors in the covered part of the market
35222. Andrea and Sara in the front seats of their spacious rented car
35223. View of Batumi from the roadside, late afternoon
35226. View south at the western end of the Baratashvili street
35227. A blue illuminated building nearby
35236. Climbing wisteria (glicinija in Slovenian) has nearly completely overgrown its cedar support - a scene on the Baratashvili street.
35237. Obelisk in the European square, with the statue of Medea holding the golden fleece on top, by Davit Khmaladze
35228. Relief on the western side of the obelisk ...
35229. ... southern ...
35230. ... eastern ...
35232. ... and northern side.
35233. View north with the pebble beach, the sea and the mountains from the Love bridge above the main Batumi pier on the western cape
35241. Panoramic view of Black Sea, from the bridge
35243. Snack scene on the beach
35242. Mid-morning snack: bread, (too) salted fresh cheese, garlic, Cornelian cherry jam, aronia juice
35234. Lithuanian boat is approaching the port of Batumi.
35245. Pine grove a bit inland from the coast
35239. Blooming freshly planted trees on the Batumi waterfront promenade
35246. Northern half of the Batumi Collonades
35247. Batumi Summer Theater wooden facade, main entrance ...
35248. ... and rear view of the building
35249. Batumi waterfront promenade, view south. It was constructed in 1881.
35250. Hotel Sheraton tower, view from the north
35240. Statue in the park of the Adjara State Museum of Art, could be titled A couple. A lady guide in the museum told us that a very beautiful street in Tbilisi is named after Ljubljana. The following works of art are also all from this museum.
35251. Sunflowers. Vano Abuladze (1959), mixed media, 180 x 80 cm, 2014
35253. New Times. Oleg Boreiko (1957), oil on canvas, 95 x 135 cm, 1990. An excellent herald of the tumultuous years ahead.
35255. Mothers. Nana Meskhidze (1936 - 1997), oil on canvas, 110 x 120 cm, 1968
35258. Steam Engine. Edmond Kalandadze (1923 - 2014), oil on canvas, 100 x 140 cm, 1970
35260. Letter. Givi Narmania (1938), oil on canvas, 120 x 105 cm, 1978
35262. Batumi synagogue, as seen from the street ...
35261. ... and a view of the inside. It was built in 1904.
35244. Batumi Piazza Square tower, view from the street. Venetian style cultural and entertainment venue was built in 2009.
35263. Piazza tower, view from the square
35266. Golden Venus statue in front of the Piazza casino, on its own ...
35265. ... and as a backdrop for the three ladies, members of a tourist group from the country's big neighbour to the south
35267. Ceiling of one of the open cafés
35276. One of the restaurants in the square is named after a popular movie Mimino ...
35275. ... and has undertitled scenes from the movie as an inside decor.
35270. Church of St. Nicholas
35274. Notes for the visitors at the church entrance
35272. Church inside
35278. Inside of the Batumi mosque
35280. Batumi Cathedral of the Mother of God, view from the southwest
35281. Church inside
35282. Stained glass window to the left of the entrance ...
35283. ... and to the right, before the altar
35284. The four main foreign currencies and their exchange rates to Georgian lari
35285. View down the nave towards the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Holy Savior (modern catholic church), Gamsakhurdia street
35286. Tongue and groove bathroom wall cover plate with 1 lari for measure (25 mm diameter)
35287. Matsoni, the only unsweetened and unsalted yogurt available, from Batumi to Gagra
35289. It was still very cold during the night and this electric heater kept us warm.
35291. It is still possible to find an iron without vapour in Georgia and this one was on the table in the bedroom.
35292. Airline companies above one of the three ticket offices - the first belongs to Turkish Airlines, the other two are of general service.
35293. The plane which will take us to Istanbul.
35294. View of the Black Sea and the Anatolian coast from the plane window
35295. The Airport is the Turkish Airlines home base.
35296. Passengers in the main hall of the (first floor) of the airport building
35297. Three ladies, could be from the Sub-Saharan Africa
35299. Plane window on the southern side of the plane
35300. A cloud formation above Croatia
35307. Portrait with a Georgian sheepskin hat
*Sukhum is the spelling of the Abkhazian capital name as used in the official English language publications.
Radošca / Radoshitza Cave, Day 36, April 19
Radošca / Radoshitza Cave, Day 38, May 3
This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin;
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