Batumi

Every nation has a poster child of tourism, where everyone knows it, and where everyone visits and how good it is. The. Croatians have Dubrovnik, the Italians have Rome, and the Georgians have Batumi. Batumi may not conjour up the images in your head that Rome and Dubrovnik may do, believe me when I say this, Batumi has a superb cosmopolitan feeling about it, and for what it lacks in the substance department, it more than compensates for with style.

Aside from the archeology and history museum, cultural places to visit are rather thin on the ground. The museum is large and has more than enough to fill a morning, and the afternoon can be spent above the alphabet tower. There's free WiFi at the top of the tower, so you can do what I did (and many others) and video call relatives to make them jealous of your time away.

Unfortunately, the sheen on the glass stops you from taking any decent pictures of the view, which was a shame, but ground level isn't so bad either. Batumi is filled with artwork, much of it by actual Georgian artists, which makes a nice change to western artists dominating the scapes.

 Now as I'm sure you are all aware by now, I like a good fountain/water feature, and they tend to fit into three different categories. Artistic water features, classical water features, and the down right naughty features. Here's examples of all three.

 Artistic water features, such like this one, are my favourite. They are different and funky, and each ones is unique.

This is a classical water feature. Grand, ornate and just a little a bit pretentious. 

 And this, is an example of a naughty water feature! Avert your eyes! :P
And finally, a sculpture on the beach walk of Batumi. It has so many meanings, but the main one I got, was that love is so powerful, it can block out the sun.

It was a stunning way to end my month in Georgia, a stunning and heart warming country, and one I am going to visit again!