This was our fifth bus of the day and I was pleased that this would be the last one. It’s the one that got us from Sarpi in Georgia to Batumi, the second largest city in the country.

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that there was a French guy on our bus to Hopa and I had helped him with some translations with the driver. Anyway, he was also on this bus and I was asking him if he had any Georgian money as we didn’t have any and I thought I’d try and buy some.

He was a fantastic guy, he’s heading off to Asia overland and his adventure sounded really intriguing. He also very kindly just gave us some Georgian coins and that made matters much easier for us, very much the kindness of travellers. It was great to talk to him and also a local lady who welcomed us all to Batumi.

And safely into Batumi. Jonathan had told me that it was the Las Vegas of the area and I rather ignored that, as I refer to Dereham as the Las Vegas of Norfolk. However, Batumi transpired to be one quite incredible city and I’m very much planning to return. Although this time, I’ll fly into Georgia and travel internally as the bus arrangement to cross the border was all a bit fiddly.

This is the Turkish side of the border crossing at Sarp.

Only limited photos here as it’s a border crossing and so there is some sensitivity. But, I was excited about entering Georgia, it’s the first that I’ve been to the country.

And here we are, safely into Georgia. I was given a friendly welcome, but Jonathan had a rather more laborious entry although I think that’s because he’s too jovial and people don’t have time for all that.

The guest is a gift from God…..

And where Europe meets Asia…

There aren’t a vast amount of facilities here and there are only toilets on the Georgian side, which aren’t exactly the most pristine arrangement that I’ve ever seen.

There are large EU and Georgian flags flying.

With that, we were in the Georgian town of Sarpi and it was time to look for yet another bus that would take us into Batumi.