Batumi, Georgia - Tbilisi, Georgia: Day 12 (24 April, 2012)

After a night of sleep in the "sauna" hotel, we awoke to a gorgeous day outside.  Grant asked us to wake him when we got up to get some breakfast with us. 

At the Tower Cafe in Batumi, Grant was in the smoking section

We headed to the tower square to a cafe we saw on last night's walk about.  It is always interesting trying to order things when there is no common language; in the end one always manages to make it possible. 

The Tower plaza, it definitely stands out in Batumi

Our "hotel" in Batumi: HJ, Scott, Grant

We had a long day ahead of us, Tbilisi lays just under 400km away from Batumi, but we had no idea of how the roads were going to be.  We jumped on the bikes and HJ led us to the highway.  We headed along the coast to Tskaltsminda then began our eastward journey.

A quick stop off the road to take some pics and enjoy the Georgian landscape

The Georgian countryside is extremely verdant and very beautiful.  We rode along a few rivers and hills.  The highway has a lot of trucks and these white passenger vans that drive like absolute maniacs.  We have had a couple close-calls on this trip already and today was going to be perhaps the closest yet.  A big truck stopped suddenly going up a hill, causing the big truck behind it to stop, causing us to stop.  One of these white vans was on Scott's rear tire and when we stopped suddently, the van came to a screeching stop, Scott somehow evaded getting hit by releasing the clutch and jumping forward quick enough to not get hit. 

Our lunch stopover, the people were super friendly

Our lunch, a bit more than we anticipated but very good

A quick lunch stop after in Kaitusi and a health portion of Khachapuri and a big salad, we were back on the bikes with Tbilisi in our sites. Enjoying the rest of the ride, we entered into a city under construction and even managed to find the hostel where we would stay this night. 

We stayed at Dodo's hostel, located just outside of the city center.  It was a cozy place to pass the night. 

HJ getting some offroad practice

Being the only guests at the time, we had the whole place to ourselves.  We dropped off our gear and headed into the city to find some local cuisine.  It is a Tuesday night and the city was bustling.  There were a lot of people on the streets hanging out drinking beer. 

Tbilisi by night...Kura River, bridge 3 looking towards the old city

We were a bit tired from the day's ride so we headed back to the hostel after eating for a bit of shut-eye.  Tomorrow morning we will take a walk around the city then jump back on the bikes heading for Sheki, Azerbaijan...