CHAKVI
Little known Georgia
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Seventeen kilometers from Batumi is the resort village of Chakvi, where we made a stop to get acquainted with the local flavor. This experience was quite peculiar ...
The hillsides in Chakvi are densely filled with vegetation. Descending and climbing these slopes, we burned a lot of calories :-) So we climb uphill to our new place to sleep.
To get to Chakvi from Batumi you need to take a yellow Ukrainian "Bogdan". Ukrainian inscriptions made us happy throughout the trip. The time it takes for the bus to reach Chakvi is about 40 minutes
The most romantic place in Chakvi for us was a veranda in the yard overlooking the sea. How wonderful it was to sit there in the evening and, under a glass of Kindzmarauli, accompany the sun beyond the horizon.
And while being surrounded by the fabulous Adjarian nature. We have not met all kinds of plants on the green foothills. Seeing so many shades of green in one place is a luxury
No photographs will be able to convey the magic of the setting sun of Adjara. But you will make a general idea of the species that delighted us every evening from these photos.
A huge red ball smoothly and at the same time quickly sits behind the trees, then touches the edge of the horizon and gradually disappears, plunging into the endless waters of the Black Sea. Magic...
One evening we witnessed a fabulous event. A large luminous cloud descended from a high mountain towards the sea. When it reached the level of our veranda, we realized that it was a giant colony of fireflies, which for some purpose migrated from above towards the sea. For half an hour we plunged into a sparkling magical world, which, with hundreds of small lights, created the feeling of a fairy tale. Previously, we could only see this in the movies, but that evening, for the first time, we were fascinated by the sea of flashes that surrounded us in the silence of the Georgian night. Our camera is very fond of taking photographs on bright, sunny days, and in the evenings it behaves relaxed and not very focused. But even he, as best he could, captured that cloud of fireflies in the darkness of the garden.
We managed to get to know the fireflies better thanks to one wandering firefly, which flew into Natasha's bag and boldly crawled inside. The trap bag was slammed shut and taken to the house, where the firefly was examined and photographed by the light of the lamps.
The next morning, after interesting and beautiful impressions, we went to the Chakvi beach, which surprised me a little with its desertedness, because the first days of summer were already on the calendar.
There is a railway along the entire coast in Chakvi. Several times a day beautiful white-red passenger trains "fly" there (they say that they were bought in Switzerland). The rest of the time the road serves to transport oil from Azerbaijan. Long chains of cisterns regularly disturbed the peace of the village with their noise. The sea water was cold - 17 degrees, but we swam.
Eating khinkali is almost a sport in Georgia. It is very interesting to compete with each other in the number of khinkali tails left after a meal. We, being in Chakvi, also tried to fight each other. In this delicious competition, Nata was "carried out in one wicket" by me with a crushing score of 8: 3! In the photo below - my victorious result and delicious Turkish coffee, which with great difficulty, after 8 khinkali, was also eaten.
From observations: spaces are not for Georgians when they write in Russian ;-) Typical menu, photographed by me in Chakvi. "Potrohatelyatinynaketsah", "kebabnashamfure", "shashlikizovtsa" and "kofepoturetsky" - such dishes are offered there for consumption. But despite this peculiarity of writing, the taste of any of these dishes is excellent. Adjara is a highly recommended place for gastronomic tourism!
And now we will show you a slightly different Georgia, which is strikingly different from the "showcase photos" of Batumi skyscrapers and at first causes surprise, and then makes you think about the level of economic success achieved by this country. After what we saw in Chakvi (17 kilometers from Batumi !!!), we can say with confidence that the reforms in Georgia are not so simple :-(
Many buildings of the resort village frighten empty windows with black eye sockets. The ruins overgrown with ivy are found everywhere in Chakvi. A large number of yards and houses are completely absorbed by the forest and nature is gradually turning them into ruins. There were even shocking moments. For us, the apotheosis of depression was a multi-storey building on the main street of the village with a department store on the ground floor. Previously, it was a typical Soviet construction format. So, the house is completely residential, and the store on the first floor is completely destroyed from the word. We imagined children playing in this smashed store in the evenings. Just creepy. In the most difficult years of the Ukrainian economy, the inhabitants of the houses did not allow themselves to be among such ruins. Somehow they covered the broken glass with plywood, put the buildings in order, and so on. And for the families of this house, such devastation is a routine in which they live for many years.
Here are some more typical Chakvi architectural structures that slightly destroy the integral image of the "Georgian economic miracle" ...
To be fair, it should be noted that there is a new "Community Center" in Chakvi, where residents of the village receive administrative services and several relatively new brick stops with turnstiles. Although the way of using these turnstiles remained a mystery to us.
After walking around Chakvi, we went to the beach again, in the distance to the left, successful Batumi was visible.
And our souls were very "uncomfortable". Either from seeing the depression of the village, or from the carcass of a dolphin met on the beach, which the sea for some reason brought to this shore.
Concluding the reportage, we hope that the bright future of the village of Chakvi is still ahead, because tourists will definitely be drawn to such a bright nature - just need to put things in order.
And in our memories, Chakvi will forever remain a very touching place on earth, thanks to its romantic sunsets. And of course - the world capital of fireflies :-)
We would be glad to receive your comments on this article. If you have been to Chakvi - share your impressions in the comments. Reposts and likes will be greatly appreciated.
Vitaly & Nataly
