View the route
Date of the journey:- October 2019
Distance travelled:- 123 miles
Leaving Uzungol lake, the hire car had to be returned to the Billet Car Hire Company office in Rize. Once returned, it was a short 4 min walk back to the Rize Şehirler Arası Otobüs Terminali Otogar. Using another local company, Prenskale Turizm. We purchased the tickets to Batumi in Georgia. With the bus running from Rize all the way to Batumi in Georgia, so we were told. The cost was 25 Turkish Lira each, for the 2-hour journey.
The Rize to Batumi bus ran along the coastline, the Black Sea on our left and the lush green mountains on our right.
For pretty much all of our journey along the Turkish Black Sea coast. There have been very few boats to be seen. Plenty of little harbours with fishing boats but, no pleasure boats and no boat trips. Having said that, the entire coastline is the same, a boulder seafront, the dual carriageway road, and the mountains behind.
For the first hour of the journey, we were the only passengers. Being subjected to the Turkish radio blasting out and the driver singing. We were later joined by another man. The driver kept pulling off the main road and passing through the towns. Trying to pick up more passengers but without much luck.
On our approach to Georgia, we had to dump our supply of painkillers. They contained codeine which, in Georgia, is an illegal drug.
The driver did stop at the roadside to fill his water bottle from the roadside tap, something that we chose not to take advantage of.
As we approached the border there were major roadworks. One of the tunnels through the mountains had collapsed under an avalanche. This didn’t hold us up. Lorries though were tailed back about 5 miles from the border crossing.
The bus pulled up at the border and the driver announced that it was as far as he went. Under the impression that we would be taken right across the border and into Batumi itself. Not the case.
Clearing customs and passport control out of Turkey and into Georgia was straight forward. British nationals don’t need a visa to enter Georgia for visits of up to one year. Your passport should be valid for the proposed duration of your stay. No additional period of validity beyond this is required.
So it was simply a case of queuing for a Turkish exit stamp and queuing again for a Georgia entry stamp. The whole process took about 45 minutes, with quite a long walk, about 400m in total.
There is an ATM in the terminal on the Georgia side. Convenient to get money for the minibus into the city. The clocks advanced 1 hour on entry into Georgia.
On leaving the terminal building, if you are going into the city, cross the road and get minibus number 88. The 30 min journey costs 1.5 Georgian Lari or 3 Turkish Lira each.
The driver of the minibus we were in, seriously overfilled the minibus. With everyone packed in like sardines, he drove like a maniac. Going off the road to get around cows and overtaking constantly.
The drop off point in the city was at Tbilisi Sq. With no pre-booked accommodation, we headed off to find a hotel. After only a 5 min walk we came across the Hotel Bloom, which we liked, so we checked in.