Day 17 Batumi

Friday, September 05, 2014
Batumi, Turkish Black Sea Coast, Georgia
We spent yesterday cruising across the Black Sea on our way to Batumi, Georgia. The original itinerary had 3 stops scheduled in Ukraine, but because of the unrest there, Azamara was forced to cancel those ports and substitute other ones instead.
We enjoy our day at sea and take a tour of the engine control room and the galley . We learn about so many things that go on behind the scenes, it's amazing it runs so smoothly. Obviously some ships run smoother than others. We can't speak highly enough about Azamara. The crew is so well trained and deliver top notch customer service. One thing we noticed is they never say no to anything. Whatever our requests have been, it is always "certainly m'am/sir".
I awake early this morning and the sun is just starting to peek above the horizon.
The Black Sea is like a sheet of glass and as I sit on our balcony, I spot a "welcoming committee" swimming next to our ship, playing in the bow wake. It's a pod of about 30 dolphins. They are cute little things; a little different than the ones we have at home. They're black with white stomaches and look like little orcas. What a beautiful site to see.
When Rox told me one of the stops was in Georgia, I thought "Wow, I finally get to see where the Masters is played". Turns out we're on the other side of the globe exploring the beautiful town of Batumi. Geography was never my strong subject . Batumi is a booming town with many new high rises in the process of being constructed. Interwoven in the new construction are century old churches and buildings. It's already hot this morning (93 degrees), but we manage to walk a couple miles along a boardwalk to see a local attraction which is an upside down house. Not sure if it was worth sweating our buns off to see, but at least we got some exercise in. We walk back into town and check out some of the churches and stroll around a piazza in the center of town. We really like this town.
This evening, Azamara is treating all passengers to what they call their Azamazing Evening. We are taken by coach to a beautiful opera house to see the National Dance Company. Wow, what a show. It's similar to the production Riverdance and the dancing is amazing.
We head back to the ship and sit by the pool and listen to one of the ships singers sing songs from Cats and Phantom. We grab a couple light snacks and go back to our room to watch the sail-away. As we sit on our balcony, and watch the city lights fade away, we look at each other and realize what a blessed life we have. How lucky we are to be able to see the world.
Other Entries

Comments

Bobdebstrat
2014-09-08

Sounds like an amazing trip...we are going to have to check out that cruise line! Safe travels and love the updates!!

2025-02-06

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank