Elbette! & Meeting the Kartvelebi, day 7, 255 km, Batumi in Georgia

When I woke up I immediately wanted to look outside, because yesterday Evening I wasn't able to see Artvin:

Yes, it is a city built on the side of a mountain. The motorbike was also there, on the side of the road, exactly where I had parked it. 

Artvin.

I started by heading to Meydancık, I asked a farmer where I could tank and he told me the only solution was going to Şavşat because there are no stations on the Meydancık yolu. After 13 km I was in Şavşat I could tank. This part of Turkey looks less like the Turkey I was before, looks more kurdish (a lot of people were wearing the kurdish cap) and, in the center of the small city, there were "battle ready" soldiers guarding a building. 

Meydancik Yolu.

Back on the road to Meydancık, I followed it till it changed from pavement to stones and then to unpaved. Very nice place, it looks like Switzerland. During the climb, at some point, I saw a building on the top of a hill, it really looked like the fort of the documentary Restrepo, I took a photo and I realized that now there was a man on the watchtower and he was pointing at me the huge machinegun. A soldier came out the sand blocks wall and whistled/shouted making the sign to go away and so I did. 

The Turkish fort.

Near the summit there was a farmer village, and the road was brand new, it was visible that an excavator made it not long time ago. The top was around 2300 m above sea level. On the other side there were no houses and the border with Georgia was very close. Also here the road was new because there were a lot of slips and the terrain was very muddy. They were cutting wood up there, maybe for an elctric line.

I don't know where excactly, but few meters from the border with Georgia.

After 20 km, a lot of mud, a very isolated village and a school, I was on pavment again heading to Borçka and then Sarp, for entering Georgia. I entered it without problems on a bike full of mud and with a unreadable number plate. Roads in Georgia are smaller than Turkey, so there was a lot more traffic. I've cleaned the bike so tomorrow I can do the maintenance and I took a small tour of Batumi. From the customs on, it was clear that georgian hospitality is really different from everything I have ever seen: very nice!