Sumela Monastary and on to Georgia

A chilly morning and a full breakfast in our lovely camp park was followed by a bit later departure. Our first stop this morning was at the Sumela Monastery. Started in 385 AD, it was added to and modified until completion of its current configuration in the 1300s. Abandoned and damaged by war in 1923, it was reoccupied in 1930 and hidden relics retrieved.

Another steep, narrow and winding one-lane road to the top greeted us. It took Sura almost 20 minutes to climb the 1.5 miles! Then we climbed stone steps to the site. It was quite foggy. Our group was the only ones there. We toured this Greek Orthodox monastery for an hour before driving to the Black Sea coastline.

The sea was calm with small waves breaking on the rocky and beach-less shore. There were no good picnic spots so we stopped for lunch at a bus stop along the highway. It was raining so we made and ate lunch inside Sura.

Two hours later we were at the Georgian border. Customs and immigration took 2 1/2 hours, mainly because of Sura who drew quite a bit a attention from the officials. An hour further we crossed a time zone, lost an hour, and were in Batumi looking forward to a hot shower, good meal, and a glass of famous Georgian wine!