Will Anaklia ever become 2nd Batumi? (video)
Anaklia, a seaside resort in western Georgia located on the southeast coast of the Black Sea, aspires to become ‘a second Batumi,’ as Georgians like to say. It is as active and busy as other resort towns in Georgia.
“When it happens, can you tell me? I shall be old enough…,” says Nanuli Pipa, a 79-yer-old citizen of Anaklia.
When Nanuli settled in the town after her marriage her mother-in-law used to say the same thing. “She always said we would soon have a port and live very well. She grew old and died without seeing her dream realized. I am old and I shall die soon, but tell me when it happens," she told A1+.
The streets of the town are half-empty, with no traffic in the streets and people walking down the middle of the streets. One can see random police cars mostly on the beach.
Nanuli Pipa says life activates in Anaklia for several days in August during the start of GEM fest which brings tohether well-known musicians and DJs from around the world. All hotels and even private houses are packed in that season. Like other residents of the town, Nanuli Pipa also rents her lodgings for 10-15 laris per day. She works as a guard in other seasons of the year.
The resort town is crowded from the very beginning of the summer. Young people like to walk along the beach and collect seashells, which they later sell to tourists. People here have to do different work to keep their families. For example, an elderly man spending 2-3 hours on the seashore a day catches 2-3 kg pot.
You cannot find factories or plants in the town. There are many unfinished houses here. The locals miss the years when Mikheil Saakashvili was President of the country. “Everything ended with the end of his presidency,” Nanuli Pipa says.
Many young residents of the town do seasonal work in Turkey as they do not have permanent occupation in Anaklia.
