I discussed the mess with David – under these conditions, it is better to use common sense and accept reality: once you give in to blackmail, you risk being blackmailed again and again. The officials didn’t seem to be in a hurry, as my boat was blocked… So I visited Batumi. David had invited me to his home, as if to show me that Georgia can be different from these shady, corrupt border officials. In fact, I spent two wonderful days in otherwise hospitable Georgia, although … given the inflated property market in Batumi and along the coastal strip to the north, which is currently being developed and where fabulous speculative profits lure investors, I’m not so sure.
Back in Poti, everything happened very quickly: I paid the officials, got the stamp in my passport and less than ten minutes later I was on my way to Turkey – straight out to the open sea and into international waters. Straight to Trabzon! A city with over a million inhabitants! Through David, I got in touch with Yusuv, a grand seigneur and very experienced agent (for large ships), who in turn knew all the officials in the port very well… and took care of the clearance absolutely correctly and at a fair price. The many officials sitting idly in the countless offices of this border control authority raised a few questions, but Yusuv cleared everything up and I was not pursued further. On the contrary: word of my story spread quickly, and soon I was visited by the police and the port fire brigade, by Kazim, Sali and Köksal (I hope I’ve got the names right).
This allowed me to come and go freely through the hermetically sealed port area and visit the city – it seems to have grown enormously in recent years with expanding suburbs; the centre is still dominated by (kebab) restaurants, leather and hardware shops, money changers, gold and jewellery dealers … and is visited by an incredible number of Muslims from Arab countries (who are traditionally dressed, especially the veil-wearing women – what a cultural change from the sophisticated, open-minded Sochi to the cheerful Batumi to the reactive life on the Turkish north coast).