For Georgians, a Much-Needed Break

Vacationers from across Georgia rushed to reschedule beach trips interrupted by the August war with Russia. (By Tara Bahrampour -- The Washington Post)
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Bravado aside, the war devastated local businesses, which depend on the late summer tourist season for most of their annual income. One guesthouse owner said business was down this year by 70 percent.

But Enveri Memeshishi, a sun-weathered grandfather who was distilling vodka over an open fire along a dirt road, said he had seen worse days. Just a mile from the border with Turkey, the area was considered a security risk before 1991, when Georgia was a Soviet republic. Most Georgians were not allowed to visit, and only discovered the town after the collapse of communism.

"Soviet soldiers stood here three rows deep," he said, pointing at the main road, where on a recent day Turkish cargo trucks whooshed by families who were carrying towels and inner tubes. "There was a nighttime curfew."

Now, nighttime brings vacationers out to the beachside cafes. In one, guests sat at candlelit tables eating fried trout and drinking white wine as thunder cracked overhead.

Still, with Russian troops remaining dug in in parts of Georgia, it was not like past summers.

"Before, it was more joyful," said Nino Chinchaladze, 56, director of an international education center in Tbilisi. "The music was louder, you could see young people on the beach. And now, somehow, everybody looked sad."

"We are expecting more difficult times," said Kakha Chochia, an architect from Tbilisi. "That's why we are here -- to have a little relax."

Streaks of lightning flashed like rockets over the water. But they were far away, and from the shore they looked beautiful.