The journey to Batumi on the Georgian Black Sea coast took about five hours from the capital city Tbilisi. The train was a very modern double deck multiple unit built by Swiss manufacturer Stadler. Our first class journey cost just under £15.00 each and it was nice way to end our 'coast to coast' journey by rail. The railway station in Batumi is however around 5 km from the centre of town and you need to take a taxi to reach the centre or good walking shoes. Ou...

Crossing from Azerbaijan to Georgia took over two hours as both passports and customs checks were undertaken by each country separately on either side of the official border, but once the stamp was in the passport we were then in country number 75 for our list. Woop, woop! Admittedly, the rural parts of both Azerbaijan and Georgia looked fairly similar with goat/sheep herders on horseback and a fair few dilapidated cars running around, but the difference between...