We met Leila (center) in Zugdidi, Georgia over a year ago. Like so many others, she and her friends at the market have probably been evacuated recently. … [Read more...]
Travel articles about the Caucasus region - Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
Golden Camel Awards, Part 3: Sights, People and Scenery
From mosques and mountains to hats and limousines, the often unusual sights and scenery of the Caucasus and Central Asia always kept us guessing. If you check out the categories and keep reading, you'll see why. … [Read more...]
Golden Camel Awards, Part 2: Logistics
No place takes the logic out of logistics, from pillar to post, like the former Soviet Union. Inspired by our own experiences, the following entries are in no logical order. Let’s dig in. … [Read more...]
Marshrutka Monologues (or, Why We Travel the Way We Do)
I thought Americans liked to travel in comfort. I don’t know why you take a marshrutka. You should take the marshrutka. There you will meet the real people. -- Two competing local views on whether or not we should subject ourselves to long-distance rides on marshrutka minivans, the dominant form of public transport in the Caucasus and Central Asia. … [Read more...]
Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets
Welcome to the first and only Golden Camel Awards, a camel’s eye view of the best and worst that Central Asia and the Caucasus have to offer!While most people don’t travel to the Caucasus and Central Asia solely to explore the cuisine, we had our share of pleasant eating experiences there. We also occasionally felt the wrath of a post-Soviet culinary hangover. … [Read more...]
Reflections: Crossing the Caspian Sea
Your trip across the Caspian may provide some of the scariest and most fulfilling moments of your entire journey. -- A veteran journalist we met in Tbilisi, Georgia who had seen it all in the former Soviet Union.Although we are posting this from Pingyao, China, we dial back a few clicks to the beginning of our journey in Central Asia in an attempt to adequately … [Read more...]
This Land Is Not Your Land
Before this journey, our experience with the disputed regions in the Caucasus - Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh - amounted to a few news articles and flashpoint body-count news tickers drifting across the bottom of our television screens.Something bad had happened, people had died, but we never truly appreciated or understood the details. … [Read more...]
Kutabs and Kebabs: Azerbaijani Food
Given that Azerbaijani culture and language is Turkic in origin, it's not surprising that its cuisine also carries a strong Turkish influence. Doner kebabs are so prevalent on Baku's streets that you'd swear they were Azerbaijani by origin.One thing is certain though. Azerbaijanis like their meat, with shashlik (barbecue) as the style of choice. One meal took us … [Read more...]
Lazing in Lahic: Caucasus Hill Towns
Lahic was the last of the Caucasus hill villages we visited and it reaffirmed that hill villages often have the most to offer in terms of scenery and real life experiences. They are generally hard to get to and usually involve boarding a Soviet-era school bus that should have been retired 20 years ago.Winters in these remote villages are difficult - roads get … [Read more...]
Shaky Math in Shaki
While visiting the village of Kish just outside of Shaki, the Azerbaijani long weekend getaway of choice, we struck up a conversation with a newlywed couple - a young dentist and his wife - as they gave us a ride back into town."The situation with doctors and dentists is really bad in Azerbaijan. My salary as a dentist is only $30 per month.""How could you … [Read more...]