Lamhajoon!!! I would pen an ode to the tasty meat pie but I'm writing quickly so that Erin and I can eat four more of them (and like everywhere I've been to use the internet a watchful Georgian or Armenian has been staring over my back to make sure I'm not surfing porn). Lamhajoon is a staple here (sold everywhere) and they are dirt cheap and oh so tasty. We noshed on eetch and kufta too! The eetch was not quite like my grandmother's recipe but still delicious.
We're still in Dilijian. It's peaceful here and we needed some down time. Yesterday we took a delightful hike from a mountain lake through oak and maple forests to a small farming village called Gosh, where there stood yet another one thousand year old church. This one stood apart from the rest because it had vegetation growing out of the cracks in the roof and walls caused by the recent earthquake.
Today we've loafed. We spent a good hour or two talking to the only Armenian we've met so far who speaks English. It was enlightening. It turns out the Halajians haven't been pronouncing their name correctly -- it's actually pronounced Ha-la-gee-yan. We also learned that Armenians do not call eastern Turkey "Eastern Turkey," they call it Western Armenia. Still bad blood b/w the Azeris and the Armenians, but relations b/w Turkey and Armenia is much improved. Apparently it's the diaspora Armenias who fell strongly that the current Turkish/Armenian border should not be recognized and that Western Armenia (including Erzrum which is where my grandparents are from) should be annexed to Armenia -- the Armenians who live here don't feel as strongly about it. We haven't quite figured out why but our guess is because they have to live next to Turkey, the diaspora Armenians don't. Also, while Georgia's relationship with Russia is acrimonious, Armenia and Russia are on very good terms. According to our only source, most Armenians are pro-Russian and Russia still very much controls Armenian domestic policy.
As I expected, rural Armenia, like Georgia, is very poor. Apparently all of the money coming in from the United States and France and other countries where there are large populations of diaspora Armenians is going towards renovating Yerevan. The rural community appears to have been ignored.
The past couple of nights we've had dinner with four Israelis. One of them has a really interesting life-story. She grew up in Siberia, near Lake Bacal. Her grandparents were exiled there in the early 1900s. They became rich farmers. When the Soviet Union collapsed so did the economy and they were forced to emigrate to Israel. She spent her first 15 years under the yoke of communism - a little comrade in the siberian hinterland. She speaks hebrew, english, russian, and french. Fascinating.
Anyway, we're taking the early morning mashrutka to Yerevan tomorrow and then catching another mashrutka to Stepanaket in Nagorna-Karabagh. Will be a long day of travel.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Days 11-14
Armenia! Land of the Uni-Brow. We're in a small town in the northern mountains of Armenia called Dilidjan. Very pretty. The leaves on the hornbeams and oak are changing colors. Its a gentle rolling landscape of hills surrounding the town, with tall mountains to the east. We arrived in Armenia a couple of nights ago. I did not receive a welcoming lei or hug as we came across the border as I was expecting. Instead of kisses I received a scolding for not filling out my visa application fast enough and because my application was sloppy.
We took the night bus to Yerevan and pulled into the city around 11:00 at night. We walked through the downtown area to get to the apartment flat we were going to stay at. Yerevan is, surprisingly, a lovely city. Quite modern and, unlike Tbilisi, quite European. We only stayed the night and got up early to catch a mashrutka to Lake Sevan so we didn't get to see much. We hope to spend a few days there before we fly out . Lake Sevan itself is beautiful, the infrastructure around the lake kitschy and deteriorating. Armenia, like Georgia, suffered far too much from soviet architectural influence.
The rest of our stay in Georgia was enjoyable. We stayed with a family for 3 nights in the wine region which is strewn with vineyards and studded with old churches and monastaries (4th to 6th centuries) perched on top of hillsides. Nelly, our host, told us that one of the churches was built with nothing but stone and eggs. I call bullshit.
The mashrutka from Telavi to Tblisi was a gag-inducing three hour bus-ride. I'd had too much cha cha the night before and the bus was packed tightly (as they all are). The man sitting next to me smelled like a mixture of vomit and rotting offal. The nimbus of stench must have radiated only a foot or so from his body -- like Pig Pen's cloud of dirt -- because Erin didn't seem to suffer the same level of nausea I did. Though she did seem to enjoy his aggressive nosepicking. It was as if he'd stored a precious valuable in the dark depths of this naval cavity and was hell bent on getting it out. Whatever it was is still on his pant leg I think. The pleasures of travel by chicken bus.
On our bus ride to Yerevan we sat next to a German who works in Tblisi. He was taking a vacation to Stepanakert in Nargorno-Karbagh. He had some very interesting things to say about Georgia and the Georgian people, most of it negative. I will not bore you with the details but one thing he said I found amusing had to do with how Tblisi was a melting pot -- a toxic blend of Georgians, Russians, Azeris, Armenians and Kurds. He said they all have their place in society. In his effeminate German accent, he explained that The Kurds are the streetsweepers, the Azeris the farmers, the Armenians the merchants and traders and bankers, and the "Georgians do nothing." Then he giggled.
Hopefully by the next time I write I'll have a better impression of the Armenian people and the food, culture etc to make some overly sweeping, stupid generalizations about them. The only thing I can say at this point is that they are very laid-back (much more so then the Georgians) and many of them have uni-brows which I dig.
Hope all is well.
We took the night bus to Yerevan and pulled into the city around 11:00 at night. We walked through the downtown area to get to the apartment flat we were going to stay at. Yerevan is, surprisingly, a lovely city. Quite modern and, unlike Tbilisi, quite European. We only stayed the night and got up early to catch a mashrutka to Lake Sevan so we didn't get to see much. We hope to spend a few days there before we fly out . Lake Sevan itself is beautiful, the infrastructure around the lake kitschy and deteriorating. Armenia, like Georgia, suffered far too much from soviet architectural influence.
The rest of our stay in Georgia was enjoyable. We stayed with a family for 3 nights in the wine region which is strewn with vineyards and studded with old churches and monastaries (4th to 6th centuries) perched on top of hillsides. Nelly, our host, told us that one of the churches was built with nothing but stone and eggs. I call bullshit.
The mashrutka from Telavi to Tblisi was a gag-inducing three hour bus-ride. I'd had too much cha cha the night before and the bus was packed tightly (as they all are). The man sitting next to me smelled like a mixture of vomit and rotting offal. The nimbus of stench must have radiated only a foot or so from his body -- like Pig Pen's cloud of dirt -- because Erin didn't seem to suffer the same level of nausea I did. Though she did seem to enjoy his aggressive nosepicking. It was as if he'd stored a precious valuable in the dark depths of this naval cavity and was hell bent on getting it out. Whatever it was is still on his pant leg I think. The pleasures of travel by chicken bus.
On our bus ride to Yerevan we sat next to a German who works in Tblisi. He was taking a vacation to Stepanakert in Nargorno-Karbagh. He had some very interesting things to say about Georgia and the Georgian people, most of it negative. I will not bore you with the details but one thing he said I found amusing had to do with how Tblisi was a melting pot -- a toxic blend of Georgians, Russians, Azeris, Armenians and Kurds. He said they all have their place in society. In his effeminate German accent, he explained that The Kurds are the streetsweepers, the Azeris the farmers, the Armenians the merchants and traders and bankers, and the "Georgians do nothing." Then he giggled.
Hopefully by the next time I write I'll have a better impression of the Armenian people and the food, culture etc to make some overly sweeping, stupid generalizations about them. The only thing I can say at this point is that they are very laid-back (much more so then the Georgians) and many of them have uni-brows which I dig.
Hope all is well.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
random thpughts upon leaving georgia
Paul and I are waiting in the bus station, we think were waiting for a bus to take us to armenia, but as usual its unclear exactly what's going on. We shall see where we end up tonight.
After a very short seeming stay of about 9 days I can say that I'm a huge fan of georgian food and their mountains however their driving and crumbling infrastructure are quite frightening.
Georgians were super locavores, everything appears to be very fresh, locally grown and unprocessed. We were lucky enough to arrive during tomato season and the georgians seem to have hundreds of recipes to make best use of their abundance- tomato,cucumber and onion salad (a staple), tomato with eggplant (aburgiene- which I've suddenly started to dig) and onion, tomato sauce with egg and other veggies, katsup etc. Last night we were treated to georgian bbq (shlakisvili?) And it was exceptionally yummy. Like americans, they take great pride in cooking meat over a fire, though their bbq grill is much smaller, basicaLly a metal pan with a metal rack over it. Also we got a taste of that crafty homade liquor that you mention mike, they call it cha cha and its made with the skin of grapes (or the version we had was anyway) it burns and that's about all I can report about the cha cha.
On to the crumbling infrastructure and buildings...it seems as though georgias architecture, roads, electricity, water system is stuck between the days of old and days of older. The highway is litterally falling off of hillsides and the bridges are beyond questionable. And yet everyone drives on. Soviet architecture is everywhere screaming function!function!function! But the majority of the oversized, out of context buildings are completely abandoned, windows broken, grafiti everywhere. The soviets built a 500 room hotel on a hillside overlooking and overshadowing the tiny village of kazbegi. Now its abandoned of course but the blight remains, a giant monolith building overlooking a mtn town that hardly has running water. Dude!
All I will say about the driving is that despite paul and my skittishness about moving vehicles sometimes its warranted. we saw a horrible accident yesterday and a dead man laying on the road. Makho, our host and driver, did a lot less manical passing after that. It was really sad.
Next report ARMENIA! That is if we get there!
After a very short seeming stay of about 9 days I can say that I'm a huge fan of georgian food and their mountains however their driving and crumbling infrastructure are quite frightening.
Georgians were super locavores, everything appears to be very fresh, locally grown and unprocessed. We were lucky enough to arrive during tomato season and the georgians seem to have hundreds of recipes to make best use of their abundance- tomato,cucumber and onion salad (a staple), tomato with eggplant (aburgiene- which I've suddenly started to dig) and onion, tomato sauce with egg and other veggies, katsup etc. Last night we were treated to georgian bbq (shlakisvili?) And it was exceptionally yummy. Like americans, they take great pride in cooking meat over a fire, though their bbq grill is much smaller, basicaLly a metal pan with a metal rack over it. Also we got a taste of that crafty homade liquor that you mention mike, they call it cha cha and its made with the skin of grapes (or the version we had was anyway) it burns and that's about all I can report about the cha cha.
On to the crumbling infrastructure and buildings...it seems as though georgias architecture, roads, electricity, water system is stuck between the days of old and days of older. The highway is litterally falling off of hillsides and the bridges are beyond questionable. And yet everyone drives on. Soviet architecture is everywhere screaming function!function!function! But the majority of the oversized, out of context buildings are completely abandoned, windows broken, grafiti everywhere. The soviets built a 500 room hotel on a hillside overlooking and overshadowing the tiny village of kazbegi. Now its abandoned of course but the blight remains, a giant monolith building overlooking a mtn town that hardly has running water. Dude!
All I will say about the driving is that despite paul and my skittishness about moving vehicles sometimes its warranted. we saw a horrible accident yesterday and a dead man laying on the road. Makho, our host and driver, did a lot less manical passing after that. It was really sad.
Next report ARMENIA! That is if we get there!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Days 9-10
Paul again -- We're in a town called Telavi in the western wine region of Georgia. We're staying with a family, who like every other Georgian we've met go above and beyond to make us feel at home. Later today the husband is going to take us around to different wineries and some more really old churches. Then we're going to watch him make some wine in his home-made wine making cask. The white wine here is made with the skins on the grapes which gives it a rust hue -- kind of looks like ice tea.
Some really superficial comments and sweeping generalizations on Georgian habits and lifestyle based upon my casual observations:
1. Men chain smoke, and when they're not chain smoking, they're nibbling on sunflower seeds. I think eating sunflower seeds is a national pastime -- that and idling away the day on a bench along the road watching people stroll by.
2. Cab and mashrutka drivers drive like NYC taxi drivers on meth.
3. There are no rules of the road -- anything goes.
4. Georgian white wine is really really good.
5. Tomatoes are a huge part of their diet.
6. Even when they know you don't speak Georgian, they still speak Georgian to you -- then after awhile, as you look at them blankly, they just shrug their shoulders.
7. They love Americans -- when you say your're american they give you the thumbs up. There is a street on the outskirts of Tblisi by the airport named George W. Bush.
8. Farmers have it rough -- no mechanized farming equipment for the most part -- the horse and mule drawn wagons and farming implements are still in pervasive use.
9. They are deeply religious -- everytime they drive or walk by a church or other sacred site (and they are literally everywhere) they cross themselves.
10. If Tblisi were a person it should be locked away in a sanatarium.
11. The people of Kazbegi cut off their dogs ears for some reason
12. They're inveterate litter bugs -- but lovable litter bugs
I think we plan to stay in Georgia for a a couple more days and then head down to the homeland. There's alot more to see here and I wish we had more time but Armenia beckons. The Caucus mountain deserve alot more attention -- meaning a long trek or two -- but our time is limited.
Some really superficial comments and sweeping generalizations on Georgian habits and lifestyle based upon my casual observations:
1. Men chain smoke, and when they're not chain smoking, they're nibbling on sunflower seeds. I think eating sunflower seeds is a national pastime -- that and idling away the day on a bench along the road watching people stroll by.
2. Cab and mashrutka drivers drive like NYC taxi drivers on meth.
3. There are no rules of the road -- anything goes.
4. Georgian white wine is really really good.
5. Tomatoes are a huge part of their diet.
6. Even when they know you don't speak Georgian, they still speak Georgian to you -- then after awhile, as you look at them blankly, they just shrug their shoulders.
7. They love Americans -- when you say your're american they give you the thumbs up. There is a street on the outskirts of Tblisi by the airport named George W. Bush.
8. Farmers have it rough -- no mechanized farming equipment for the most part -- the horse and mule drawn wagons and farming implements are still in pervasive use.
9. They are deeply religious -- everytime they drive or walk by a church or other sacred site (and they are literally everywhere) they cross themselves.
10. If Tblisi were a person it should be locked away in a sanatarium.
11. The people of Kazbegi cut off their dogs ears for some reason
12. They're inveterate litter bugs -- but lovable litter bugs
I think we plan to stay in Georgia for a a couple more days and then head down to the homeland. There's alot more to see here and I wish we had more time but Armenia beckons. The Caucus mountain deserve alot more attention -- meaning a long trek or two -- but our time is limited.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Days 5-8
Paul here again -- We're back in Tblisi for a layover before we head out to the western part of Georgia --the wine region near the Azeri border. I'm not stretching the truth when I say that the last 3 days in Kazbegi were among the best days I've ever had traveling internationally. We stayed with a family in town -- Leo and Loli and their daughter whose name I could never quite make out -- in their home on the ouskirts of town. Loli cooked us Georgian delights --staggering amounts of food-- every morning and every evening. She sat on the couch next to the kitchen table and watched us eat, and she wore hearty smile on her face when we told her how good the food was. She spoke no english but our gestures and grunts and other animal noises made it quite plain to her that we liked what we were eating. She,like her husband and every other Georgian we've tried to communicate with, have gone to ridiculous lengths to help us out. A good example was the other day Erin and I came back from a hike and the front door to the house was locked. We heard a yell coming down the mountainside which sloped from their backyard up toward a really old church perched high on the plateau above. Leo was cutting grass with a sycthe about two hundred feet up the slope. When he saw us he came running down the mountain, sycthe swinging overhead. Leo was about 65 or 70 but he bounded like a mountain goat. He got to the bottom, plucked four apples from one of his apple trees in the backyard orchard, gave us a hearty hello, opened the door, proclaimed the day to be beautiful (I think) and then bounded back up the mountain. Can't say enough about those folks -- and every other Georgian we've met. Hospitable almost to a fault.
The mountains of Kazbegi are spectacular. We did a hike to the foot of Mt. Kazbek which is around 5,100 meters -- equivalent to a little over 16,000 feet I think. By world standards it ain't that tall but when you're standing in town looking up at the mountain it looks like a peak in the Andes. The village is only about 5,500 feet or so. The peak, as the bird flies, is only about 5 miles from town. I figure the vertical has to be around 10,000. You don't see that very often. Sadly the glacier we hiked to appears to have shrunken considerably but it still had a lot of girth.
We did another hike yesterday starting at a small town called Juta near the Russian (Chechynian) border and ending at a towering cirque of jagged peaks. A beautiful day.
I still haven't quite figured out Tblisi. Definitely stands at the crossroads of European and Asian cultures and it certainly has that feel. I still think that if I found the right brick and pushed it ever so slightly the entire city would come toppling down. Here, as in Kazbegi and the other towns we've passed, are vestiges and skeletons and ghosts of the Soviet Era. In Kazbegi the Russions built a large hotel to spend their holidays and built a tram-like thing to the church. After the collapse the people of the village immediately tore down the tram and the hotel stands abandoned, windows blown out, creepy looking -- much like alot of the bombed-out looking soviet era buildings in Tblisi.
We haven't run into the street kids today but several days ago, before we left for Kazbegi, I was the victim of one. Their begging tactics are much more aggressive than their brethren in other countries I've been too. Here they wrap themselves around your leg and don't let go. I pleaded with a cop standing nearby, who was watching with amusement, to help me out and he indicated with his hands to push her away. I eventually pried her loose but that upset her so she slugged me in the thigh. The kids seem indiscriminate in choosing their victims.
Hope all is well back home.
The mountains of Kazbegi are spectacular. We did a hike to the foot of Mt. Kazbek which is around 5,100 meters -- equivalent to a little over 16,000 feet I think. By world standards it ain't that tall but when you're standing in town looking up at the mountain it looks like a peak in the Andes. The village is only about 5,500 feet or so. The peak, as the bird flies, is only about 5 miles from town. I figure the vertical has to be around 10,000. You don't see that very often. Sadly the glacier we hiked to appears to have shrunken considerably but it still had a lot of girth.
We did another hike yesterday starting at a small town called Juta near the Russian (Chechynian) border and ending at a towering cirque of jagged peaks. A beautiful day.
I still haven't quite figured out Tblisi. Definitely stands at the crossroads of European and Asian cultures and it certainly has that feel. I still think that if I found the right brick and pushed it ever so slightly the entire city would come toppling down. Here, as in Kazbegi and the other towns we've passed, are vestiges and skeletons and ghosts of the Soviet Era. In Kazbegi the Russions built a large hotel to spend their holidays and built a tram-like thing to the church. After the collapse the people of the village immediately tore down the tram and the hotel stands abandoned, windows blown out, creepy looking -- much like alot of the bombed-out looking soviet era buildings in Tblisi.
We haven't run into the street kids today but several days ago, before we left for Kazbegi, I was the victim of one. Their begging tactics are much more aggressive than their brethren in other countries I've been too. Here they wrap themselves around your leg and don't let go. I pleaded with a cop standing nearby, who was watching with amusement, to help me out and he indicated with his hands to push her away. I eventually pried her loose but that upset her so she slugged me in the thigh. The kids seem indiscriminate in choosing their victims.
Hope all is well back home.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Days 3-4
The flight across the atlantic went without a hitch -- except we missed our flight in Kiev and had to spend an additional 4 hours in the airport. Got to Tblisi late last night. Our cab driver to the hotel was suicidal -- he clearly had an axe to grind. The hotel we chose is in the Old Town -- which is no misnomer. If something isn't done soon this city is going to collectively collapse one day. Buildings are extremely old and almost elegant in their dilapidation. Alot of really old churches. We've only spent a few hours walking around today but it appears this city isn't visited much by tourists. No one talks english and everything -- including the menus -- are written in Georgian, which is certifiably impossible to read. It will be a challenge.
The plan right now is to stay in Tblisi tonight and then catch a mini bus tomorrow morning to a town on the Georgian Military Highway in the Greater Caucuses near the Russian border called Kazbegi. We hear its beautiful -- at least that what's we thought we heard.
Hope all is well.
The plan right now is to stay in Tblisi tonight and then catch a mini bus tomorrow morning to a town on the Georgian Military Highway in the Greater Caucuses near the Russian border called Kazbegi. We hear its beautiful -- at least that what's we thought we heard.
Hope all is well.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Days 1-2 - NYC
Paul here - Spent two great days in my old digs. Hit my favorite haunts including the little french bistro on Saint Marks and 1st -- Jules. Still the same. Also hit my favorite falafel stand the owner of which still recognized me from 7 years ago. I told him we were staying in Red Hook Brooklyn with a friend and he told me to stop by his new restaurant that he'd just opened there. It so happened that Erin and I were waiting for my friend to get back home the day before and we were looking for a place to sit down for awhile and have a quick bite and some beers and we stumbled across a small middle eastern place that looked inviting. It turned out to be the same place my falafel guy had just opened. What are the chances? There's like 50,000 middle eastern joints in NYC.
We hiked the new Highline Park. What a great addition to the city. I'm glad Chris Reo wasn't able to persuade the New York judge to tear it down. Progress on the WTC site is slow. I got a little emotional being there again. I'm looking forward to seeing the plans they've drawn up for the site fully executed. Very tasteful.
We get on our Aerosvit plane tonight. We stop in Kiev for a layover and then to Tiblisi.
Oh, and fly on Shoelace!! Michigan fans -- please keep informed of the goings-on.
We hiked the new Highline Park. What a great addition to the city. I'm glad Chris Reo wasn't able to persuade the New York judge to tear it down. Progress on the WTC site is slow. I got a little emotional being there again. I'm looking forward to seeing the plans they've drawn up for the site fully executed. Very tasteful.
We get on our Aerosvit plane tonight. We stop in Kiev for a layover and then to Tiblisi.
Oh, and fly on Shoelace!! Michigan fans -- please keep informed of the goings-on.
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