Tag Archives: Caucasus

“My War Gone By, I Miss It So”, by Anthony Loyd, Anchor.

Posted on 18/08/2018 by awtytravels

My edition has been printed in 2000 and, as all cheap paperbacks, isn’t ageing very well. The pages are yellowing with the characteristic celerity of poor quality pulp; its spine is bent, but in fairness it was already in this … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged addiction, Anchor, Anthony Loyd, Balkans, Book reviews, Books, Bosnia war, Caucasus, Chechnya, Croat, Daesh, heroin, HVO, I miss it so, Journalism, My War gone by, Serbia, Serbs, Srebrenica, Syria, The Times, UN, War | 14 Comments

The world from above. Steppe, mountains and the Caspian sea.

Posted on 26/12/2016 by awtytravels

Looking at out planet from above is a profound experience. Michael Collins, Apollo 11’s resident philosopher, famously said that looking at Earth from a great distance was the strongest memory of his epic voyage, going on to add that Earth was … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Odd ones out, The world from above | Tagged 737, Alma Ata, Almaty, Apollo 11, Azerbaijan, Boeing, Boeing 737, Caspian, Caucasus, Dawn, Elbrus, Georgia, Michael Collins, Russia, The world from above, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Ukraine International Airlines | 6 Comments

An amalgamation of pleasant experiences.

Posted on 19/06/2016 by awtytravels

The Caucasus is one of the handsomest places I’ve been to. Everything coagulated in an extremely pleasant amalgamation in mind, something I’m eager to share. There isn’t the tiniest bit of logic in this collage of photos; call, if you may, … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Caucasus, Europe, Georgia | Tagged Azerbaijan, Baku, Caspian Sea, Caucasus, Europe, Georgia, Kalashnikov, Oil, Street art, Tbilisi, Yerevan | 8 Comments

Potholes, bribes and a Foreign Office advice. Riding the marshutka to Yerevan.

Posted on 29/05/2016 by awtytravels

It is said that Paul of Tarsus, whilst riding from Jerusalem to Damascus, was blinded by an intense light, spoke with a divine entity and, there and then, found his faith and converted to Christianity. Now, I haven’t been blinded … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Caucasus, Georgia | Tagged Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caucasus, Foreign Office, Georgia, Kirants, M16, Marshutka, Mercedes, Mountains, Nagorno-Karabach, Tbilisi, Villages, Yerevan | 14 Comments

Notes from the fringes of the Empire: Yerevan.

Posted on 11/05/2016 by awtytravels

Yerevan lies in a bowl shaped like the tongue of a cat, delimited on one side by the Hrazdan gorge, and on the others by steep hills, on which stand strange perches and other abstruse relics of the Soviet past. … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Caucasus, Europe | Tagged Ararat, Armenia, Caucasus, City, Iron Curtain, Metro, Russia, Soviet Union, Turkey, USSR, Yerevan | 8 Comments

Russian cars

Posted on 22/03/2015 by awtytravels

As a kid I used to love those old cop films, shot in Italy or Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, where cops with the mandatory mustache, brown shirts and bell-bottomed trousers fought crime and terrorism (or both at the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Georgia | Tagged 4x4, Cars, Caucasus, Europe, Fiat 124, GAZ, GAZ-69, Georgia, Heritage cars, Historic cars, Lada 1200, Lada Niva, Land Rover, Russian cars, Tbilisi, Volga, Zhiguli | 5 Comments

Tbilisi people watching

Posted on 13/03/2015 by awtytravels

The main objective of my visit to Tbilisi was the architecture of the city’s centre. However, what about its people? I was fresh from a rather disappointing stint in Oman, where I succeeded in being ignored, shooed off or be treated … Continue reading →