17 Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia

Although Azeris practice the same type of Muslim religion as Iran, they are very relaxed and produce wine and beer. Baku was once the world’s most important petro-town and one of the five largest cities in the USSR. The Russians left some impressive cultural buildings and the usual soulless Soviet concrete tower blocks on the outskirts. Russian signs have been deliberately removed everywhere.

We had to obtain a visa for our next country, Georgia. The embassy was near the superb turn of the century oil boom mansions. Mobil HQ was in the grandest one of all.

We read that work on the 1,737-kilometer pipeline from Baku to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean had begun. We hope that it and the proposed gas pipeline at the bottom of the Caspian Sea, would benefit the region without harming the environment and without angering Russia too much (Russia would prefer its existing pipelines to be used).

GEORGIA (SAKARTVELO, they call it)

We reluctantly paid a $38 (bad) road permit. Signs with Georgian squiggles replaced Russian writing. Close to the border little piglets were wallowing in the mud. Soon we saw the first stone church. We realised that we were no longer in a Muslim country. Georgia’s link with Christianity is as old as the religion itself. When the soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Lenin statues were torn down with great delight. In 1992 the country fell into virtual civil war heavily prodded by Russia. Anarchy and mob rule left the economy looted. More than 300 000 citizens are still displaced from disputed regions. It is difficult to believe that Georgia once had the strongest economy in the USSR. The area we drove through looked too dreadful! Buildings were derelict and vandalised. Houses were crumbling and no building or fence or sign had any paint on it. Rubbish and scrap metal was scattered next to the pot-holed road.

The capital, Tblisi, however, is a most appealing town. (In spite of some buildings overflowing with refugees and washing). We walked many kilometres from a convenient parking place. Bomb damaged buildings are largely patched up and burnt out hotels rebuilt. Georgian heroes have replaced the Lenin statues. There are old dwellings with wooden balconies, tree lined lanes, a river valley with castle ruins and many imposing churches. Soviet white-wash was being removed from monastery paintings.

Georgian’s love their food. There were so many restaurants everywhere. They filled up at lunch times and in the evenings the dancing and music went on till late. Wine was served in large jugs. The toasting ritual is taken very seriously, usually with vodka (never with beer). The toasts are usually “to peace”, “to Georgia”, to guests, to ancestors, to children, etc. They usually had dumplings filled with meat and mutton kebabs. Other local specialities are cheese turnovers, and dishes prepared with sour cream or pomegranate juice. Kiosks sold a dangling sausage-like sweet: stringed walnuts covered with jellied grape juice.

The road signs out of Tblisi were in Georgian squiggles but we found our way through the wine region. It was October and there were grapes on the vines. (Although Gorbachev’s anti alcohol campaign had chopped the wine production to one tenth of what it had been).

ARMENIA

15 out of 15! This oldest Christian country was our 15^th ex Soviet state.

CIS: Ukraine, Moldova, Belorus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia.

In the 1^st century it was one of the world’s greatest powers. Poor little Armenia has been in between warring nations and competing religions for millennia. It was not ready to cope without Big Brother when the USSR collapsed. We hoped that our visa fee of $76 each would go to a good cause!

The badly maintained road took us past lakes and through forests with autumn colours. When we stopped to collect water from a mountain stream friendly Armenians invited us to share their meal.

Yerevan, the capital, has a grand central square with fountains and imposing Soviet Buildings. In the university grounds we admired the large collection of ancient Armenian manuscripts. “Due to wars and earthquakes, Armenian churches often lay in ruins. Armenians had only one reliable instrument – the book – taking upon itself the great cause of preservation of culture, faith, wisdom and beauty” (Kim Bakshi).

The many open-air cafés give Yerevan an almost Parisian atmosphere. We discovered two very elegant restaurants with fine food and gracious waiters (one played the piano for us.)

The famous Ararat cognac is produced in Armenia. The snow-capped peak of Mount Ararat