Georgia & Armenia

by John Korngold

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Spanning between the Black and Caspian Seas, at the crossroad of Europe and Asia, and Christianity and Islam, the Caucasus is one of the world’s most diverse and complex regions.

The Caucasus comprises three nations who have their own languages and alphabets (though Azeri is a dialect of Turkish). Georgians and Armenians are Orthodox Christians while Azeris are predominantly Shia Muslims. To simplify things, Azeris and Armenians hate each other (mainly over a decade-long territorial dispute over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region) while Georgia gets along with the latter two. The three countries are surrounded by three larger regional powers: Russia, Turkey and Iran. Again, ties between the Caucasus and their neighbors are complex. Azerbaijan and Turkey are often described as “one nation with two states” and the two share a short 17 km border through the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan. Relations between Georgia and Russia have been tense ever since the 2008 war over the pro-Russian breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that are now de facto sovereign states. Needless to say, the borders get messy.

Geopolitics aside, the Caucasus is home to rich cultures, warm people, delicious food and fascinating history. In January 2020, I spent a week traveling across two of these countries: Georgia and Armenia. Here’s what I saw. Expect unequaled hospitality, spectacular nature and funky alphabets.