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Not the home of the rambling wrecks or the peaches, but the country that, with Ukraine, has the dubious distinction of having been (partially, so far) invaded by Russia. Long plane ride: overnight from DC to Munich, spend the day in Munich, leave Munich in the evening and arrive in Tiblisi (capital of Georgia) at some ungodly hour of the morning. Nine time zones from the US East Coast.Interestingly, Georgia not only has its own language, but has its own alphabet as well. Not Cyrillic (like the Russians), not Roman, not Greek, not Arabic. Quite a feat for a small country sandwiched between Russia and Turkey (that had been part of the Soviet Union). Fortunately, my daughter has done a good job of learning the language, and she's going to be with me and my wife the whole time.
Also taking a 5-day side trip to Istanbul. One of my best friends from college is Turkish-American. He was born and raised in DC of Turkish parents who were World Bank employees. He's given me the scoop on what to do.
In the course of trying to educate myself for the trip, I realized that I -- probably like most Americans -- have close to zero knowledge of the history of that part of the world. Istanbul, f/k/a Constantinople, was the center of the Greco-Roman civilized world after the fall of Rome itself until 1453, when it was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Thereafter, it continued to be the center of the civilized world with a highly developed, dare I use the work, multi-cultural civilization.
The Ottoman Empire itself -- about which most of us know very little -- is a wonder in itself, having persisted until just after World War 1, when the victorious Allied Powers -- notably France and England -- carved it up into pieces. The artificially-created "nations" that are the source of so much unrest today -- Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Jordan -- are the products of that victory. Only the countries of Turkey, Iran (f/k/a Persia) and Egypt have distinct national identities that are not the product of some European's imagination.
Of course the Ottoman Empire was Islamic. Interestingly, the Ottoman Empire was far more hospitable to Jews than were most Christian countries. The anti-Antisemitism that exists today appears to be the result of two things: the development in several Middle Eastern countries of a Baathist party that modeled itself on the German Nazis and the partition of Palestine to create a "Jewish state" in 1948. Of course there were many Jews living in the Middle East, that being the ancestral homeland. But the creation of a Jewish state run primarily by European Jewish immigrants was seen as a kind of colonialism imposed by force on the remnants of the once-proud Ottoman Empire.
I regret that I don't have more time for Turkey, there is so much history there. But we decided against a detour to Ephesus as being just too much in that short time.
As Aaahnold says, "I'll be back!"
Edits: 12/17/14Follow Ups:
Not that many in Palestine.
In 1800 the jewish population was around 2.5% which increased to 8% by 1890 due to the pogroms in Russia.
d
An irony which did not sit well with one of my teachers.
As a child he was rescued from a concentration camp and moved to Israel with the remainder of his family. 20 years later he moved back to Germany because as he put it 'the zionists are not much better than the nazis'. All they did was to learn how to commit genocide and get away with it.
A humble traveler, headed to unknown lands!
I've always admired your ability to come out of nowhere, with an interesting post.
Have a great trip.
SF
Georgian wine will one day cover the spectrum of dry table wines, they have already begun.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
We hit Dubrovnik at the right time in the late 80s. You couldn't spend $20 in a whole day.
The wines might be a bit sweet, but if they're anything like Spanish house wines, they're nicely drinkable.
Have fun!
-Rod
And, upon your return, see all the films of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, one of the brightest stars in international film. His "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia," is flat out the greatest film in a long, long time.
I'm curious as to how Stalin is seen in Georgia these days? Can't wait to hear your return report.
By all accounts (relative had been there for a longish visit some years back) the locals are very friendly, the food is delicious, and the scenery is wonderful.
Merry Christmas!
...glad to see you back.
A friend went to Georgia last year on his way to Turkmenistan where his son had served in the Peace Corps.
Said they were the first to make wine so you'll have to try some.
Georgian wine is pretty available here in DC. It's not expensive and not bad. It is, however, on the sweetish side.
In the history of wine the preference for dry ones is a fairly recent fashion.
It started when the french banned the artificial adding of sugar to most wines.
Sales at first nose-dived but the french wine industry was saved by the beginning of WWI and the consequent dislike for german products (at that time even the british monarchy changed their name from Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor and German Shepherd Dogs became Alsatians).
The Germans had long banned the use of sugar and developed a system of ensuring the desired sweetness by carefully hand-selecting which grapes to harvest when.
That culminated in Eiswein whose grapes get exactly one night of frost. When harvesting these grapes look very much like raisins with all the natural sugar concentrated in a lot less juice resulting in a very sweet dessert wine after fermentation.
...here in CA I have trouble finding wine from Washington State.
Much less Georgia...
Nice to see your name, here in lights, again!
If you don't become the ocean, you'll be seasick every day.
—Leonard Cohen
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