Lonely Planet Georgia Armenia & Azerbaijan PDF
Preview Lonely Planet Georgia Armenia & Azerbaijan
TABLE OF CONTENTS Cover How to Use This Guide Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan Map PLAN YOUR TRIP ON THE ROAD UNDERSTAND GEORGIA, ARMENIA & AZERBAIJAN SURVIVAL GUIDE Behind the Scenes Our Writers GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LONELY PLANET MAPS E-reader devices vary in their ability to show our maps. To get the most out of the maps in this guide, use the zoom function on your device. Or, visit http://media.lonelyplanet.com/ebookmaps and grab a PDF download or print out all the maps in this guide. Plan Your Trip Welcome to Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan Top Experiences Need to Know If You Like... Month by Month Itineraries Regions at a Glance welcome to Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan Top of section With breathtaking natural beauty, wonderfully hospitable people, quaintly charming architecture and cosmopolitan capitals, the three small South Caucasus nations are just waiting to be explored. Tsminda Sameba Church (Click here ), Kazbegi, Georgia MARK DAFFEY/LONELY PLANET IMAGES © A Feast for the Eyes Few travellers are prepared for this region’s beauty. The Great Caucasus strides from the Black Sea to the Caspian in a sequence of dramatic icy peaks, green river valleys and quaint, remote villages. Further south the Lesser Caucasus and the Armenian Plateau are geographically complex areas of rugged mountains, lush valleys, rocky gorges and arid semideserts. Beautiful architecture is often perched in the most picturesque locations throughout. Azeri babushka dolls STEPHANE VICTOR/LONELY PLANET IMAGES © Hosts Supreme This region, smaller than the UK, takes in three distinct countries (two Christian, one Islamic); three breakaway territories; at least 16 local languages; and a melange of Russian, Persian, Turkish and other influences. But common to them all are deep-rooted traditions of hospitality. Travellers are warmly received everywhere, and the enjoyment of tasty, fresh local food and wine with your local hosts is something you won’t quickly forget. The Great Outdoors In the Great Caucasus, Georgia’s Svaneti, Kazbegi and Tusheti regions and Azerbaijan’s Quba hinterland are strung with spectacular walking and riding routes, good for day trips and (in Georgia) village-to-village treks. There’s excellent walking in Caucasus foothill areas and the Lesser Caucasus in Armenia and southern Georgia. Thousands of pilgrims ascend Azerbaijan’s ‘holy mountain’, Babadağ, every year, while around 5000 mountaineers reach the top of Kazbek, one of Georgia’s handful of over-5000m peaks. You can set your adrenalin pumping by rafting on several of Georgia’s rivers, paragliding in its skies, or delving underground in Armenia’s many caves. Food for the Mind Forts, monasteries, mosques, churches and excavations pepper the region; history buffs will love disentangling their Bagratids from their Bolsheviks. The cities boast well-presented museums and classy concerts, dance and theatre; smaller regional museums show local culture and notables. Cultural Crossroads South Caucasus travel weaves you between cosmopolitan, modernising capitals and slow-paced countryside where most families live off their land. Social attitudes remain traditional, with family networks supreme and most women marrying early. This is a cultural crossroads where Europe meets Asia and tomorrow mingles with yesterday, where tourism infrastructure is improving but travel still presents a few challenges. It is perfect for those who like to explore beyond the beaten path and enjoy a warm local welcome at the end of a day’s journey. TOP experiences Top of section Tbilisi Old Town 1 Nowhere better blends the romance of Georgia’s past with its striving for a new future than Tbilisi’s Old Town (Click here). Winding lanes lined by rakishly leaning houses lead past tranquil old stone churches to shady squares and glimpses of the ultracontemporary Peace Bridge spanning the Mtkvari River. Casual cafes and bohemian bars rub shoulders with trendy lounge-clubs, folksy carpet shops, new travellers’ hostels and small, quirky hotels. The aeons-old silhouette of Nariqala Fortress supervises everything, while Georgia’s 21st- century Presidential Palace, with its egg-shaped glass dome, looks on from over the river. STEPHANE VICTOR/LONELY PLANET IMAGES © Svaneti 2 The mysterious mountain valleys of Svaneti (Click here) sit high in the Caucasus, surrounded by spectacular snowy peaks, alpine meadows and thick forests – a paradise for walkers in summer. Long isolated and insulated from the outside world, Svaneti has its own language and a strongly traditional culture, symbolised by the 175 koshkebi (ancient stone defensive towers) that stand picturesquely in its villages, and the 1000-year-old frescoes in its churches. Accessible only by a long road trip until recently, Svaneti also has daily small- plane flights from Tbilisi. SEAN CAFFREY/LONELY PLANET IMAGES © Geghard Monastery 3 Half cathedral, half cave, Geghard (Click here) is a spooky, dimly lit sanctuary, where voices bounce off walls, sunbeams shoot through the narrow windows and droplets of water ooze through the walls. Ancient khatchkars (carved stone crosses) surrounding the church, and crosses carved into the 800- year-old walls, are testament to centuries of pious visitors. Walking through the church you half expect to find Indiana Jones busting the stone floor open to reveal lost treasures. MARK DAFFEY/LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©
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