Photography by Alex B.

The GeorgianMilitary Highway near Sno

Alex sent me over some beautiful imgages from his journey to the Georgian Mountains in November 2005. He is studying photojournalism and documentary photography in London and obiviously got also infected by the grandiose themes in the Caucasus. He also sent me an interesting link to a language archive of the Khevsurian dialect of the Georgian language spoken by the Khevsurs in the villages around the Khevsurian Aragvi Bassin.
Alex, I wish you many more visits to the Caucasus and more intriguing photos like these


The day of Giorgioba


Details at Zminda Sameba


View to Kuro Range and Kazbegi

All photos by Alex B.

Gastatelier am Goethe-Institut Tiflis/ Tbilissi

Toll ! Das Goethe-Institut stellt Künstlern, Autoren, Dichtern etc. für ihre Projekte ein Atelier von ca. 40 Quadratmetern plus Apartment mit Bad und Miniküche für mindestens zwei Wochen bis maximal zwei Monate kostenlos zur Verfügung. In begründeten Fällen kann ein Reisekostenzuschuss bis maximal 500 € vom Institut übernommen werden. Weitere Informationen hier

Dagestan in photos by Gusen Halilullaev

Village Tindi. Photo by Gusen Halilullaev. Link

This blogs name is "Kaukasus", but it mainly covered topics on Georgia, as I am living in Tbilisi. Thats why, I am very happy today getting the contact to the author of an impressive Dagestanian website: Gusen Halilullaev from Makhachkala. Gusen collected comprehensive materials on www.tsumada.ru on the Tsumada Region in Dagestan with a photo gallery of almost 4000 images by Gusen and other photographers.


Winter in Tindi. View to the Minaret. Photo by Magomed Zakaryaev. Link

Some infos on Dagestan from wikipedia:

Dagestan is the largest republic of Russia in the northern Caucasus, both in area 50,300 km² and population 2,576,531 (2002).

The word Daghestan or Daghstan means "country of mountains", it is derived from the Turkic word "dagh" meaning mountain and Persian suffix meaning "land of". The spelling Dagestan is a transliteration of the Russian name and is rather modern.

The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains. It is the southernmost part of Russia.Dagestan has about 400 km of coast line on the Caspian Sea. Most of the Republic is mountainous, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains covering the south. The highest point is the Bazardyuzi peak at 4,466 m.

The people of Dagestan include over a dozen sizeable groups, including:

• Dagestani peoples — 80%, including:
  • people from the Northeast Caucasian language group 67%
    • Avars — 28%, around 500,000
    • Dargins — 16%, around 300,000
    • Lezgins — 12%, over 200,000
    • Laks — 5%, around 100,000
    • Tabasarans — 4%, around 70,000
    • Rutuls — 1%, around 15,000
    • Aguls — 1%, around 15,000
    • Tsakhurs — around 10,000
  • people from the Turkic languages 19%
    • Kumyks — 13%, over 200,000
    • Nogays — 2%, around 35,000
    • Azeris — 4%, around 85,000
    • Tatars — less than 10,000
• Russians — 9%, around 85,000
• Chechens — 3%, around 65,000
• Other — 8%, including
  • Tats — 1% around 10,000
  • Ukrainians — around 10,000
  • Kurdish — fewer than 5,000
  • Ossetians — fewer than 5,000
  • Mountain Jews — likely fewer than 5,000

Location of Dagestan in Russia, image by Wikipedia

What a beautiful country, what a rich history !

A new georgian&german girl

was born in Tbilisi on 1st of March- our daughter Saskia Annelore Buhr. Weight 3000 gr, height 50cm. She is a pretty little girl. We named her after Saskia van Uylenburg, Rembrandts wife and we wish her a life full of adventures and beauty.

Investing in Georgia

Today takes place the Forum Invest in Georgia at the Hilton New York Hotel, wich will attract new american investments in Georgias oil and gas sector, transportation, agribusiness, wine industry, in the financial sector and in tourism infrastructure. More information on http://www.investingeorgia.org/en/

This website of the Georgian National Investment and Export Promoting Agency counts 10 important reasons in a nice flash animation on its frontpage, why investments in Georgias Economy have a very good perspective:

1. A strategic location bridging Europe and Asia
2. European Union neighboring country
3. Access to CIS Markets
4. Democratic and liberal policy
5. Competitive Export regime
6. Liberal and simplified Tax code
7. Qualified,motivated and cheap workforce
8. Very attractive operating and living costs
9. High potential of agricultural sector
10. Logistical, transport and communications infrastructure

Bazaar in Telavi, the regional capital of Kakheti in Eastern Georgia

Vodka and wine


Fish


Honey and candles


Vegetables


Fruits


Meat


Fruits again