Dosvedanya, Azerbaijan!

After just a few days, I know that Azerbaijan is a land of many contrasts. It has a long and varied history, has been part of the Persian empire and the Soviet Union with remnants of both still evident as well as many other invaders in between. The Azeri language is a Turkic language but Russian is widely understood.

The Russians and Soviets have left their  mark on this tiny Caucasus country. They invaded and stole or destroyed precious works of art, destroyed culturally significant buildings, and pushed religion out of public life. But without this influence, Azerbaijan would not be what it is today and could easily have gone down the same path as Iran in the late 1970's.

You can see the Persian influence in the architecture of the historical palaces and other monuments as well as in the people themselves. We visited the Sheki Khan Palace today and it is very similar to the palaces we saw in Iran. From the exterior craftsmanship to the interior decoration, they are very similar. We saw the same use of the lion as a representation of the king as we did in Iran.

We saw the bustling modern city of Baku which was host to an international car race, is crammed with new construction but has the old heart of the city where you can wander the cobbled streets and see the old walls that used to encompass the city and protect it from invaders.

The natural history of the area is very interesting too. The museum at Gobustan has a really instructive museum with displays about the evolution that has taken place over the millennia. The sea level has risen and fallen numerous times providing plenty of sandstone and limestone for modern construction and providing the mechanism to filter water naturally for the city of Baku. There are no other fresh water sources except the ground water that filters through the rock.

This has also left Azerbaijan with an oil resource that is now helping to modernize the country. The former president Haydar Ilyev is credited with signing the Contract of the Century with The big oil companies to really develop the oil industry.

In the 19th century there was an oil industry that was very unregulated leading to the rise in power of the oil barons. When the Bolsheviks came in the early 1900's, they took everything from these oil barons including their businesses, their homes, everything. Our guide says many of them died - of a heart attack over losing everything. So the oil industry was nationalized but everything went to Moscow. When Azerbaijan became independent that maintained the nationalized oil industry but now the money is used to the benefit of Azerbaijan.

We have now entered Georgia, and my first impression is that the people are very much like the Lebanese in that they have endured so much through occupation and oppression, civil war, and revolution, yet they have an incredible zest for life. They have not let the conflicts and threats from inside or outside the country dampen their spirit. They also reside next to countries that sent like each other (Armenia and Azerbaijan), but they get along with both.

So more on Georgia tomorrow! I will also try to get some photos in here too.

Brenda

Isfahan - Part 2

The final installment from Isfahan - enjoy!

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350755218/tpod.html

Isfahan - Part 1

Isfahan was one of my favorite stops when I visited Iran a few years ago. It's an amazing city (even if the river has been diverted for the subway construction!) and there is so much to see and do there. Every tour we do includes time in Isfahan.

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350627064/tpod.html

Update from Rita on the situation in Aleppo

I talked to family again today in Aleppo to see how they were doing.  They were telling me that we don't even hear half the news of what is happening in the city.

Some of the hospitals are open - the public ones and also the private hospitals - but they do not have enough doctors that are working in them.  One of the reasons is that doctors have been singled out by the government for helping the other side. They have been targeted, so the ones that could leave have left to the US or Canada with their families. Some have come back to the region and are working in the border towns if they can.

I asked them if someone had to go to the hospital as an emergency is that possible? They say yes, but you still need to go through a lot of check points and you are not sure who is manning each check point.  If you tell them you are going to the hospital you will be interrogated to find out why, what happened, etc- so you might be there for a couple of hours explaining and the person you are taking could be dying.  If you get hurt by a sniper and are taken in by a relative or a friend the same thing will happen but it can get worst since they will want to know where you were when it happened and why you were there and whose side are you on, etc.

My cousin was telling me that about 1/2 million residents of Aleppo are displaced and living either with friends or family, in the streets, or in front of buildings.  They had to leave their homes since they were in areas of bombing and they wanted to protect their families.  They now have a hard time in returning.  There is still about 80% of the population of Aleppo still in their homes in the area outside the center in the newer areas of the city.  Pretty much the old part of the city, the Christian quarter, and the Armenia quarter have all been hit and people have moved out of there.  The old homes that had been redone as hotels for tourism are being used by the rebel forces as strongholds, so these historic hotels get targets and an immense amount of destruction has taken place.

The historic Baron Hotel has been hit hard. The tourist hotel in the middle of downtown and the Amira hotel have been destroyed.  The stories of destruction in the old quarter go on and on.  These are the parts of the city that so much money had been spend on to rebuild the old Islamic structures and get the vibrant part of the old city going again, and now they are in ruins.  Aleppo was part of a project that has been going on for years to preserve old Islamic buildings. The architects that were working on this have received numerous awards for their work.  One of them is my ex-husband, and I am so sorry that this is happening since he and so many people had put so much time and blood and tears to do this work and now in just 18 months most of it has been destroyed.  It will never go back to the way it was.  It will be rebuilt like Beirut was after its civil war and most of it will be high rises, but where will the people be and how will they be emotional and physically?  The traumatic effects of war on any person is long lasting and the worst effect is on the children who will be the new generation that will be running this country- how much hate and grief will they have?  How long will the memories last? Look at what Hafiz the father of Bashar did back in the mid 70's and 80's and the destruction of Hama - those are the people now that are fighting Bashar since they remember their parents, brothers and sisters, etc that were killed, where in one day Hafez came and destroyed Hama and killed 20,000 people.
Rita Zawaideh

Yazd and the road to Isfahan

Zoroastrian Towers of Silence, Fire Temples, Water Museum, and more from Yazd. Enjoy!

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350495987/tpod.html

Persepolis to Yazd

Persepolis, Naghsh e Rostam, Pasargadae, and then on to Yazd. Enjoy!

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350409556/tpod.html

Another Day In Shiraz

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350292583/tpod.html

Report on Syrian Crisis

I talked to a friend of my daughter today that lives in Aleppo, Zuka. We are trying to convince her to leave, but she says she can't go by herself and leave her family behind.  She is the only one in the family that has a passport.  Even with a war going on you need to have a passport and also ID cards to leave the country and get into another country.  If you have a passport you can go into the city and not into a refugee camp.  She says she can't have her family stay in the camps they have too many problems and too many people.

She is also the only one in the family that is still getting a salary – she was working for ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Regions) and they are paying everyone until January. This is really good news, otherwise she and a lot of other young people would not have any money to live on for themselves and their families.  After 18 months of war, people are running out of money.  Just think if a natural disaster happened here and all banks closed and no ATM's worked, would you have enough cash to live on and for how long? I think most people in the US only keep enough for maybe for one week, if that!

This evening there was a program on 60 Minutes regarding Syria and the reporter states "the only people in the city of Aleppo are the poor".  I am sorry to state that she is very wrong and I will be writing to her.  There are the elderly and the middle class and also the handicapped that have not been able to leave and also a lot of people that did not believe that it would go to this extent and thought they might be able to hold on, but now they are stuck and not able to leave their homes due to snipers, road closures and not sure when the airports are open or not.  The cost of a plane ticket one way from Aleppo to Jordan is $800 and even more to Cairo.  There are only a few airlines that are still going into the country.

A doctor from Ohio, a Syrian-American just returned from a few days in Amman on a fact finding mission- he took a suitcase full of medicine with him and said that he will be doing this about twice a month.  He will leave on a Friday arrive on a Saturday and then return back to the US on a Monday.  He is very committed and wants to help in any way possible.  He came back and told me that the items that are really needed are:
1.  Hygiene kits for the women - purchasing in Jordan for $14
2.  School kit for children - purchasing in Jordan for $12
3.  Adult diapers - not sure of prices
4. Blankets for the winter

Salaam Cultural Museum and Caravan-Serai have joined forces with Disaster Training International and the Syrian American Association of Washington (SAAWA) to collect donations for these items.  We have Father Samir Abulail, a Jordanian from Irbid, that is leaving on the 1st of November and he will be taking the money back and purchasing the items through a wholesaler that we know there to get as much as we can for the money he will have with him.

If anyone wants to make a donation you are able to earmark what you want us to purchase with your funds and we will take note of that.

We want to thank you all for your concern and your emails about family and friends and also your guides that you had when you traveled there.  We are hoping that this will not keep on, but it looks like a very long fight and one that is not easy to resolve.

We are working on getting a fact finding group to go over about the end of November.  We are planning to include a therapist, trauma specialist, speech therapist, and a doctor from here to go and do our own research.  We will keep you all apprised of the situation.

A Day in Shiraz - a City for Romantics

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350273040/tpod.html

The Road to Shiraz (and I don't mean wine)

From almost sea level in Ahwaz, up through the mountains and on to Shiraz.

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350118684/tpod.html

Boxing Day in Ahwaz

Visiting Chogha Zanbil and Shushtar.

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1350150329/tpod.html

Nomads, Iraqi Tankers, and Historical Sites Oh My!

Kermanshah to Ahwaz report. Enjoy!

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1349977505/tpod.html

Hamadan to Kermanshah

I love the next to last line of this report from our client in Iran - "If you want to feel like a rock star come to Iran!"

I hope you enjoy these reports as much as I am - this is the same tour I was on a few years ago, so I am familiar with the places she is seeing, and her detail in the descriptions is really impressive!

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1349891066/tpod.html

Hamadan, Iran

From Hamadan, Iran -

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lawyerchick92/3/1349804641/tpod.html

Iran-Susa Tour

We have a client in Iran right now who is sharing her travel blog with us, and she has given permission to share it on our blog. She is writing on TravelPod, an easy to use blog specifically for travel writing. Check out her blog and if you are so inclined, check out others on the site. It's free and easy to set up for your own travels! Below is the link to her posts. Enjoy!

Iran tour blog at TravePod

Destruction of the Souk in Aleppo

This post was written by Rita, who spent many years living in Aleppo.

This is the souk I remember in Aleppo.  When I live there I was in this place daily for my regular shopping.  I would go and sit with the merchants and talk to them and just have a great time and also talk to the tourist as they were coming in.  During those days they were mostly British, French, and Italian, and only a few Americans.  Then after I moved from Aleppo and came back to the US and opened Caravan-Serai Tours I would take people on the tours to one of my favorite places - the souk - to get their olive oil soaps and their spices and then some other things that they wanted.  This was not a tourist market this was a market that the locals would use so you saw all different kinds of people in all different modes of attire. I have talked to my spice man who I used for over 20 years and he is safe and at home with his family, but his shop is no longer there.  This was a shop that was owned by his great-great-grandfather and was passed down through the family.  This was a man that would tell me not to put the cinnamon next to the pepper since it would drink the smell away and it would be overpowered by the cinnamon - do not put your dry mint next to your saffron since everything will then smell like mint, etc, etc.  This was a part of my life and history so you can imagine what he is going through and what the Syrian people are going through that were so proud of their city.

The souk now has been burned by both the rebel forces and the military.  The rebels had taken refuge inside the souk and then the firing started between the different groups. The reports are stating about 1500 shops have been burned, since the doors that the shop keepers had were all made of wood. The market dates back about 2500 years ago.  It stood up to all kinds of foreign invasions over the centuries, earthquakes, but not the powerful tools of war of the 21st century.

I talked to Faez in Aleppo to see how they were all doing, he said “how do you think we are doing- we are listening to the news ad hearing what they have done to the old city. The destruction of one of the Old World Heritage Sites is something hard for us to accept.  We have 7 different Old Heritage Sites in this area and all have taken some sort of damage.”  I said, “I know, and I want to cry - what can we do?” He says to tell people to talk to their government officials and try and get this to stop. Get the foreign soldiers out of the country.  Let just the Syrians handle this.  The foreign soldiers and the others that are trying to help are not helping.  We have foreign mercenaries that have nothing to lose by burning these ruins and raping and abusing the children- this is a war and they are being paid.

We need to get the different sides to sit and talk and negotiate peace- this is something that can't keep going on - a solution is needed immediately.

This is what the souk is looking like now.  Syria is in need of foreign intervention.

I also, talked to Alaa in Damascus today and he says it is relatively ok there - way better than in Aleppo. His kids are going to school and the businesses are open, but that is for now.

You can see that both the government and the rebels are going from one area and destroying that and then moving on.  We saw that in Homs and in Hama that are pretty much ghost towns at this point.  We can't say this will be happening to Aleppo.  The museum in Palmyra has been destroyed and the artifacts have been stolen.  For a lot of you that used to travel with us to Syria I have been told that the young men that would sell us the jewelry, tablecloths, scarves etc. while at the sites are now gone and have joined the FSA.  Some have taken their families across the border to Jordan, walking thru the desert for days to get to the camps.  They do not have their documentation so they have to sneak into the country.

There is talk today that Jordan might have to close its borders to deal with the refugees they have if they are not able to get international aid for them. We are asking for your help.  Please forward these emails to friends and other people that you know that are worried or care for human lives and helping the children of the region.

We thank you for reading and listening.

~Rita