May 23
Asia Travel To Abkhazia
Abkhazia used to be a premier central Asia travel destination for Soviet-era apparatchiks. Nowadays, to get to this territory from Georgia you have to take a train, bus, minivan, and horse-drawn carriage, which is the only transportation available across parts of Georgia's countryside. Consequently, not too many western tourists venture here, and the US State Department advises against traveling to the territory.
Abkhazia is technically considered a part of Georgia, but has fought a series of battles to gain autonomy since the Soviet Union collapsed. In the 1990s, both Russia and Georgia blockaded rebellious Abkhazia, and consequently visitors will find that this territory remains essentially frozen in time. For about 15 years, nothing was built, torn down, renovated or altered in any way. In Pitsunda, a beachfront resort town in the north, Soviet-era high-rise apartments still stand watch over perfectly preserved mosaics of the hammer and sickle.