I provided an introduction to the mountains of Chechnya in a previous post, but with this post, we’re getting into the most restricted area where a lot of heavy activity went down in the recent Chechen Wars (and still does now). I’m referring to the region of Chechnya that borders Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge… The eight-mile-long … Continue reading
Aside from the historical significance of these images and their interesting subject matter, I am also laying the foundation for a future article with this post… So, first of all, who was Roddy Scott? Roddy Scott was a talented and dedicated freelance journalist/photojournalist who was, by all accounts, a genuinely decent person of the sort … Continue reading
The Georgian Military Highway has existed as a route for traders and invaders since before the 1st century BC, but had only evolved into a crude horse trail by the time the Russians finally converted it, through the Herculean efforts of 800 soldiers, into a carriage road in 1783. Today, it offers tremendous scenery and … Continue reading
I was exploring some of the back alleys of Tbilisi when I stumbled across this church: I could see that it looked abandoned and so I slipped in past a boarded up section where I was shocked to discover that the entire church had been absolutely gutted by fire – and fairly recently too. The … Continue reading
After following the Georgian Military Highway to the Russian border, my Italian interpreter and I felt like stretching our legs a little after so much driving. I stopped at a crude dirt track leading up into the mountains of the Caucasus and we decided to hike up the road to see where it went. On … Continue reading
I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but I have some weird fascination with industrial sites. There’s an artistic element to this fascination, but I can’t quite articulate it other than to say that I see some sort of raw beauty in them… So, when I saw this rusting train abandoned on the tracks shortly … Continue reading
An accordion player performing in the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia… The video is here if you want to listen to him play: In an effort to preserve the integrity and objectivity of The Velvet Rocket, I should probably state my bias immediately: I loved Tbilisi. In fact, I would probably even put it in my … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 