Lovcen and the Njegos Valley

Lovcen is the mountain area where Njegos Petrovic is buried.  His tomb is in one of the pictures.  It is the second highest mountain.  When he was asked why he did not choose the highest mountain he said that someday a prince greater than he would come and he would take that place.  It happened. TV came along and the highest mountain is dedicated to the antenna. The Njegos Valley is where he grew up.  It creates wonderful cheese and ham. Continue reading Lovcen and the Njegos Valley

Greencastle, Ireland (the old home place.)

  In the summer of 1993 Suzi and I took my mother to Ireland to celebrate her 80th birthday.  Her father was born, raised, and ran away to sea from Greencastle in Donegal; at the mouth of Lough Foyle, the choke point leading to the port of Londonderry.  Her actual birthday was in September and on her birthday I sent her a letter recounting some of the stories we heard in Ireland.  Many of the stories are the ones I grew up with, but we heard them from a different perspective and told a century after they happened. My grandfather … Continue reading Greencastle, Ireland (the old home place.)

Batumi, Georgia

Sept 21, 2012,  Batumi , Georgia, Batumi, Georgia is what Wildwood; New Jersey would be if Wildwood were built in the LED era rather than the neon era.   At its most outlandish it is a combination of the fantasies of Georgian President Misha Saakashvili and Donald Trump. At its best it is a fine old Black Sea town with wrought iron balconies reminiscent of New Orleans interspersed with Turkish shop houses and pencil thin minarets.  Batumi is a border town between Georgia and Turkey.  It’s been governed by both, as well as the Russians, Soviets, Byzantines, and a host of … Continue reading Batumi, Georgia

Tbilisi Opera House

Breaking News.  The Opera House, newly restored, opens on Sept 16, 2013 for its 162nd season.  I will miss it, I leave Tbilisi on Sept 14. In a 2004 letter I wrote:  “The Opera House looks like it came from the tails of Scheherazade, which have probably been preformed there many times.” In 2005 I wrote: “On Thursday Lika took me to the Opera.  It was the opening production of the season, which meant, in Georgia, the opera is Abesalom and Eteri (Esther) by Zakaria Paliashvilli.  It is kind of the Georgian national opera.” “The plot is sufficiently operatic; a … Continue reading Tbilisi Opera House