Dranda Abkhaz Church

For my birthday last weekend, we decided to do something special. We decided to go somewhere we have not been and suddenly I remembered the Dranda Abkhaz Church from a documentary I watched. We just made ourselves some sandwiches, took the photo camera and got on the way.
It was really unique and beautiful church, made of bricks. The outside have been plastered for protection but some parts have been left to show the beautiful brick structure.
However, when you are inside you can see complete brick structure and you are amazed by this wonderful architectural beauty.
I am not much familiar with Christianity but I found this piece by Khrushkova on Spread of Christian Church in Black Sea Litoral. She says that "The plan of Dranda church contains its own combination of rotunda and cross, while the sanctuary includes a prothesis and a diaconicon. The interior is dominated by the broad dome, which rests on the vaults over the arms of the cross, and on parts of the walls. The bricwork is noted for the marked care with which it was constructed, particularly interior, in the brickwork of the vaults and the dome. During restoration, amphorae of various types were discovered in the vault over the narthex; in my view, they date to the end of the 6th or the first half of the 7th century. ... It is possible that the church at Dranda was the see of archbishopric of Abazgia: its dimensions and its architectural excellence closely connect it to the Byzantine architectural tradition, and all the sources affirm that this building was not an ordinary one.... At the end of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th, the church at the village of Dranda chracterises the passage from Antiquity to the Middle Ages." Pages 35-36.
See more pictures from the Church and region here: http://picasaweb.google.com/abkhaziadiary/DrandaChurch#

Istanbul restaurant in Abkhazia

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A repatriant has opened a Turkish Meat Restaurant in Sukhum this summer. I just recently had a chance to take a pic (and eat meatballs-which I usually miss). It looks like a high class restaurant and they serve Islama Kofte (a kind of Meat Ball which is served with bread dipped into meat broth.) The restaurant is called Istanbul. It is funny because when I came to Abkhazia there was a restaurant by a repatriant which was called Antalya. Is this a longing for the long lived -second homeland host country, or is it a call for Russian tourists who love to go to these cities but come to Abkhazia for a cheaper holiday? Or is it just the cousine -Turkish they say but meat is all that they serve here- that decides the name?













And I added another pic from a cafe-restaurant called San Remo. I sat there only once since it is a very expensive cafe. I tried a fried camamber but it was nothing close to the one I ate in Stutgart Wine Fest a few years back. Still, if you got money for a drink I suggest you to drop by to this fancy white restaurant just opposite to Agop's coffee house (where Castro and many other famous people have sat) and within the building of the best hotel in Sukhum- Ritsa....

See more from Restaurants and Food from Abkhazia at: http://picasaweb.google.com/abkhaziadiary/FoodRestaurants#