Fixing the menu

Last night I had a funny experience, something I suspect that many travelers fantasize about. OK, maybe not many. But often when you’re traveling, you’ll see really funny translations into English. So last night, as I was having supper at my usual restaurant, the manager said he had a request. Could I tell him the right English word for a dish containing mashed lung and heart of sheep?

We finally arrived at the phrase “organ meats” to delicately describe this dish. But there were all sorts of other errors on the menu, so we ended up reading through the entire work. As printed, the menu used interesting and appetizing phrases like “guts,” “turkey cock,” “uild boar,” “root salad,” and “spirituous liquids.” The manager got a kick when I told him about the dual meanings of the word “cock.” Personally, my favorite translation was “dil salad.” I had foolishly assumed that “dil” was just a misspelling of the “dill.” Actually, “dil” means tongue in Azerbaijan. So, I can imagine the surprise of a poor herbivore ordering this salad, and being presented with some fleshy Azerbaijani concoction.

Here are a few recent photos from Sheki. The old streets are an endless source of amusement for me. Meeting random children. Examining the old houses. As I came back from a morning walk today, a woman I’ve chatted with before asked why I didn’t take a picture of the old church.

“Old church? Where?”

She pointed at the courtyard next to her house. From the street, it was not at all evident that it was a church. I asked if she’d let me see the building. She agreed and her grandson opened up the metal gate.

The church is supposedly Albanian. Could be. It looks very old. And very much in disrepair. Not much was visible from the outside aside from the top of the window arches. Some cabinets were stacked up in front of the structure. The woman next door said “they” are going to repair the building. I don’t know when. Judging from the other things that need repair in this town, I don’t think it will happen soon.

On the road to Zaqatala

Just a brief entry today – because it has been such a long day. We left early this morning from Sheki, taking a taxi to Zaqatala. It’s a 1 ½ hour trip – but we made it last something like six hours – stopping at old churches and other points of interest along the way. By the end – we were getting a bit jaded but really the trip was gorgeous. Sometimes, our information about the churches was quite limited – and they were not all ancient – but they were all evocative. We stopped for a stroll through the town of Ilisu, a charming little town, down the road from a small but very steep waterfall. Getting to the water required a long trudge up a dusty road and then a scramble over slippery piles of slate, but it was worth it. After lunch, our time was getting short, so we began to stop less frequently. We did stop in the village of Lekit, which holds a couple of church ruins. We found the ruins of the 7th century Albanian church. We’re told it’s of circular design – but this would be hard for someone with untrained eyes to see. The vine-covered ruins are evident, but their design isn’t. Still, it was peaceful to stand in the grove of hazelnut trees, listen to summer insects, and imagine the scene – 1400 years ago. Finally, we did make it to Zaqatala, which itself was worth the trip – and worth a return trip. I plan to come back to conduct a training in this small city in September. Zaqatala has a mountain atmosphere, and it’s сlear that Zaqatala is on the edge of Azerbaijan. The customs seem a little less conservative. For example, we saw young females and males spending time with each other in public, something that is not so common in other regions. I’ve included a shot of a couple, sitting under one of the enormous plane trees in the old part of Zaqatala. These trees are reputed to be 700 years old. They are certainly old and very large. And beautiful. Other photos include one of a Georgian church on the road to Zaqatala, a clip of what the church bell and the insects around there sound like, some of the ancient stones of the Albanian church ruins, the sidewalk market in Ilisu, and a view of the valley from the waterfall above Ilisu.