Vacation in Abkhazia

If the whole Russia/Georgia war thing isn't a big problem, perhaps you'd like to visit another disputed area there. Graeme Wood rather enjoyed his trip.

In Sukhumi, the capital, I can see why the Georgians have refused to give up Abkhazia without a fight. Wars break out naturally over territory gorgeous enough to fight for. And Abkhazia — a palm-lined coast supervised by a snowy green sierra — is cursed, like Helen of Troy, with enough beauty to inspire bloodshed of epic duration.

Still today, all Russians know Abkhazia as the balmiest coast in the otherwise frigid ex-Soviet empire -- "a corner of Spain or Sicily," wrote one 19th-century explorer, "dropped at the foot of Old Man Caucasus."

There are hazards.

The Soviet Union had exploited Abkhazia's climate — as agreeable for apes as for Politburo members — to conduct medical research, some of it secret. Ex-staff remember cages labeled "Beware AIDS." During the civil war, the Georgians rocketed the old monkey-house, and about 7,000 baboons and macaques made an unprecedented primate jailbreak.

But after an evening of drinking and chatting with some locals, he felt good about the experience.

This, I thought, was the Abkhazia that had lured me in the first place, the country worth crossing a battle line to visit. I went to sleep content, the taste of consonants and backyard vino still strong in my mouth.