Signagi is a small town in eastern Georgia which is at the heart of their wine-growing region. It’s a popular tourist destination due to its cobbled streets and small town flare. In the 1800s, the vast majority of the population was Armenian, changed only after around 1916.
Tbilisi has been the capital of Georgia over the ages under different regimes, and was the capital of the Caucasus area during the imperial Russian era. Due to its proximity to the Silk Road, it was an important site fought over between different groups. There also exist numerous hot springs, which gave it its name, which means the place of warmth in old Georgian.
Even though it was only founded officially in the fifth century, there’s evidence of human settlement since the Paleolithic age, and it was the largest town in the Caucasus around 3,000 years ago.
Madrid is the capital of Spain with multiple UNESCO world heritage sites which only became a city under the Muslims. The subsequent Catholic kings gradually granted it its importance, first due to the abundance of hunting sites, and after the French occupation, it was also the site that sparked their war of independence.
Sombrerete is a small magical town in Zacatecas, Mexico near Durango, originally inhabited by the natives who disappeared mysteriously. When the Spanish officially founded a town, there was only a nomadic group, but the town quickly developed with the silver mines it had. During the war of independence, people of the town financially supported who was later the first president of Mexico, and the town was elevated to a city later on.
The revolution bought numerous battles to the city, which also temporarily became the state capital at one point. After the Cristero War, the region returned to peace. Its churches and national park are also a part of the royal road UNESCO world heritage site.
Gori is a small town in central Georgia that is principally known as the birthplace of Joseph Stalin, former leader of the Soviet Union. It was severely destroyed in a 1920 earthquake, and rebuilt during the Soviet era.
It has, however, been a very important city with military strategic value, as it’s the point between eastern and western Georgia. Thus, it has been conquered by many empires, most recently Russia. Located just 25km from the South Ossetian capital and 10km from disputed Ossetian territory, it was shilled by Russia in 2008. After Georgia announced a ceasefire with a complete withdraw from disputed South Ossetia, Russia began indiscriminate shilling of Gori and marched on to the city. Georgian forces chaotically retreated to secure their capital, which did not stop Russia’s continued airstrikes, which hit its hospital, its university, as well as its last remaining food shop. Soon after, Russia occupied the city (disputed by Russia) and reported that local authorities could not be found. At one point, Russian forces advanced to 40km from Tibilisi and stopped as the US secretary of state arrived.
Khoranashat Monastery was built in the 1200s by the author of the History of Armenia. It’s a religious complex but also a medieval university, where the Bible of Khoranashat and the Book of Lamentation were created. Even though it’s still used as a church by the villagers in the area, it’s in a state of despair not just due to earthquakes, but the fact that it’s merely 500 metres away from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. In fact. both the US and the UK advise against all travel to within 5km of this eastern border, the whole area has been shelled with incursions from time to time.
Nor Varagavank is an ancient church complex in northeastern Armenia that used to be the burial place of a dynasty. “Nor” in Armenian means “new”, signifying the fact that it was newly built to replace Varagavank in Van (Eastern Turkey today), destroyed by the Mongols. It was built with nature in mind, and today in a state of despair partly due to its proximity to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border – around 4-5km from there, within the zone where both the US and the UK advise against all travel at this time.
Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and the second-oldest city in Europe, founded as a city by Julius Ceasar. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Lisbon was conquered and ruled by many groups of people, including the Moors and the Spanish. Profound destructions came with the earthquakes, in particular the one in 1755, after which the city was almost entirely rebuilt.
Nombre de Dios is the oldest town of Durango, Mexico and a small magical town founded by the Spanish in 1562, with churches that formed a part of the royal road UNESCO world heritage site.
jagged little earth 