Geography
According to Abbreviation Finder, Abkhazia is located in the northwestern region of Transcaucasia. It borders with Russia in the north, in the west with Georgia. In the southwest it is washed by the Black Sea. The coast is 210 km, most of the beaches are rocky.
The administrative center of Abkhazia is the city of Sukhum. The republic is divided into 7 districts: Sukhumi, Gagra, Gal, Ochamchira, Gudauta, Gulrypsh and Tkuarchal. The largest cities of Abkhazia are Sukhum, Gudauta and Gagra. The official languages are Abkhazian and Russian.
Approximately 75% of the territory of the republic is made up of the Main Caucasian Range, or rather its spurs – narrow mountain ranges, which, as mountains form, move away from the main chain and are lower than the central peaks of the range.
The spurs mainly pass along the northern border of the republic – these are the Kodori Range, the Bzyb Range, the Abkhaz Range and the Gagra Range. The highest point in Abkhazia is Mount Dombay-Ulgen, whose height is 4046 m above sea level.
The rest of the territory of Abkhazia is the Colchis lowland. From the coast of the Black Sea to the border with the mountains, it occupies a small territory, fenced off from the ridges by a belt of low hilly foothills.
Abkhazia is known for its karst caves, among which the deepest cave of this type in the world is Krubera-Voronya, more than 2 km deep. The exact figure of the depth of this cave is increasing every year, since the study of its galleries and wells has been going on non-stop for more than 50 years. At the moment, the declared depth of the cave is 2080 m.
Climate
The climatic zone in which Abkhazia is located is subtropical. However, the climate of the republic tends to be tropical for two reasons – proximity to the sea and mountainous territory.
The hottest month is August. The temperature during this period rises to +30°C in the shade. The average summer temperature in Abkhazia is about + 23 ° C. In winter, minus temperature is considered an anomaly here. The temperature minimum is recorded annually in January: +10°C.
There is always a lot of precipitation. The rains are heavy but not long. The average annual rainfall is approximately 1500-2000 mm.
In the mountains, due to the high zonality, precipitation falls less. Mountainous areas change according to the type of vegetation with height from the mountain-forest type to the alpine.
Famous resorts of Abkhazia: Gagra, Sukhum, New Athos, Gudauta and Pitsunda.
Also, recently, tourist routes have become popular in Abkhazia, covering some not too high passes of the Caucasus Range.
Cuisine of Abkhazia
Traditions of Abkhaz cuisine
The traditions of the Abkhaz cuisine were formed under the influence of the history of the people. A national culinary feature is the Abkhazians eating a large amount of natural plant foods, which are rich in minerals and vitamins. Largely due to proper nutrition, the phenomenon of Abkhazian longevity appeared.
For cooking, Abkhazians most often use cereals (corn, wheat) and beans, dairy products (cow, goat and buffalo milk, cheeses), meat (poultry, goat meat, lamb and beef), vegetables (beets, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, garlic, radish, tomatoes), fruits, eggs, nuts, honey.
National Abkhaz dishes
An analogue of bread for the local population was cornmeal. From it they prepared a thick nutritious porridge hominy (abysta), adopted for everyday use. Hominy had varieties: with nut butter (ashlarkunta), with cheese (aylaj-mamaliga), with milk (achamykva).
Cornmeal serves as the basis for the preparation of flat cakes, churek stuffed with cheese, walnuts and honey, bread (akhampal), halva (atsvyrtsma). Corn is also eaten whole, boiled.
Wheat flour is used to make cheese cake (achashv), dumplings, pies and sweets (baklava, halva) popular among Eastern peoples.
Traditional meat dishes are hens and chickens cooked on a spit, boiled poultry meat with adjika, chicken with nut sauce (akuty eitsarshy), a dish resembling liver sausage (atubar), liver and boiled offal with adjika, herbs and nuts.
Meat delicacies are lamb meat fried on a spit, goat meat stuffed with sour-milk cheese, adjika, mint and the meat of these animals boiled in milk.
The main vegetable dish is called Akud. It is prepared from beans, spices and served with hominy. Salad of fresh vegetables among the Abkhazians is called achapa. In summer, fresh vegetables are always on the table, in winter – salty.
Sour- milk products, cheeses are popular in the country: ashvlaguan or suluguni, ashvadza sour-milk cheese, ashvchapan cheese with mint and sour-milk sauce, achayur skinskin cheese, as well as akhchat cream and akhach curd mass.
All Abkhazian dishes are seasoned with various spices: coriander, mint, savory, basil, parsley, nettle, wild garlic, purslane and dill.
Perhaps the most famous seasoning of the Abkhazian cuisine is adjika – a fragrant, rather spicy seasoning that resembles pasta. It includes red pepper, fresh and dried spices, garlic and salt. Served with meat, vegetable and dairy dishes, added to numerous traditional sauces. Such sauces are prepared from berries, tomatoes and nuts. An indispensable component of many Abkhazian dishes is a walnut.
Drinks in Abkhazia
A traditional non-alcoholic drink in Abkhazia is sour milk (akhartsva), which is eaten with honey. The drink that best quenches thirst is sour milk with water (akhartsvydzyua). Atskhadzyua is prepared from honey here.
From alcohol in the country, chacha vodka, which is prepared on the basis of grapes, and wine of various varieties are known. In modern times, the wines “Bouquet of Abkhazia”, “Lykhny”, “Psou”, “Anakopiya”, “Apsny” and many others are popular.
