Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan

Alex Jones: The Azerbaijan chapter was written by an experienced Lonely Planet writer who has been visiting Azerbaijan and Georgia for two decades. He has chosen to use a pseudonym due to political and cultural sensitivities in the region. Alex also wrote the Plan Your Trip and Survival Guide sections. Tom Masters : Tom studied Russian at the University of London and first visited the Caucasus in 1999 on an extended escape from a provincial university study course in the Arctic.
He's been back many times since then. in his work for the BBC World Service's Caucasus & Central Asian Service and as author of the Georgia and Azerbaijan chapters for a previous edition of this book. For this edition, he returned to Nagorno-Karabakh to find the region sale and thriving. You can find more of his work at www. tommasters. net. Virginia Maxwell : Although based in Australia, Virginia spends much of her year travelling in the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe.
The author of Lonely Planet's Istanbul and Pocket Istanbul guidebooks, she also co-authors the Turkey and Iran guidebooks, so knows this part of the world very well. This is the first time she has updated Armenia but she hopes it won't be the last. John Noble : John, from the UK, first came to Georgia in 1990 when he was writing Lonely Planet's first (and last) guide to the USSR. Arriving in Georgia at Kazbegi was like a breath of fresh after Soviet regimentation and he has loved Georgians' sense of independence, hospitality.
beautiful landscapes and architecture, food and of course wine ever since. This is the third time he has covered the country for this book. John also wrote Understand section.