The Other Side of the World Part II: Azerbaijan

For your reference

 Our first stop in Azerbaijan was Shaki, which was a major stop on the silk trade route.  Some of the original caravan inns and stalls are still standing.

The Summer Palace of the Shaki Kahns was perhaps the most beautiful thing I saw all trip.  The outside is all mosaic tile and stained glass windows, and the inside was covered in floor to ceiling murals and intricate designs.  Absolutely breathtaking.

From Shaki we drove to Gabala, where we stopped at a resort in the mountains.  We were surprised to find such large climate and terrain variety in Azerbaijan.  Although near sea level, the huge mountains reminded us of Sundance.  

Our last stop before reaching Baku was a small monastery called Diri Baba.  There were no signs or directions, and once you got there you were free to wander inside and on top of this random structure in the middle of nowhere!

Baku itself will be its own separate post, but we were able to see quite a lot of Azerbaijan on some day trips from the city.  Melissa was incredibly brave and drove us out to see the sights- no small feat when you have a toddler in tow and the traffic is bonkers!

Yanar Dag
Azerbaijan is known as "The Land of Fire" and this is one of the reasons why:

There are gas deposits here and there that have been constantly burning for decades and no one seems to mind.  There's also nothing to stop you from getting as close up as you dare.

Ateshgah Fire Temple
Azerbaijan once had a large Zoroastrian population, with fire being the primary symbol of the religion.  The Ateshgah Temple houses an "eternal flame" and a pretty interesting mock-up of what the temple would have been like in it's hey day.  Some of the displays of stinky, starving monks practicing self-punishment were a little too realistic for my taste, but very informative.

Gobustan Petroglyphs
Coming from Utah, I'm pretty used to the whole petroglyph thing, but this place had over 6,000 carvings, all over 5,000 years-old.  So cool!

Gobustan Mud Volacanoes
I felt this was an incredibly unique experience.  The mud volcanoes are not too big, and they're not hot, but there is definitely mud bubbling up constantly, sometimes with enough force to cover anyone nearby with really smooth and slimy goop.  Apparently every so often one of the volcanoes will really explode and shoot flames up 15 meters high and cover the area mud.  I'm both glad and disappointed we missed that.

The strange thing about this site is that despite being one of the 50 Natural Wonders of the World, there are very few directions on how to get there, the road is AWFUL (all dirt, mostly washed out, and steep at the end) and then once you arrive there's no sign, no parking, and no admission fee.

We love Azerbaijan!  Next post: Baku