#850 Yanar Dag (Fire Mountain), Abseron Peninsula, Azerbaijan

This mountain is on fire! 

On the edge of a desolate moorland on a small rural road just past the pink salt lake beyond the ugly oil-field turnoff, Yanar Dag (literally Fire Mountain) burns day and night due to the underground gas that was accidentally ignited in 1958. 

A decrepit tea house is at the top of a hill, and in the gully is this amazing piece of nature. It's quite nice to sit beside the flames on a cool winter evening.

Is it natural? Well, it once was, but rumor has it that the Azeri government now pipes the gas in. However, there are other places in the area where natural gas seeps out and can be lit, including some springs and water flows. Zoroastrians worshipped fire and built a temple nearby which can still be visited. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanar_Dag

Mark Elliot's Azerbaijan

#853 Ararat, Turkey (Armenia)

The cultural heart for the Armenian people lies just across the border in the home of their enemy: Turkey. Mount Ararat, known as Agri in Turkish, is a beautiful conical volcano, and can be seen from much of Armenia including the capital Yerevan, but not visited by Armenians, although it remains the spiritual, religious and nationalistic centerpiece.

Permanently snowcapped at 5137m, with two peaks, Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat, it is Turkey's tallest, and has a 40 sq. km girth. No one knows when it last erupted, but remains suggest the Bronze Age 3 millenium BCE, although a severe earthquake shook the mountain and opened a large chasm in 1840.

According to Genesis, this is where Noah's Ark was supposed to have landed and many scientists say they have found remains of such a thing! Supposedly named after King Ara the Handsome, who didn't actually exist, but who has been associated with the real king Arame, the legends go back a long time. For Armenians it is the home of the gods, similar to Mt. Olympus in Greece.

One of the best (Armenian) places to see Ararat is from Khor Virap just outside of Yerevan, where a picturesque monastery is on a small knoll very close to the border with Mount Ararat towering behind. Beautiful! The mountain lies just 32km south of the border and is in the middle of sensitive territory where the four nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey meet, with Armenia having poor relations with both Azerbaijan (due to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh) and Turkey (due to their position on the Armenian Genocide).

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ararat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_the_Beautiful

#869 Candy Cane Mountains, Azerbaijan

The descriptive name was coined by travel writer Mark Elliot because of the beautiful stripey colors, but there isn't really anything there except a beautiful road through a majestic pink and white valley. Because all farming is still shepherd-driven, there are no fences, nor any buildings. The road is simple and the scenery pretty -- but many visitors come here because of its proximity to the capital Baku. How do you find it? Turn off the main northern highway at the large grain elevator where there is an inconvenient police checkpoint. 

Aside from a couple of abandoned cooperative farms, there is a very small isolated bust of poet Mikayil Mushviq across a small footbridge near the house where he was supposed to have lived. 

One of the most incredible things about the candy canes though, are the super conical bullet-like fossils that litter the ground everywhere. 

Source: Azerbaijan, 4th Edition by Mark Elliot

#891 Nakchivan, Azerbaijan

Nakchivan is an isolated province of Azerbaijan, but central to its heart and heritage. The president Aliyev's homeland, it is cut off from the rest of Azerbaijan by the disuputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh, currently independent/controlled by Armenia. Historically connected to the silk road and ancient Central Asian Islamic heritage, it is full of beautiful cities with typical mosques, narrow cobbled streets and mud-brick architecture. Driving as far east as is possible, right on the borders with Armenia and Iran is a town called Ordubad, which used to be an important post on the traveller´s network of towns, but now is the end of the line, slowly decaying and falling into disrepair. It has many old mosques and a fascinating covered bridge.

Nearby is an old stone bridge at Culfa, signs of the ancient travel routes that went past here.

Yusif Ibn Khaysif Mausoleum in Nakchivan city.

Nakchivan city, however, has one of the most impressive monuments of the whole area, the Momine Khatum Mausoleum built in the 1100s by Jahan Pahlavan (an Atabeg) in memory of his wife. It is beautifully  decagonal with Kufic writing and beautiful turquoise geometrical tiles. Other more humble mausoleums are hidden down back streets, no less ornate but smaller and quietly mourning. I was most impressed by the ruins of the mud brick city on the edge of town, reminicent of Turkmenistan´s Merv (#999). Such a fortification must have been impressive but is now just piles of mud!

The small town of Karabaglar also hosts an amazing mausoleum, this time with petal-like protrusions. It´s accompanying minarets offer excellent views of the countryside.

Road to Shakhbaz in Nagorno-Karabakh, now a closed border.

Historical, majestic, mountainous, beautiful, but very under-visited.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momine_Khatun_Mausoleum 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhchivan

#907 Gobustan, Azerbaijan

About an hour south of Baku, off a rugged, simple highway, on a nondescript hill are a series of fabulous natural phenomenon: mud volcanoes. In an area famous for being the first place of oil, Azerbaijan many minerals and gases close to the earth's surface, and one would think that this one is important enough for the government to regulate and monitor, but it remains un-signposted with no road access, found only by 4WDs who've received vague tips to turn after the stone house, before the big rock, and between the small rise of a nearby settlement.

The mud volcanoes are cold, and spout frequently, with others bubbling away at a regular pace. You can put your hand (or body parts) into the mud, but there's nowhere remotely close enough to wash off!

Further north are a treasure that the Azerbaijan government do value enough to regulate: Petroglyphs. Amazing rock drawings including a series of women in dresses, an unusual boat that has been likened to ancient Mediterranean cultures (suggesting a water passage connecting it and the Caspian sea that no longer exists), many animals and other people and shapes. They are up on a hill among many rocks and boulders and there is a small, poorly maintained museum.

 

 The last stretch when heading back into Baku has to be one of the ugliest oil rig areas in the world, where nodding donkeys, rigs and pools of oil vy for the ugliest item in a panorama of ugly items.

#910 Zorats Karer Carahunge - Stone Circle, Armenia

Those who study stone circles are usually not aware of one of the eastern-most circles in Armenia known as Zorats Karer, just out of the town of Sisian. Truly spiky wild crags in a wild mountain valley rather than the placid English circles, its history is not well-known. 

With 204 stones up to 3m high spread over the brown-grass hills, some with holes carved through, others paired with tombs dating back to 3000BC, it is an astronomical observatory for the equinoxes and solstices. Totally unfenced, we had the place to ourselves and wandered over a large area exploring. Very unique and interesting! 

Source: Lonely Planet Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan 3rd Edition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorats_Karer