Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan lies on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, where the Greater Caucasus runs out. Baku, the capital, curves around a bay on the Absheron peninsula. At its heart is Icherisheher, the UNESCO-listed walled old town: narrow lanes, caravanserais, the 15th-century Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Maiden Tower, usually dated to the 12th century. A seafront boulevard follows the bay, 19th- and early-20th-century stone mansions line the centre, and the Flame Towers, shaped like tongues of fire, tower over the city.

Some 70 km from Baku, the Gobustan reserve holds thousands of ancient rock carvings, also UNESCO-listed, with mud volcanoes nearby. Natural gas burns nonstop along the rock face of Yanar Dag, and the Ateshgah is a 17th–18th-century pentagonal stone complex like a caravanserai. Further afield lie Sheki, with its 18th-century khans’ palace and caravanserais, and the ski resorts of the Greater Caucasus.

At the table: plov, saffron rice with meat, chestnuts or dried fruit; dolma, vine leaves stuffed with minced meat; kebabs; and tea in pear-shaped armudu glasses, served with jam. Carpets are woven by hand, and mugham is traditional music played on the tar and kamancha. Summers are usually hot and dry, winters mostly mild, Baku often windy; spring and autumn are the most pleasant. Baku suits a few days of old architecture and generous food.