Azerbaijan

Land of fire is literal. There is a hillside that has burned for centuries

Azerbaijan sits on the Caspian Sea with so much natural gas seeping out of the ground that Zoroastrian fire temples were built here and a hillside at Yanar Dag has been burning continuously for centuries. The country name is usually translated as land of fire and for once the tourism slogan is literal.

Baku is the surprise. Oil money has produced a waterfront of ambitious architecture, including Zaha Hadid Heydar Aliyev Centre and the three Flame Towers, wrapped around a UNESCO-listed walled old city with a medieval palace and a mysterious stone tower nobody can fully explain. It is cleaner, greener and more European-feeling than most people expect.

Outside the capital, Gobustan has thousands of prehistoric rock carvings and bubbling mud volcanoes. Sheki in the northwest has a khan palace with stained glass windows assembled without nails or glue. The Caucasus mountain villages at Xinaliq and Lahic are remote and traditional. Note that the border with Armenia is closed and relations remain difficult.

Annual events and festivals

• Novruz (20-21 Mar) — the biggest holiday of the year. Bonfires jumped over, sprouted wheat, and four preceding Tuesdays each dedicated to an element.
• Eid al-Fitr, Ramazan Bayrami (varies) — a public holiday ending Ramadan.
• Eid al-Adha, Qurban Bayrami (varies) — the second Eid, also a public holiday.
• Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (Sep) — a street circuit running through the old city walls.
• Baku Jazz Festival (Oct) — a long-running international festival in a country with a real jazz tradition.
• Republic Day (28 May) — marks the 1918 founding of the first secular democratic republic in the Muslim world.
• Independence Day (18 Oct) — marks the 1991 restoration of independence.
• Pomegranate Festival, Goychay (Oct-Nov) — the national fruit gets its own celebration.
• Gabala International Music Festival (Jul-Aug) — classical music in a mountain resort town.
• Victory Day (8 Nov) — marks the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a highly significant date.