About Azerbaijan
Neither Europe nor Asia, Azerbaijan is an inconceivable tangle of contradictions and contrasts. It’s a fascinating nexus of former historical empires. Yet it’s also a new nation finding its feet as it emerges from a war-torn post-soviet chrysalis on a petroleum-funded gust of optimism. Surrounded by semi-desert on the oil-rich Caspian Sea, the nation’s cosmopolitan capital Baku is a active boomtown, where flashy limousines and mushrooming skyscrapers sweep around a picturesque Unesco-listed bygone core. Yet barely three hours’ urge away lies an fully contrastive world: timeless villages clad in lush orchards from which shepherd tracks guide into the soaring elevated Caucasus mountains.