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Solo trip to Azerbaijan

 Sadly my time as a volunteer is almost coming to an end. During the last month I spent quite some time travelling. Together with the other volunteers we went on a trip to Svanetti. Moreover, I decided to do a solo trip to the neighbouring country of Georgia, Azerbaijan. It was one of my goals to visit both Armenia and Azerbaijan during my time here. In January I already visited Armenia. During this month I had the chance to visit Azerbaijan, so obviously I took this chance and planned my trip to Azerbaijan. It is a bit more complicated to get to Azerbaijan than to some other neighbouring countries. Azerbaijan closed its border, and because of this the only way to enter the country is by plane. Moreover, you need an e-visa to enter the country. 

I decided to travel to Azerbaijan for one week. This was enough time to get a general impression of the country and see the highlights of the country. In this blog I will write about what I did during my time in Azerbaijan and I will write about my first impression of the country. 

Baku 

The first days of my trip I spent in Baku. Baku is the capital city of Azerbaijan. On my first day I visited the old town of the city. This part of the city is actually really nice. There are a lot of cute streets and beautiful buildings. On my second day in Baku I walked up to Highland Park. From this park you have a view over the city, which is very beautiful as well! Moreover, from here you have a good view of the Flame Towers, these are 3 modern buildings formed like flames. During the rest of my time in the city, I spent discovering more of Baku. Mostly this was the boulevard and the shop/restaurant area of the city. I also visited the Heydar Aliyev cultural center. This is a very cool modern building, a bit outside of the city center. At night I wandered over the boulevard. In the night flames or the flag of Azerbaijan are projected on them on them, which is really cool. 





Daytrip to Khinaliq 

One day I used to explore the north of Azerbaijan. First I visited the red mountains. These are mountains that are similar to the rainbow mountains in Georgia. Although I have seen them twice in Georgia, I still find them very special. So I didn't mind stopping for a while and taking pictures! Later we continued our journey to Khinaliq, the drive through the Azerbaijani mountains was so beautiful. Khinalig is a village where people still live in a more primitive way. There are only a few facilities and there is also no paved road. The houses are all made of the same type of stone. It is cool to walk around here. In Khinaliq we had lunch at a family's home. The house was really beautiful on the inside! Also, the food was super tasty. We ate all kinds of Azerbaijani dishes. During lunch we were told more about life in the village and we could ask questions! So that was really nice. After lunch it was already time to leave for Baku. On the way we stopped at a point where we had a view of the Besh Barmag mountain, which was beautiful! 


Sheki 

During my trip I spent two nights in Sheki. This is a village in the north-west of Azerbaijan. It is quite different from Baku. Baku is quite big and modern, while Sheki is small and is more authentic. During my time in Sheki, I mostly wandered around its streets. I walked to the Second World War monument. From here you have a beautiful view of the village. I also visited the most important building of Sheki: The palace of the Shaki Khan’s. This is a summer palace of the Khan's, a royal family from the past. The palace is not big. But both the outside and the inside of the palace are really beautiful. 



Gobustan national park, mud volcanoes & Yanar Dagh 

After visiting Sheki, I returned to Baku. I decided to visit some sights around Baku. First I visited the Bibiheybat Mosque, which was quite beautiful. After that I visited Gobustan national park. This is a national park that it’s mostly famous for its old petroglyphs.Other than the petroglyphs, the surroundings of the park were also quite impressive. After the visit to Gobustan national park, I went to the mud volcanoes. I found the mud volcanoes so cool! I have never seen something like this before. The last stop of the day was the Yanar Dagh. The Yanar Dagh is a natural burning gas spring along a hill. The hill is on fire naturally, so there are flames at any time of the day. This was quite nice!   


Conclusion Azerbaijan 

I have to say Azerbaijan has surprised me in a positive way! Beforehand I heard from other travellers that it is not worth it to visit the country. However, I saw many beautiful places, and had a good time here. As a solo female traveller I also felt very safe in the country. I definitely do not regret visiting Azerbaijan. So if you have the chance, definitely try to visit the country! 


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