the globe says
Azerbaijan
Fly to Baku, then a five-hour train or shared taxi along the Greater Caucasus foothills.
A restored caravanserai — you sleep in a Silk Road merchant's cell around a stone courtyard.
A khan's palace of stained glass built without a single nail, halva makers working copper pans, and a mountain town that was a Silk Road terminus for centuries.
The Khan's Palace first, then piti — the clay-pot mutton stew — eaten the ritual way, broth first, at a workers' lunchroom.
May to October
Sağ olun — thank you, in Azerbaijani.
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said — the Caucasus love story everyone here has read.
Kish village's ancient church, ten minutes up the valley, with Bronze Age graves under glass.
Little English is spoken outside Baku — translation apps and patience are your visa here.