We still had more to see of Baku before setting off to discover inland Azerbaijan. This morning consisted of a walking tour of old Baku. Remains have been found showing it was a trading settlement at least back to the 5th C B.C.  Walled in in the 12th C, the old town existed within until the rapid expansion of the city in the 1880’s with the prosperity brought by oil.

A key symbol of the old town is the Maiden Tower. The name really having nothing to do with its function. Initially a Bronze Age pagan site, the current tower was built in the 9th C.  Since there’s only 9 windows, all facing southwest allowing the center to be illuminated on the summer solstice it’s assumed to be an ancient observatory. 

The group wandered up to the Palace that I visited 2 days ago. Since once was enough for me, I waited in the quiet garden below.

Then lunch in the new city (4-course with kepab as the main) then ~3.5 hour drive thru pretty barren landscape to the mountain village of Lahij, stopping along the way to visit a mosque and again to learn about traditional yogurt-making from a sweet old lady.

We didn’t arrive until 7:40pm, well after dark, so we couldn’t actually see how bad the roads were on the way in. The terrible rains yesterday put into question if we’d even be able to make it to this village (our company had a backup plan) but the road damage was minimal and all rockslides had been cleared. It felt like we drove forever to get here so we’re all interested in seeing it in daylight tomorrow to discover why we came!