AZERBAIJAN

Spanning Europe and Asia, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan is a mix of Persian, Turkic, Arabic and Russian influences – peoples and cultures who would once have been traders and travellers on the Silk Road.

The country’s great wealth, however, comes from oil, which has turned Baku, its capital since 1920, into the Dubai of the Caucasus region. As the skyscrapers have soared, Icherisheher, Baku’s walled Old Town, has been restored, and is now a mix of patched-up 12th-century buildings, museums, restaurants and narrow streets.

Most of the surrounding Absheron Peninsula is a semi-desert of mud volcanoes, where gas escapes through fissures, creating natural flames. The Yanar Dag hillside has been burning for centuries.

About 300 kilometres (186 miles) north of Baku, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, lies Sheki, a medieval trading hub known for its silk, shebeke, a kind of stained glass, and sweets made with rice paper.