Saturday, February 16, 2013

#869 Candy Cane Mountains, Azerbaijan


The descriptive name was coined by travel writer Mark Elliot because of the beautiful stripey colors, but there isn't really anything there except a beautiful road through a majestic pink and white valley. Because all farming is still shepherd-driven, there are no fences, nor any buildings. The road is simple and the scenery pretty -- but many visitors come here because of its proximity to the capital Baku. How do you find it? Turn off the main northern highway at the large grain elevator where there is an inconvenient police checkpoint. 
Aside from a couple of abandoned cooperative farms, there is a very small isolated bust of poet Mikayil Mushviq across a small footbridge near the house where he was supposed to have lived. 
One of the most incredible things about the candy canes though, are the super conical bullet-like fossils that litter the ground everywhere. 
Source: Azerbaijan, 4th Edition by Mark Elliot

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