#934 Lankoran, Azerbaijan

If you asked most people living or visiting Azerbaijan about Lankoran, very few would know much. Unless you travel up from Iran, the chances of visiting Lankoran are slim. One would also never say that as a city it is beautiful -- it has a typical Soviet square where no doubt Lenin once stood (now replaced by Heydar Aliyev), one former Intourist Soviet hotel, and a very small downtown. There is a seafront along the Caspian with an old lighthouse, and there used to be an (in)famous tank statue on the shore (now removed), but now it has little except a dirt track alongside a concrete barrier.

Lankoran, however, deserves another look. It is at the foot of the beautiful Talysh Mountains with ancient villages like Lerik and Yardimli, Ballabur Castle and amazing landscapes. One place is a Soviet-era dam and Xanbulan Lake that feels like it hasn't changed in 50 years, grown over with forest and surrounded by a forgotten town. The wettest part of Azerbaijan's many climates, just north is beautiful Qizil Agach bay with many flamingoes and a spit of land where Naimanabad village is slowly crumbling into the rising Capsian Sea.

South of the city, just miles from the Iranian border at Astara is an interesting phenomenon where you can see fire emerge from water (because gas is trapped in the same vein as a natural spring) - Yanar Bulaq, and the quaint villages like Pensar shelter ancient mosques with beautiful wooden stained glass windows and old fashioned Turkish bathhouses. The pace of life is relaxed and old men sit outside and watch the world pass by while sipping tea and playing backgammon.

Source: Mark Elliot's 'Azerbaijan' Guidebook, 4th Edition

#935 Citadel, Amman, Jordan

High above Amman's downtown on one of the original seven hills, with spectacular views across the various modern suburbs is Amman's ancient citadel (Jabal al Qal'a), dating from neolithic times, and an important site for all the regions main ethnicities with a Roman Temple of Hercules, an Umayyad Palace, and ruins of many other structures, even a cistern. The site of old Rabboth-Ammon, stone age pottery and other bronze age relics have been found, while other areas date from the 3rd Century, when an earthquake destroyed the settlement. Even now, much of it remains unexcavated.

Aside from the reconstructed palace, the pillars of the temple, and the walls and pillars of other structures, it is also the location of the National Archaeological Museum housing some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, pottery and skull remains, among many other important items.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabal_al-Qal'a

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/jordan/amman/sights/fortress/citadel-jebel-qalaa

#936 Medellin, Colombia

If Colombia has been famous for anything in the past it would probably be drug lords and Fernando Botero, the painter. Both of these are not from the capital, Bogota, but from a city with a far better climate: Medellin. Pronounced Me-de-jean (rather like Billie Jean!) with the Colombian accented double 'l', for many years it was dangerous and unkempt, infamous for drug murders and gang control. However, like the rest of Colombia's emergence from an insecure past, Medellin has blossomed into what many visitors have to describe as their favorite Colombian city.

I spent a couple of days here in 2007 and parapented over its beautiful red-brick hills, which was a spectacular adventure; but my favorite place was the Botero Museum, celebrating the native painter massive! Everything in largess!

Another great thing -- it's excellent tram network, which has to be the only one in the world to include a Public Transport Gondola which can be taken directly from the main line up to a beautiful vista in the middle of poor barios.

#937 Hong Kong, China

When I was a child, there were few places as exotic as Hong Kong... the familiarity of being British and yet also fast pasted Chinese, with capitalism, expat lifestyles, high rises, and shopping! My mother tells the stories of her first visit in the 1960s when the harbor was full of junks and it was a poor if lively place, but it is high class, chic and sophisticated today. 

Other than transiting through the airport, I visited in 1997, just before handover, on my way back from Africa, and stayed in a hostel way up on the hill. We landed in the old airport, where planes had to bank a sharp turn to avoid the sky scrapers and hills, and it felt like you would land in the harbor itself. The new airport is of course, luxury impersonated, but I didn't enjoy walking forever!

It really has it all -- a great climate, innovative architecture, fantastic shopping (even if I don't really like most duty free shops), great food, multiculturalism, big name shops and companies, the sea, a great harbor, hills and hiking, culture, people from everywhere, etc, etc. However, I think one of the most amazing things about Hong Kong is how much it changes and adapts. They used to say in the late 90s before the British handed it back to China that everyone was leaving, but in reality, there was a huge influx of mainland Chinese. It's always been one of the Asian hubs and an economic tiger. Originally just Kowloon Island, with the New Territories added to later, from China it came, to China it returned, but yet with its own distinct identity. It will always be exotic to me... when can I go back? (As you can see from the age of these photos, its been too long!)