In Baku the Flame Towers glow above a city that balances past and future with surprising ease. One moment you’re drinking strong black tea in a quiet courtyard, the next you're walking a promenade lined with steel and glass. The old city walls still stand wrapped around winding alleys and domed hammams.

But beyond the capital, Azerbaijan shifts. Mud volcanoes bubble, shepherds lead flocks through dry hills. The Caspian Sea stretches wide and gray, ancient and industrial all at once. The country carries its own weight of history, shaped by empire, oil, and uneasy borders. Conversations sometimes pause when politics come up, but the hospitality never does.

Azerbaijan is a place of layers: silk carpets and cracked concrete, saffron rice and Soviet ruins, warmth and edge.