Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan calls itself the Land of Fire, and it is not just marketing. Natural gas seeps have been fueling eternal flames here for thousands of years - Zoroastrian fire temples were built on spots where the earth itself seemed to burn. The Yanar Dag mountainside has been continuously ablaze for decades, and mud volcanoes bubble and spit across the Absheron Peninsula. When Marco Polo passed through, he described oil seeping from the ground in quantities that could fill a hundred ships. That oil turned Baku into the petroleum capital of the world in the early 1900s, and it remains the foundation of the economy today.

Modern Baku is a study in contrasts. The medieval walled Inner City, a UNESCO World Heritage site, sits in the shadow of the Flame Towers - three skyscrapers shaped like tongues of fire that dominate the skyline. Soviet-era blocks give way to a waterfront promenade lined with futuristic buildings by Zaha Hadid. Azerbaijan sits at the exact meeting point of Europe and Asia, Christian and Muslim worlds, Russian and Turkish influence. The result is a culture that is genuinely its own - mugham music that sounds like nothing else, a cuisine built on saffron and pomegranates, and a national obsession with tea served in pear-shaped glasses.