Located near the town of Sheki, this abandoned fortress was actually one of my favorite sites in Azerbaijan (and by “this” I am including the hike in as well as Gelersen-Gorersen itself)… A fragment of the fortress now almost lost to the forest: Although the fortress dates back to the 8th or 9th century, the … Continue reading
This is right on the border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the Lachin corridor… I thought it was quite photogenic: Continue reading
A burned-out armored personnel carrier on the front lines of the Nagorno-Karabakh War: So, what was the Nagorno-Karabakh War all about? Below, I present to you… A History Of The Nagorno-Karabakh War Populated for centuries by Christian Armenian and Turkic Azeris, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of the Russian empire in 1805 when it was annexed from … Continue reading
On the north side of Stepanakert is the statue, pictured below, which has become the unofficial symbol of Nagorno-Karabakh (it was even on my visa)… This creation by the sculptor Sargis Baghdasarian in Soviet times, is called We are our mountains. Supposedly looking like an elderly couple with peaked skulls, the statue is intended to … Continue reading
Northeast of Stepanakert, on the de facto border with Azerbaijan, lie the ruins of the city of Aghdam (also known as Agdam and Ağdam) which once had a population estimated at up to 50,000 to 150,000, depending on whose numbers you believe. Aghdam used to be a part of Azerbaijan, but ended up on the … Continue reading
On the main route to the Georgian border from Armenia, the road crosses territory that until intense fighting in 1994 was part of Azerbaijan. The road passes through several ruined villages – in some of which just one wall of each building has been left standing: A weird sight on a hillside to the right … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 