Qabala, Azerbaijan
Location: Baku to Qabala, Azerbaijan
Date: May 30, 2014
On my last full day in Azerbaijan, I went on a day trip to Qabala in the north-central part of the country on the southern edge of the Caucasus Mountains. Qabala is the oldest city in the country, and today the city's economy is dependent on tourism.
The trip by bus took about three hours from Baku and began in the desert along the Caspian Sea before gradually climbing into the grasslands and eventually forests and mountains. After passing through the city of Shamakhi, the road narrowed and descended a winding route into a deep valley, across a mostly dry river, and back up the other side. We stopped for lunch at a place along another mostly dry river just outside the east side of Qabala.
After lunch we went to Nohur Lake, a scenic lake at the base of the mountains that had been overrun with kids celebrating their last day of school. By the time we reached Qabala, it was already late afternoon, so we didn't have time to visit the Yeddi Gozel Waterfall or anywhere else as originally planned. Instead we went to Gabaland, a small amusement park in the town. We only had an hour to spend in the park, and it was mostly a disappointment, as there were only a few attractions open and all had long lines.
From Gabaland you could see into the surrounding mountains, but because of he cloud cover I was only able to see spots of the higher snow-covered peaks in the range. We then got back on the bus for the three hour drive back to Baku. It seemed like we spent most of the day sitting on a bus, so perhaps it would have been better to go somewhere closer to the city (or fly to Nakchivan as another group did).
© Copyright 2017 Matthew Pintar. All rights reserved.
Date: May 30, 2014
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| Nohur Lake |
On my last full day in Azerbaijan, I went on a day trip to Qabala in the north-central part of the country on the southern edge of the Caucasus Mountains. Qabala is the oldest city in the country, and today the city's economy is dependent on tourism.
The trip by bus took about three hours from Baku and began in the desert along the Caspian Sea before gradually climbing into the grasslands and eventually forests and mountains. After passing through the city of Shamakhi, the road narrowed and descended a winding route into a deep valley, across a mostly dry river, and back up the other side. We stopped for lunch at a place along another mostly dry river just outside the east side of Qabala.
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| View from the lunch stop |
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| Along the road to Qabala |
After lunch we went to Nohur Lake, a scenic lake at the base of the mountains that had been overrun with kids celebrating their last day of school. By the time we reached Qabala, it was already late afternoon, so we didn't have time to visit the Yeddi Gozel Waterfall or anywhere else as originally planned. Instead we went to Gabaland, a small amusement park in the town. We only had an hour to spend in the park, and it was mostly a disappointment, as there were only a few attractions open and all had long lines.
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| Gabaland |
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| Gabaland |
From Gabaland you could see into the surrounding mountains, but because of he cloud cover I was only able to see spots of the higher snow-covered peaks in the range. We then got back on the bus for the three hour drive back to Baku. It seemed like we spent most of the day sitting on a bus, so perhaps it would have been better to go somewhere closer to the city (or fly to Nakchivan as another group did).
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| Along the road near Shamakhi |
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| Between Shamakhi and Baku |
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| Countryside between Shamakhi and Ismailli |
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| Ismailli |
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