#848 Krasnaya Ploshchad, Red Square, Moscow, Russia

The most iconic place in Russia symbolizing all that was hated about the Tsars, all that was controlling about the Communists and all that is powerful about Putin and modern Russia: Red Square. With St. Basil's fairy-tale church at the bottom end by the Moskva River, the Kremlin palace and government halls to the right side, the Gum department store on the left side and the imposing gates leading in, it would be an impressive place, but all of that does not encompass its enormous size. 

As you can probably tell from these photos, Red Square is large and imposing -- used in films about the USSR and Russia, paintings and art, and it is symbolic, iconic and memorable. I especially remember the line to see Lenin's embalmed body snakes down one whole side, although we didn't join it! The name Red comes neither from the red bricks nor from red communism, but from krasnaya, which can mean red or beautiful, an improvement from Pozhar 'burnt-out place' which is what it was until the 17th century.

Photos from 1997.

#850 Yanar Dag (Fire Mountain), Abseron Peninsula, Azerbaijan

This mountain is on fire! 

On the edge of a desolate moorland on a small rural road just past the pink salt lake beyond the ugly oil-field turnoff, Yanar Dag (literally Fire Mountain) burns day and night due to the underground gas that was accidentally ignited in 1958. 

A decrepit tea house is at the top of a hill, and in the gully is this amazing piece of nature. It's quite nice to sit beside the flames on a cool winter evening.

Is it natural? Well, it once was, but rumor has it that the Azeri government now pipes the gas in. However, there are other places in the area where natural gas seeps out and can be lit, including some springs and water flows. Zoroastrians worshipped fire and built a temple nearby which can still be visited. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanar_Dag

Mark Elliot's Azerbaijan

#853 Ararat, Turkey (Armenia)

The cultural heart for the Armenian people lies just across the border in the home of their enemy: Turkey. Mount Ararat, known as Agri in Turkish, is a beautiful conical volcano, and can be seen from much of Armenia including the capital Yerevan, but not visited by Armenians, although it remains the spiritual, religious and nationalistic centerpiece.

Permanently snowcapped at 5137m, with two peaks, Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat, it is Turkey's tallest, and has a 40 sq. km girth. No one knows when it last erupted, but remains suggest the Bronze Age 3 millenium BCE, although a severe earthquake shook the mountain and opened a large chasm in 1840.

According to Genesis, this is where Noah's Ark was supposed to have landed and many scientists say they have found remains of such a thing! Supposedly named after King Ara the Handsome, who didn't actually exist, but who has been associated with the real king Arame, the legends go back a long time. For Armenians it is the home of the gods, similar to Mt. Olympus in Greece.

One of the best (Armenian) places to see Ararat is from Khor Virap just outside of Yerevan, where a picturesque monastery is on a small knoll very close to the border with Mount Ararat towering behind. Beautiful! The mountain lies just 32km south of the border and is in the middle of sensitive territory where the four nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey meet, with Armenia having poor relations with both Azerbaijan (due to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh) and Turkey (due to their position on the Armenian Genocide).

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ararat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_the_Beautiful

#869 Candy Cane Mountains, Azerbaijan

The descriptive name was coined by travel writer Mark Elliot because of the beautiful stripey colors, but there isn't really anything there except a beautiful road through a majestic pink and white valley. Because all farming is still shepherd-driven, there are no fences, nor any buildings. The road is simple and the scenery pretty -- but many visitors come here because of its proximity to the capital Baku. How do you find it? Turn off the main northern highway at the large grain elevator where there is an inconvenient police checkpoint. 

Aside from a couple of abandoned cooperative farms, there is a very small isolated bust of poet Mikayil Mushviq across a small footbridge near the house where he was supposed to have lived. 

One of the most incredible things about the candy canes though, are the super conical bullet-like fossils that litter the ground everywhere. 

Source: Azerbaijan, 4th Edition by Mark Elliot

#874 Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

The capital of Turkmenistan is one of the most bizzare cities I have ever visited. It feels like a ghost town, and is a frightening example of Totalitarianism at its worst. The longtime dictator of Turkmenistan who liked people to call him Turkmenbashi (father of the Turkmen), created the town from scratch after a 1948 earthquake flattened it, and it is a monument to himself in memory of his family killed there.

The buildings are statuesque and grand, if quite plain. They line the highways in repetition of white glamour. The monuments are bordering on idolatry: there was one in solid gold of Turkmenbashi himself which rotates with the sun so that he is always basking in the glory of light.

A curfew exists, and all tourists are restricted to their hotels and closely monitored. Soviet service (poor) survives, and the obligatory seedy nightclub vies with the in-house Chinese restaurant for tastlessness.

The soul of the city is in the outskirts where you can find the famous Tolkuchka bazaar. There, you can buy anything from a camel to sheep, to a teapot or a cup of tea. Many Chinese goods are imported, but they also have carpets, shawls, clothing, and foodstuff. Turkmen carpets are my favorite carpets in the world. The famous Bukhara carpets actually originate here!

In a spectacular location at the foot of the Kopet Dag mountains, with golden domes of newly built mosques, it is one of the hardest places in the world to visit, and has a long history despite its newness. The impressive Azadi mosque, Independence and Peace Monument, numerous museums and government offices survive, but in August 2010, Turkmenbashi's successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov removed the Arch of Neutrality (the golden Turkmenbashi statue!) from Parliament Square.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashgabat

#891 Nakchivan, Azerbaijan

Nakchivan is an isolated province of Azerbaijan, but central to its heart and heritage. The president Aliyev's homeland, it is cut off from the rest of Azerbaijan by the disuputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh, currently independent/controlled by Armenia. Historically connected to the silk road and ancient Central Asian Islamic heritage, it is full of beautiful cities with typical mosques, narrow cobbled streets and mud-brick architecture. Driving as far east as is possible, right on the borders with Armenia and Iran is a town called Ordubad, which used to be an important post on the traveller´s network of towns, but now is the end of the line, slowly decaying and falling into disrepair. It has many old mosques and a fascinating covered bridge.

Nearby is an old stone bridge at Culfa, signs of the ancient travel routes that went past here.

Yusif Ibn Khaysif Mausoleum in Nakchivan city.

Nakchivan city, however, has one of the most impressive monuments of the whole area, the Momine Khatum Mausoleum built in the 1100s by Jahan Pahlavan (an Atabeg) in memory of his wife. It is beautifully  decagonal with Kufic writing and beautiful turquoise geometrical tiles. Other more humble mausoleums are hidden down back streets, no less ornate but smaller and quietly mourning. I was most impressed by the ruins of the mud brick city on the edge of town, reminicent of Turkmenistan´s Merv (#999). Such a fortification must have been impressive but is now just piles of mud!

The small town of Karabaglar also hosts an amazing mausoleum, this time with petal-like protrusions. It´s accompanying minarets offer excellent views of the countryside.

Road to Shakhbaz in Nagorno-Karabakh, now a closed border.

Historical, majestic, mountainous, beautiful, but very under-visited.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momine_Khatun_Mausoleum 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakhchivan