Azerbaijan and Georgia — From the Caspian to the Caucasus

Here East and West speak in low voices. Azerbaijan smells of spice and oil, of eternal fires burning since antiquity, of an architecture mixing Persian modernism with the glass of the twenty-first century. Crossing from Baku to Tbilisi means crossing two worlds that touch: the Caspian and the Caucasus, Shia Islam and the oldest Christianity, tea and wine. Twelve to fourteen days to live it: the old town of Baku and its Atashgah flames, the Shirvani palaces of Sheki, the shift of light as you cross the border, the Georgian cathedrals, and the tables of Kakheti. A contrast that stays inside you.