We still have tomorrow morning...

But this is Day 70.

The last full day of The London-to-Baku Journey. Which is kind of sad...

But never mind. New adventures await.

And there's still lots to be gleaned from this adventure when I again have leisure to read and study (as I've noted before, this kind of journey is all-consuming -- a full-time job).

Anyway, on our last day in Baku, we headed for the Absheron Peninsula, which is a bit like the city's backyard. We passed a couple of small oilfields, complete with derricks and nodding donkeys. There's a functional feel to the landscape, with bits of industry, down-to-earth housing, and parched grassland.

But the major source of interest in this area is fire.

Baku is situated 28 metres below sea level, and on the Absheron Peninsula, you definitely get the impression that you're closer to the earth's burning core...

The real explanation, of course, is gas, which has been seaping out of the ground and combusting for millennia. Small wonder the early inhabitants of this land were fire-worshippers.

First up, we visited Yanar Dag, where the bottom of the little hillside is continuously burning. It's not a huge fire, but the fact that it's there at all, with its constantly morphing flames, is very impressive.




If you walk up onto the hill, you get interestingly contrasting views.





The little museum features intriguing work by Huseyn Hagverdiyev: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.



Our second objective was the Ateshgah Fire Temple.

The current buildings were constructed between the 17th and 19th centuries, by Hindu fire-worshippers. But the naturally occurring flames had been drawing Zoroastrians long before that.

The site ceased to be used as a place of worship in the mid-19th century, when shifting ground caused the fire to go out. Nevertheless, the whole complex is quite atmospheric. There are three fires (and during the Nowruz celebrations the four corners of the central shrine vent flames as well). And you can see the cells which variously accommodated travelling merchants and pilgrims, and the group of ascetics that formed a more permanent monastic community. Interestingly, the cells had piped gas for heat.














It's a bit of a mission visiting these two sites by public transport, but it is possible (and cheap). From Koroglu Metro station you catch a No. 217 bus to Yanar Dag. We'd hoped to short-circuit the process by hailing a Bolt taxi from there to Ateshgah (the cafe has wifi). But nothing was available. So we bused back to Koroglu, and caught the No. 184 out again to go to Ateshgah. Faffy, to be sure, but at least these services run pretty frequently.

An alternative would be the four-hour tour from the centre of town.

OK, so that's the fire bit of the day. What about the wine?

Well, whereas everyone knows about Georgian wine, Azerbaijan wine is not so famous. Yet it's really good.

The other day we sampled a very neat white made from Vermentino grapes (not specifically a Caucasian variety, but unfamiliar to us, and very pleasant), and tonight we drank a wonderful red made from Madrasa grapes. With lavash bread, and smoked, plaited cheese, it was perfect for toasting journeys past, present, and future.


Fire and wine are covered. But jam??

I don't know if you've heard of Azerbaijan jam, but it's amazing... Truly, this country deserves to be called "the land of jam" (technically, I think, it's "murabba", which is cooked in such a way that the fruit remains intact).

It's delicious with butter and bread. Equally so with sour cream or yogurt.

But the real revelation (and really, these things are why you travel...) is tea and jam.

This is SO good. Having read about it, we went back to Firuze today to try it out.

What you get is a pot of Azerbaijan tea (which is good in itself), a few slices of lemon (to counteract the tannins), and a dish of (in our case) watermelon jam (but this country jams everything, so there are all sorts of flavours on offer).

What you do is pop some jam in your mouth, and drink the tea through it (in the way that some people drink tea through sugar lumps).

It's a slightly tricky process for the uninitiated. You have to take care not to burn your tongue on the hot tea, or choke on your bit of fruit... But it's a skill that is absolutely worth mastering, because the taste is FANTASTIC.

So, all in all, it's been a very symbolic Last Day.

Fire represents the unpredictable, ever-evolving side of travel (and will hopefully launch us into Turkmenistan and Iran next year).

Wine represents the intoxicating lure of travel.

And jam is travel's homely-but-lovable, everyone-does-things-differently manifestation.

It's a combo to which I'm addicted.

So I'm gladdened, inspired, and humbled by The Journey we've just completed, and I'm looking forward to its successor when the time comes.