Azerbaijan > Mud volcanoes of Gobustan

Today we want to make up for the part we missed yesterday so that we can still arrive in Baku tonight. Hopefully the motorcyclists will make it too. Breakfast is served from eight o’clock. At exactly eight, we sit down in the breakfast room. The car is already packed. After breakfast, we drive to Qak. At first, the road is still good, but soon there’s nothing left that resembles the old paved road. We drive from pothole to pothole. Just before Qak, roadworks are underway. This is not unnecessary—but it is tricky for us, because instead of taking the detour, we drive onto the new section of road. The road workers immediately start waving and pointing. Nothing is signposted. From Qak, the road is fine again. Fine by Azerbaijani standards. Just after ten o’clock, we enter Sheki. In Sheki stands the summer palace of the Sheki Khans, inside the fort walls. We park the car at the fort and walk through the gate. Women on either side ask if we want to visit the museums. We decline.

Azerbaijan - The old summer palace of King Sheki Khans

At the palace, we have to wait for the next guided tour. The tour is entirely in Azerbaijani. It’s impossible to follow. Fortunately, we had read the description in the Lonely Planet beforehand. This tells us that the building was constructed in 1797 and is the finest example of traditional Azerbaijani architecture. The schoolchildren in our group seem excited by our presence and giggle as they talk about us. In the 18th-century caravanserai just outside the fort walls, we have coffee. In the past, the caravanserai offered protection to trading caravans on the Silk Road. Today, it houses a hotel. Then it’s time to cover some kilometers. We still have about three hundred kilometers to go. First, we drive east, then turn south toward Yevlax. Here we join the M3 highway, a good four-lane road. Trucks pass, overloaded with bales of straw, the top layer sticking out meters above the truck. Road workers are in the median, while traffic speeds by at 100 km/h. If a lane is closed, it’s not announced in advance. Careful driving is necessary. Still, everyone remarkably keeps to the speed limit. Cameras are everywhere. It’s not always clear to us what the exact maximum speed is, so we adjust to the locals.

Azerbaijan - Anything can be transported on the highway in Azerbaijan

At a roadside restaurant, we stop for lunch. “Do you speak Russian?” they ask. “Uh, no.” We point to two nearly empty dishes on a nearby table. The men gesture that it’s a good choice. One man translates on his phone: it contains sausages, tomatoes, and eggs. Perfect. At each bite, everyone watches to see if we like it. In the afternoon, we reach the Caspian Sea. I realize I have never seen the Caspian before. South of the town of Gobustan are mud volcanoes. “More fun than it sounds,” writes the Lonely Planet. On a hunch, we take a turn a few kilometers before Gobustan. It leads to a small airstrip—not the right place. A taxi driver tells us it’s on a mountain in the distance. “If you take the unpaved path here, you’ll get there eventually.” Will it really work? Probably this isn’t the mud volcano described in Lonely Planet, but Azerbaijan has over 800 mud volcanoes. We’ll see where we end up. The path leads through a rocky, sandy, deserted area. There is nothing and no one around. When we can no longer drive Brutus, we climb the last stretch up the mountain. There’s no mud volcano to see, hear, or smell. Only when we reach the top of the final hill do we find a bubbling mud pool. How remarkable and unexpected! A little further, there are more pools. We dig a small channel with our hands, and the liquid mud flows downhill. Funny. Just as we are about to continue to Baku, the phone rings. Milko has problems with his exhaust and is at a garage in Baku. We drive there as well. Ali, the garage owner, is a nice guy. He helps with everything—cleaning the bikes, changing the tires, finding us a hotel, and giving information about tomorrow’s ferry. He gives a number we must call from ten o’clock tomorrow morning. After that, we can buy the tickets in central Baku. The motorcyclists are still busy at the garage, while we drive to the hotel.