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Car Village
Car is a chocolate-box village half-hidden in blossoms and greenery. Picturesque houses are hidden behind mossy dry-stone walls in abundant orchards. Several rustic restaurants are tucked away in its woodland fringes.
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Dili Qala
An intriguing landmark on the ridge above town, theres nothing historic about this curious castle-like folly, which was designed to be a hotel but so poorly constructed that it was never finished. Good for city views, though.
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Historical
Tour groups are marched dutifully around this dowdy museum whose name is its most impressive feature. Exhibits include archaeological oddments, ethnographical artefacts and the usual emotive panels on WWII, Karabakh and Xocalı.
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Mayraberd Fortess
Just outside the town of Askeran, 14km north of Stepanakert, is the impressive ruin of Mayraberd Fortess. Built by Panah Khan in the 18th century, it once stretched 1.5km across the valley and still boasts huge medieval walls and towers.
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Museum of Independence
Looks at Azerbaijans 20th-century history and especially the contract of the century, which set off the current oil boom. The style is interesting in its propagandist tone but probably not worth the entrance fee for most casual visitors.
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Zərnava Bridge
Tourist photos often feature the wobbly, vertigo-nightmare that is the suspension footbridge to Zərnava. Thats at the roadside around 11km south of Lahıc. Elsewhere the road has other spectacular sections and some geological wizardry.
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Papik Tatik
On the outskirts of the town on the main road towards the north of the region is the primitivist statue of a bearded elder and a woman with a veil. It is named ‘We are our mountains’, their stony gaze embodying the indomitable local spirit.
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Baku Business Center
One of the Bulvars striking if smaller modern constructions, the BBM is a 21st-century congress centre with a blue-glass sea-facing back but northern frontage that looks like it was styled to resemble an automatic air-freshening dispenser.
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Vankasar Church
This attractive 7th-century church is perched on a hillside high above Tigranakert and affords wonderful views of the otherworldly landscape in the area. Its a good one-hour hike to get up here from Tigranakert, or can be easily reached by car.
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İçәri Şәhәr Archaeological Museum
This small museums collection of prehistoric and medieval finds is perhaps overly specialist for some tastes but certainly underlines the extraordinary antiquity of human habitation in what is now Azerbaijan. Varying exhibitions upstairs.
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Bibi
Worth a quick stop en route to Qobustan, this 1998 neo-Ottoman-style mosque replaced a 13th-century original demolished by the Soviets for road widening in 1934. The interior is impressive and the rear terrace has curious views across an oil-rig port.
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Museum of National Applied Art
Across the road is a late-19th-century Russian church in unusual cylindrical form, built on the site of a 6th-century Caucasian Albanian original. It now hosts this very limited museum displaying haphazard collections of Şəki crafts. It’s hardly worth the money.
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Dom Soviet
Bakus most striking Soviet-era building is a bulky stone construction fronted by an impressive series of layered stone arches and topped by a series of mini obelisks. Its best viewed across a set of fountains from the Bulvar when uplit in early evening.
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Park Bulvar Mall
Opened in 2010, Park Bulvar was Bakus first international-style shopping mall. It remains one of the most popular, though some residents complain that it should never have been built on the green bayfront promenade – an area which is technically a national park!
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Hacı Cəfər Məscid
This colourfully painted brick mosque is the most eye-catching of several minor historic structures giving Ardəbil küç a modest appeal for casual strolling. You’ll also find a few typical old-Quba houses with rounded door shields and overhanging upper windows.
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Museum of Miniature Books
This odd collection is, by definition, not going to wow you with its spectacle, but the fact so many minuscule publications have been published at all is a surprise, as is the fact that anyone should have collected so many. Worth five minutes if youre passing.
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Nikol Duman Memorial Museum
The wonderfully named village of Ghshlagh houses this unique museum, which honours the life of the leader of the Dashnaks, a late-19th-century left-wing Armenian nationalist movement. The home, once occupied by Duman himself, is fully restored to its 19th-century condition.
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Möminə Xatun Mausoleum
The impressive Möminə Xatun mausoleum is Naxçivan’s icon and one of Azerbaijan’s best-known landmarks. It’s a glorious, gently leaning 26m brick tower decorated with geometric patterns and Kufic script (a stylised, angular form of Arabic) picked out in turquoise glaze.
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Ali Şamsir’s Studio
Shoes walk across the fascinatingly off-beat front wall. Inside are paint splattered shirts and a collection of skulls. The result is an intriguing little studio gallery thats worth a quick look even if you dont end up buying any of Alis bold pomegranate-themed canvasses.
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Baku Eye
Officially opened in 2014, this 60m big wheel performs attractive light shows after dark. It spins very slowly, so a ride takes nearly 15 minutes including stops, with a video loop of the structures construction playing should you tire of the fine bay and city views.
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