Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan sweeps everyone off its feet, who has once been here. Tourists, who visit the Land of Fire for the first time, usually say in one voice that the trip was a real discovery for them.

Travelers always remember the romantic Maiden Tower in the center of Baku, dazzling Palace of Sheki Khans from Venetian glass, as well as the cradle of human civilization -- Gobustan with thousands of incredible petroglyphs.

However, in addition to well-known attractions, Azerbaijan carries quite a lot of unexpected discoveries that await visitors at the close acquaintance with Azerbaijani cities and regions.

Did you know, for example, that bananas are grown and crabs live in the country’s Masalli region, or that the oldest butter in the world is stored in Ismayilli regional museum?

Unusually colorful and interesting corner of Azerbaijan Masalli carriers many secrets.

Due to the mild subtropical climate, the average temperature here is +29 degrees Celsius in summer. The whole area is covered by dense forests, where many rare plants are grown including the famous ironwood. The abundance of sunlight, water and fresh air make Masalli a paradise for subtropical plants including tangerine, oranges and lemons. But seeing here growing bananas can surprise many.

Masalli is also a promising medical region for tourism, thanks to its beautiful healing waters called “Istisu”, translated as “hot water”. And near the healing springs you can find small harmless freshwater crab, which not only attract tourists but also serve as an excellent indicator of environmental cleanliness of these places.

Ismayilli is one of the centers of ethnographic tourism in Azerbaijan.

One of well-known village of Ismayilli is Basgal, which is famous for its plane tree, planted in the XVI century. It has a huge hole once housing the entire teahouse, and later a hairdresser. Now the tree is protected by government.

It’s interestingly that people here still used sewage system built in the IX century, and what is more surprising people still do not know where waste water drain.

Probably many knows about Sheki thanks to the Palace of Sheki Khans with magnificent wall paintings and delicate shebeke, built in the XVIII century without a single nail, as well as the ancient fortress Gelersen-Gerorsen and caravanserais.

However, not many knows that Sheki has some several Christian monuments of Caucasian Albania (Caucasian Albanians must not to be confused with the Illyrian Albanians of modern-day Albania in the Balkans), the most famous of which is the church in Kish village. This temple is important not only as an architectural monument, but has also a significant historical value.

The official date of its construction is the I century A.D., a time when the territory of Azerbaijan was a part of the Caucasian Albania.

The courtyard of the complex is an ancient burial ground, covered with transparent plastic dome in order to protect it. Note of, a gigantic height of the buried people - more than two meters is really striking.

Legendary Norwegian explorer, scientist and anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl conducted studies here to garner evidence to prove his tantalizing theory - that Scandinavian ancestry can be traced to ancestors of Caucasians. A bust of the famous scientist has been also installed near the church.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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