Baku

Ancient fire, modern flame; the gateway to the Caspian.

Baku is the land of fire made literal—where natural gas seeps from the ground and has burned, in places, for thousands of years. On the western shore of the Caspian, this is where the journey reaches the inland sea that Marco Polo could only describe by hearsay, and where the road must become a crossing.

Within its walls, the medieval Old City and the Maiden Tower keep the memory of caravans; above them, the Flame Towers blaze a contemporary skyline. Wind sweeps in off the Caspian—the 'City of Winds' earns its name daily. Here East and West, fossil past and luminous future, share a single restless waterfront before the ferry carries us across to the steppes of Central Asia.

From the fire of the shore, we cross the Caspian east.