Welcome to Nakhchivan, the San Francisco of the Caucasus Mountains

[TomServo]

Bell, this certainly differs from your account!

As my plane touched down into Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, I half expected to step out into a crumbling landscape ripped from a still of Enemy at the Gates. Admittedly, I’d formed this image based on scant and stale stories, but the modern history of this massive exclave, a 2,000 square mile chunk of Azerbaijan home to upwards of 400,000 people and cut off from the main body of the country by 30 miles (at its narrowest point) of hostile Armenia, doesn’t lend itself to hope and happy thoughts. A friend, well read on the Caucasus region, said he’d always imagined the place as “Afghanistan-esque.” Even my friends in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, told me I’d probably be walking out into a wasteland.

So discovering that’d I’d actually stumbled upon an isolated, bizzaro San Francisco was a bit of a trip. Nakhchivan is a shockingly well-to-do, progressive, and proud (to the point of smugness) corner of the nation obsessed with local, organic produce, alternative medicines, health and spirituality tourism, all things ecological, and universal Wi-Fi access.

http://www.vice.com/read/azerbaijans...omous-republic

[Mher]

Re: Welcome to Nakhchivan, the San Francisco of the Caucasus Mountains

Bell, this certainly differs from your account!

Turkic tombstones allegedly relocated here to protect them from theft by Armenians.

Oh the irony

It must be nice to be able to do whatever you want, and then create alternate realities through oil money