Like the last time, today also I booked another day trip with a local tour agency in Baku. Today, I am going to the mountain resort in Qabala.
It was another beautiful day here in Baku. I am on my way to Qabala. It is about 3 hours ride in a Mercedes van.
Qabala is a resort town located about 250 kilometers to the west of Baku. The initial part of the journey was through some of the driest lands I have ever seen.
This used to be a sea bed millions of years ago. These lands are unhabitable and unsuitable for agriculture because of the salt content in the soil.
After about one and a half hours of journey, we reached our first stop – the Jummah mosque in the small town of Shamakhi.
This mosque was constructed in the 7th century and is the first mosque in the Balkan region. We spent some time exploring this mosque. The interior of this mosque is decorated with beautiful carpet and Arabic scriptures.
After that, we headed further Inland and the true greenery and beauty of Azerbaijan started revealing.
We had a brief stop at a local honey shop on the way. They were selling different varieties of honey and sweets. I have to say, it was the tastiest honey I ever tried so far.
We continued our journey into the greenery. Finally, we reached our next destination – the Nohur Lake. Nohur Lake was packed with people even though it was noon.
There was nothing mind-blowing about this lake but it is a beautiful spot to spend time with family and friends.
There were lots of restaurants and some activities to do such as boating, horse riding, etc in the areas surrounding this lake.
Finally, we reached our main destination – the Tudandag Mountain Resort in Qabala. This is supposed to be a ski resort, but since it is summer there is obviously no snow.
However, the weather was much cooler here and it was a pleasant atmosphere. There is a cable car ride to the top of the Tufandag Mountain. The cable car ride was pretty cool.
You can get a great aerial view of the location and the clouds crashing into the mountains there. The best attractions at this mountain top are the glass bridge and the mountain swing over the edge. The view from here was pretty amazing.
There is also a steep skiing slope which was full of rocks. I wondered how much beautiful this place would be in the winter when there is snow. This place definitely deserves another visit during the winter season.
We spent our time roaming around the area till evening. Then, we headed back to Baku.
After a long three-hour journey, we reached Baku and went on with our ways.