Folks in Baku recommended the town of Qabala as a good place to enjoy Azerbaijan's natural beauty, so the Traveler is looking forward to seeing what it's all about. This time he's joined again by the Mentor.

Qabala is being fixed up pretty nice, with plazas, monuments and fountains--even though it is sort of a one street town . It seems somebody very important is coming through town as there are police all along the way. North of the town there's an important road (so it seems) heading north--which seems a little odd. On Google maps the Traveler doesn't remember seeing any roads heading over the mountains here. They decide to walk for a ways to see what we find--occasionally checking out a side path into the forest.

Turns out there are just a couple of mountain resorts (probably catering to Russian tourists) up ahead and that's about it... Not really an breathtaking discoveries--but an enjoyable stroll nonetheless.

The are soldiers and police all along the way. It seems that the president is passing through today, so security is tight.

When some soldiers come to question them, Giles has an interesting way of dealing with them. He immediately walks up to them with hands extended and a big smile.

"It's hard for people to be antagonistic when you approach that way" He tells me. I guess he should know. He's the expert traveler.

With that they head on back to town, wander around for a bit and call it a day--I kind of uneventful day--but it was nice to enjoy hiking with company once again.