Next morning he finally reaches Gence (pronounced "Ganja"), Azerbaijan's second largest city, out in the middle of the sun scorched plains. he gets off at the minibus station, then heads into town on foot, past a huge aluminum smelter which is still being used. Finally he reaches a leftover slice of a castle wall that signals the entrance to the city.

And a city it is ... starting with huge, Soviet era apartment boxes, to single storey homes packed closely together (unlike in the towns) and finally, the bustling commercial center.

It feels like it's been forever since he last saw a REAL restaurant--not just a hole in the wall place where you can either have borsht... or borsht. Azerbaijan picked up a lot of things from Turkish culture, but a plentiful variety of street food certainly wasn't one of them. He sits down for my first full meal in a long time.

Afterwards he enjoys a little stroll around this classy downtown, with various neo-classical pillared buildings, parks and fountains.

He could wander around Gence a good while, but I when he sees a bus coming through that's heading towards the Georgian border, he makes a quick decision... and hops on. I think I'm about ready to close this chapter of my adventures...