Experience the best of Ganja

Ganja lies in the west of Azerbaijan, at the foot of the Lesser Caucasus, on the river Ganjachay. It is one of the country's oldest cities and the home of the poet Nizami, who lived here in the twelfth century and whose modern mausoleum stands in a park. Under Russian rule the city was called Elisavetpol, and in Soviet times Kirovabad.

The Shah Abbas Mosque, built in 1606, stands near the old baths, and the Bottle House, a villa decorated with thousands of glass bottles set in its walls, is a local curiosity. In the mountains south-west of the city, Lake Goygol was formed by an earthquake in 1139, and the nearby town of Göygöl keeps tidy streets laid out by German settlers in 1819.

Azerbaijani meals centre on plov, dolma and qutab, and sweet pakhlava goes with tea served in pear-shaped glasses, with jam on the side. Snow lies on the surrounding hills in winter.