Lahij

Lahij is reached by a narrow road cut into the side of the Girdiman gorge, and the drive is part of the experience. The village sits at around 1,200 metres, its houses built of river stone and timber in a technique designed to flex in earthquakes.

Copper has been worked here for at least a thousand years. The main cobbled street is lined with workshops where craftsmen still hammer trays, jugs and cauldrons by hand, decorating them with punched patterns — a tradition on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage.

Villagers speak Tat, an Iranian language quite distinct from Azerbaijani, and Lahij has its own medieval water and drainage system, laid under the streets and still functioning.