International Women's Day in Baku

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March 11th 2009

Published: March 11th 2009

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rrruss

Enjoying the gardens

March 8th is International Women's Day. In Azerbaijan that means a long weekend! Hoorah!!!

Sadly the sun didn't shine so we decided to stay in Baku and see what happened. We also decided to check out a few different places.

On Friday night we moved from our regular haunt for happy hour to The Clansman which was rather nice inside and far less crowded. Then we moved on to The Brewery which is a micro-brewery with wonderful beer and excellent (if a bit pricey) food.

On Saturday we had an easy day but got to try a new cafe in Baku. La Vita had just opened and it seemed a bit on the expensive side. Still, we were sitting down so we ordered a coffee each (a bit weak) and a chocolate cake which was fabulous. When we asked for the bill, we were told that it was complimentary because it was their opening day!!

On Sunday the weather was a bit disappointing so we had a walk along the Bulvar promenade. It was absolutely packed with families. It seems that all the men took their women out for a walk! Then we went to Caramal Cafe

The Love Bench!

Photographers were everywhere trying to snap women on their special day!

for a coffee.

It wasn't bad at all. In the evening we took the bus back into town and noticed a crowd gathered around the fountain at Azneft square. We jumped off the bus and went to see what was going on. We were treated to a laser show projected onto the spray from the fountain and drifting smoke accompanied by classical music. It was extremely good and finished with a speech from the late president who has been dead for 8 years! Haunting eh!!! Then we went to Mangal's restaurant where we ate sturgeon and sea bass. Delicious!!

Monday was a public holiday but the weather didn't encourage us to leave the city. We took the metro out to the "8th Kilometre" district where we had a wander around to try to find some restaurants which are there. It was a bit of a walk and not exactly convenient for the metro! Even so, we found the places we were looking for but were disturbed to find monkeys in cages in the gardens of one of the restaurants. Don't think we'll be going there. We walked over a bridge traversing multi-coloured gas or oil pipes which made

Buskers

We heard recorders aplenty and even an accordian

a nice photo opportunity!

We had lunch in our favourite Turkish restaurant near Akademia metro and then a coffee in Baku Roasting Company. Yes, it's been a bit of a caffeine hit this weekend! Then we walked out to the Botanical Gardens. They will be much nicer in a few weeks time but at the moment the only colour is from the flowers on the lavender bushes just starting to open out.

All pretty exhausting really!!!!

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