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Published: December 12th 2008
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40 Year Old Lada
And a dodgy driver for our magical mystery tour! After settling into our comfortable rooms in the Qala and having a hot shower without having to argue about the lack of hot water, we set out to explore the city with Michael and Jackie who had joined us in Lankaran.
Just up the road from the hotel Russ spotted an open door with a delicious smell drifting out. Peeking inside we discovered a traditional bakery with women tending to the hot ovens which were brimming with baking bread. They were too shy for the camera but happy for us to look around and buy some fresh hot bread. It was delicious!
Next we went up to the market which was full of the same hustle and bustle we had seen the previous day. We got chatting to some of the locals in a bizarre mix of broken Russian, Azeri and English! Our plan was to get a
marshutka bus to nearby Kanarmesha. It seemed our luck was out as no bus appeared, but a little man offered to take us for a few Manats. He led us to his car which turned out to be a 40-year-old green Lada which was quite an experience!!
The journey out
of town wasn't exactly comfortable with three of us in the back and the fumes from the engine had us high on carbon monoxide! We were soon driving along bumpy country roads past sheep, cows and pretty little villages. Our driver didn't really know where he was going but eventually he took us to the small black sand beach by the Caspian Sea. Feeling peckish it had been our intention to find a restaurant overlooking the sea for lunch. Our driver said they were very expensive and that he would take us to another one. 20 minutes later we were standing by the sea at another beach with no restaurant, cafe or food shack in sight. Fear not, he was taking us somewhere. Our magical mystery tour continued and it seemed he was trying to take us to places we were already planning to visit the following day! Trish used her argumentative Russian again to get us back to Lankaran. There he deposited us at the
Olympic Complex on the outskirts, not exactly where we wanted to go. He didn't get any more money than we had originally agreed as we hadn't asked to go so far. Instead we argued
Fresh Bread
Smells good and tastes even better! with him and went into the complex's restaurant for lunch. This turned out to be excellent and we were quite happy with the way things turned out!
After lunch we explored the surroundings of the complex and were wowed by the strange green statues! Then we climbed up to the railway tracks and followed them back towards Lankaran. It took about 45 minutes to make our way back. The only hairy moment came as we crossed the railway bridge and heard the sound of a train's whistle! Fortunately no train appeared and we were soon walking through the back streets of Lankaran.
We saw the round house where Stalin was allegedly imprisoned and then had another look around Heydar Aliyev Park before making our way back to the hotel for a snooze. The weather didn't really pick up all day but at least the fog had thinned a little.
Part 3 coming soon, and it includes a little ray of sunshine!!!!
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Jürgen
non-member comment
NOT True
this is not a LADA Car. Greetings, Jürgen www.lada-welt.de