Blogs from Azerbaijan, Asia - page 9
July 20th 2005
Hotel: Velotrek Hotel (Baku, Azerbaijan) $30 The plan today was to visit the petroglyphs at Qobustan, a village about 50km south of Baku. We wandered outside the hotel into the taxi melee to find someone to drive us there. The Lonely Planet book had said it was only a $20 trip, but noone would back down from $50. Most people didn't seem to know where it was we were going either. We finally chose a Saddam Hussein looking guy, who said he had been in the Afghanistan war (Russian side). He didn't speak English, but a friend of his did, so we arranged things through him via cell phone. The driver was quite excitable and was talking and waving his arms most of the trip. The drive to Qobustan took about an hour; past a beach ... read more
July 19th 2005
Hotel: Velotrek Hotel (Baku, Azerbaijan) $30 Visa on arrival: $40 $1 USD = 4700 Azeri Manat We decided to head to the airport early this morning for our 10:30 AM flight to Baku. We hailed a cab from the hotel, but we were only able to talk him down to 1200 roubles (the books say 900 is best). This seemed a bit excessive as we were already on the road to the airport, but all 4 of us crammed into the LADA as it was raining and we didn't feel like walking to Beloruskaya station to take the metro+bus option. The flight to Baku left from SVO-2, the international terminal. There are checkin desks at both sides of the terminal; we went to the wrong side initially before finding the correct checkin desk for Baku. Once ... read more
August 27th 2004
Det sidste jeg havde forestillet mig ved mit besøg i Aserbaijan var, at jeg ville komme på sporet af mine forfædre. Skandinavere, eller i hvert fald de nordiske Vikinger stammer muligvis fra Aserbaijan, fandt jeg ud af efter blot et par dage i landet… Der var ikke rigtigt noget der pegede i den retning da bussen bumpede over grænsen til Aserbaijan, hvor skiftet mellem et kristent og muslimsk land kom næsten umærkeligt. Spredte moskeer og the-saloner i stedet for barer begyndte at dukke op i de små landsbyer vi passerede, og vi så enkelte ældre kvinder med sorte tørklæder. Men ellers kunne vi lige så godt have været i Georgien - området har også tidligere tilhørt Georgien og grænsen har altid været åben. Vi var stadig i Kaukasus-bjergene og afbrød rejsen i Sheki, en af de ... read more
August 12th 2004
Upon entering Azerbaijan we visited an old temple in the foot hills of The Caucasus that had been creating some controversy after the Norwegian government paid for an extensive exploration and renovation; based on Thor Heyerdahl’s theory that the Scandinavians were originally from Azerbaijan… Norwegian mythology tells that the Scandinavian god Odin moved with his people to Norway from a land called Aser. Heyerdahl reckons the original Caucasians fled the invading Romans in around 90AD. Sailing from the Caspian, they moved through the Black Sea, out through the Dardanelles into the open sea and north. The timing of this exodus coincides with Norse tales of tribes from the south bearing detailed knowledge of the seas and advanced boat building capabilities. From Odin it took 31 generations to reach the first historic king around 800AD, which apparently ... read more
June 28th 2003
Links to travel journals and pictures from: * 2003 Moscow, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Sochi * 2004 Georgia, Svaneti, Armenia ... read more
