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Published: September 29th 2010
A simple title, isn’t it? A captive title is a prerequisite of interesting story, perhaps. Now let’s have a look at the Caspian Sea shore, at the city called Baku - the capital of Azerbaijan; the city of beautiful girls (but my eye will spot a beautiful girl anywhere), sand-coloured buildings, old fortress walls, crazy drivers, “crazy” prices and yet a warm and friendly atmosphere.
Day one September 13 I am now sitting in my 80 Euro room in the Noah’s Arch Hotel in the very Heart of Baku’s Icheri Sheher. I feel very weary. This is the beginning of my 6-day stay in Azerbaijan’s capital and, judging by the first day, I’m going to enjoy myself during the whole stay.
Before this, I spent a whole day in Nizhny Novgorod and also had a short walk in Kazan again. I went to Nizhny Novgorod to see the Kremlin (successfully) and some of its churches and also have a party (stayed there for only 1.30 hours). I got very tired there and then took a night train to Moscow. The city happened to be celebrating its 789th anniversary that day and there were some events organized
in the central areas. From Moscow Sheremetyevo-D I took a direct flight by Aeroflot to Baku. Sheremetyevo-D is very big and I liked it. However, I found no currency exchange there. Also, I tried electronic flight registration for the first time. It’s very convenient and quick; there was a very long queue (now look, the magazine in the airplane said that Russian queues were the longest in Europe), and electronic registration took only a couple of minutes. The Azerbaijan wrestling team also happened to be on that flight - I did see men wearing sports clothes. The bus to the airport was also very slow because of the heavy traffic.
One might wonder why I decided to go to Baku. It’s very simple - I was sitting home one evening, and a thought occurred to me that I should see Baku... However, before that I was already thinking over a trip to the capitals of the former Soviet republics, and that day, perhaps, the thoughts started to take material shape. The decision was made on the spot - I only checked the air ticket prices and opened a page with Baku photos; it was settled. I’ve already seen
Minsk and Kiev (liked both) and Baku is very different from them. Next will be perhaps Tashkent or Kishinev or Yerevan or another capital. At first I thought it would not be a very expensive trip - but I turned out to be wrong.
Never in my life did I read so much information about the place I was going to visit… Actually, I read nothing when I was going anywhere. Really, nothing. As for Baku, I read much about its sights, and also decided to go to some of Azerbaijan’s other towns like Sheki and Quba. Tomorrow I’ll perhaps go to the bus station and find out about the schedule.
I was overwhelmed with today’s walk so my thoughts are quite distorted. I also printed several maps of the country and Baku at home. The city met me with a very lovely customs girl, a pack of taxi drivers and +27 above zero. The airplane landed not quite smoothly; there was a banging sound when the wheels touched the ground. I took a taxi to my hotel; I read that there is no direct public transportation from the airport, so one has to go to
some bus stop on the highway - I didn’t feel like willing to search for it. I wrote to the hotel to meet me at the airport, but no one came; perhaps that’s because I asked for transfer too late. A taxi driver, I suppose every one knows, will never give up the opportunity of taking as much money out of you as he can, except for official ones, of course, where the price is fixed.
I even downloaded a textbook of the Azerbaijan language and will continue learning it when I’m back. Almost everyone here seems to understand Russian.
The highway from the airport does not have any speed limit. The taxi took me to the Icheri Sheher, and I had to find the hotel myself, which was quite easy. I showed my scheme of the hotel location to some officials at some embassy and they explained it to me. When I was trying to find a cheap hotel in Baku, I found the lowest price to be about 70 Euros. I wrote some e-mails but got no answer, and I also wrote to an estate agency travelazerbaijan.land.ru and got a reply almost at once
- they offer cheaper apartments (starting from 30 Euros, located in the centre). Consider this an advertisement. The name of my hotel is Noah’s Arch, it’s small but quite all right and located in the very heart of Baku (I had to use no transport to get to the sights). You have to pay for convenience, don’t you?
I put my things in the room and almost at once went for a walk. I took pictures of everything, especially of the old fortress walls. Everything in Icheri Sheher is within easy reach and the streets and very narrow, houses are not tall and they are old and there are clothes hanging here and there and children playing with a ball and some small shops. Car drivers pay a fee to get inside the Icheri Sheher. There is a tourist information centre near the Giz Galasi and they can give you maps free of charge.
First of all I happened to see a mosque and found out that it was the Shirvanshah’s Palace Complex about which I’ve read already. The entrance fee is 2 manat (AZN) (approx 2 Euros) + 2 manat for the right to take
pictures. Buildings in the Palace are as old as the XIV century. There is a small museum with vases, carpets and some other items in the building of the former palace. Close to it are two mosques. There are fragments of stones with Arabic inscriptions - I guess those were the decoration of the mosque. You can enter and see the buildings’ interiors. I really enjoyed walking in the Shirvanshah’s Palace. There are bushes of the hibiscus here and there.
Then I found a nice park with a monument, many benches and a fountain which looked so wonderful on the background of the fortress walls. It seems to me that drivers are crazy here, everyone seems to drive as they want and pedestrians cross the street right before the cars (but there are traffic lights). When the taxi took me from the airport, there was a traffic jam for many minutes, there were so many cars. There is another lovely park, right across the street, with a monument to the great Azerbaijan poet Nizami.
After the Nizami monument I decided to go to the embankment (they call in the Boulevard). Such a wonderful place! First of
Giz Galasi
Maiden's Towerall, it is very long and is planted with trees and has many various attractions, cafes etc. The sea looked very rough and dirty. I found no beaches in the city; I guess they are outside the city (you know, Caspian Sea has oil, so there are wells at many places).
I also went to the big wheel on the Boulevard and saw a panoramic view over the city. After that I walked along the Boulevard to the Maiden’s Tower - Giz Galasi. It is very old, some experts suggest it was built in the VII century B.C. There are many legends about this tower. I cite the map: “One of the legends tells the story of the daughter of the tower’s owner throwing herself off the top in despair at not being allowed to marry the tower’s builder”.
It was already evening, so I walked round some streets in the Icheri Sheher, took photos of some old buildings and mosques and went to the hotel. The first day was a complete success and I experienced real joy.
Day two September 14 Today’s emotions seem to be somewhat stronger than yesterday and a
feeling of complete satisfaction runs through my veins. Today I sat translating for three hours and only at 1:00 got out of the hotel heading for the Maiden’s Tower - to go inside it and see a panoramic view on the city from its top.
I bought two publications about Baku (a map, finally I got a map! The map which I printed has rather illegible letters, so it was of no use - I was just going where my feet would go) and a booklet about Azerbaijan, and now I think that my six days + the translation will not let me explore Azerbaijan quite completely, so I will certainly come back here. Tonight I have to decide my plans for the day after tomorrow (because tomorrow will be my last walk in the city itself).
I made plenty of little observations today concerning the city. First of all, their traffic lights for passengers have no yellow light as compared to Russia; there is only the red and the green. As I’ve already said, drivers and pedestrians are crazy, and I also became crazy crossing the street in front of cars (no one seems to care
about crossing the street in a wrong place - but how can one guess that those places are wrong since everyone is crossing them?)
Next, I could not take my eyes of the girls, I noted every beautiful girl, and their beauty strikes me particularly - I love black hair and the rest… The Eastern type of women certainly makes a strong impression on me.
There are air conditioners on the buildings - many of them, I don’t remember noticing air conditioners in such amount on buildings in other cities. I guess it’s due to the warm climate. Today it was also very warm and sunny and even stuffy.
The colour of the buildings suits the city perfectly, I think, and provides the city with a personal, particular appearance. It’s beige, if I’m not mistaken, or it may be called sandy. Most of the buildings have similar colour scheme, especially in the centre. The colour scheme is particularly conspicuous from some tall buildings like the Giz Galasi.
The Maiden’s Tower (Giz Galasi) was built somewhere in the VII century B.C. It’s one of the most interesting places in the Icheri Sheher and
can be considered as one of the city’s symbols. A narrow circular stair leads to its top from where one can see the sea and the city from above.
Now let us proceed to the Nizami Street - definitely one of the loveliest streets in Baku, so neat and cozy. There are many fountains, the whole area near Nizami Street being called the Fountain Square. It is rather big and is intended for people’s pleasure and rest and amusement. There are comfortable benches and beautiful flowers everywhere and some stone seats in form of a man’s face (never seen such before). Right in front of the McDonald’s there is my favourite statue of a girl; she’s standing with an umbrella and a mobile telephone in her hands and I think the statue is very good because when I look at the people coming and going and then notice the girl standing still, thoughts of eternal peace and quiet come into my mind.
I had a snack at the Shaurma No. 1 and the waiter there didn’t speak any Russian. The shaurma was tasty. After the snack I walked on the Nizami Street noticing many shops. Finally,
I found a bookstore (I love books and bookstores!) and bought two maps, one of the city and the other showing the tourist routes of Azerbaijan. The maps are of high quality (both of them in English).
I went along the Azerbaijan Avenue to see a church and the Drama Theater (there was a big square on which renovation works were being carried out). On my way back to the Icheri Sheher I came across another bookstore and bought two books - just couldn’t help it - by P.G. Wodehouse, it’s such a great thing finding them here! The movie series “Jeeves and Wooster” based on Wodehouse’s novels with S. Fry and H. Laurie is undoubtedly excellent. Now I’m viewing the sketches “A Bit of Fry & Laurie” - you can imagine how I enjoy it!
The metro station Icheri Sheher looks awesome. I was simply happy to see such beauty with Eastern decorations and the glass structure of the station. Right close to it there is a park with a most beautiful fountain which reminded me of Peterhof. The city managed to surprise me with each step I took and there were still more beauties
to be discovered.
That day I decided to end the sightseeing with going to the funicular. It is a small railcar and it takes you to the top of the hill from where you can get to the city viewpoint. There is also the Shahidlar Khiyabani (Martyrs’ Cemetery) which reminded me of the Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow. Across the street there are three skyscrapers being built. To the left of the funicular station there is a mosque. The viewpoint (I went there along an alley) provides a very good panorama of the city and the sea. The city from there looks like giant stone jungles. One can also see the high TV Tower and the Eternal Fire. If you happen to be in Baku, you simply have to go there.
I went home along the embankment and reached my hotel wandering in the narrow streets of Icheri Sheher.
In the evening I read much about some places in Azerbaijan, trying to decide where I might go with the greatest ease. I even wrote an e-mail to a travel agency and got a very detailed answer with the description and prices of some of their
excursions. The prices made me sad. I don’t have so much money to spend now, my budget is restricted. The matter is that they don’t have groups of people on their excursions - only individuals. That’s the way tourism is developing here. I suppose their approach is quite justified - because it’s much simpler to organize an excursion for one person than try and gather a group. But I took note of their contact details for my next visit to Azerbaijan because they have a wide range of trekking options. Most of all I want to see the Caucasian mountains, and for this I would have to go to some village far away; I would again have to pay large sums for the transportation (I didn’t find any information about public transport to the particular village Hyndalig which I was interested in, and the cost of renting a private car was specified in one of the travel stories to be about 70 Euros for a distance less than 100 km). Of course, one cannot expect to grasp all during 6 days. Also I found the information about Ateshgyah (the fire temple) and Gobustan (prehistoric drawings on stone). Hope to see
them both during the last two days; may be I will also manage to see the city of Guba. Of all the things mentioned, I actually did see only the Ateshgyash and visited the town Sheki.
Day three September 15 This day I decided to go to the miniature book museum located perhaps 300 meters away from the hotel. The information about the museum was given in the map and I also found some in the internet. Since it was very close, I decided to start the day’s “exploration” from visiting the museum and didn’t regret it a bit! The museum produced a Very great impression on me because I love books in general and those 4500 thousand of small and miniature books, each looking a precious piece of art, are not comparable to any other thing. They say it’s the only museum of that kind in the world. Perhaps I will try and make a collection of miniature books myself. At least I will buy them if I see them. The entrance is free for all and the museum is not large; the books are arranged in glass cabinets according to different criteria: for example, according
to the country of publication, children’s books, books on the Olympic Games, Pushkin’s works, religious books, etc. I bought a booklet which gives the complete information. This museum is a must for everyone traveling to Baku. You cannot touch the books, unfortunately. The guide will tell you briefly about each section and then you can look and take pictures on your own.
I went to the fountain square from the museum and noticed another girl statue which I didn’t see the previous day. She’s sitting on a bench rouging her lips. Then I went to the Pizza Inn for the first time and had an excellent meal. They serve many Italian and Azerbaijan dishes there and the prices are not low.
The next point was the Hagani Street with a beautiful park and still more beautiful big fountain with was not working, to the sad effect… I saw the National Library and then reached the embankment. I went along the embankment to the Government House; again, there were many fountains (a complex) in front of the Government House, but they were not working. One of the last points of the route was the central railway station
where I bought a ticket to Sheki and took a picture of the beautiful Eastern-style building. Next, I walked on the Fizuli Street to Heydar Aliyev Palace (what bad luck! In front of the palace there was another fountain complex with no signs of water…). Heydar Aliyev (the former president) is a very respected man in the republic for what he did for the country.
I noticed many memorial boards on buildings. No Soviet atmosphere is felt here, though the said boards do remind of the Soviet times and the Soviet personalities. Also noticed many construction sites (Hilton Hotel for example) within the city centre. The whole center area is one big pleasure area.
My plans for tomorrow are to try and visit the Ateshgyah Fire Temple and in the evening I’m leaving for the town of Sheki; on return from Sheki I will pay a visit to another town, Gabala (may be I will even manage to see Lake Nohur, let’s hope). These are already invalid words - I visited only Sheki. However, let’s leave the note as it was made during the stay in Baku. Oh, actually I asked the ticket sales person for
a ticket from Sheki to Gabala but they didn’t sell such. So, Azerbaijan has plenty of tourist attractions as you can judge from the variety of names that I’ve mentioned.
Just right now I hear a music band playing drums and some other instruments outside, some ethnic tune may be. I did not see them from the balcony though the music is very close. Today I am going to have only a small walk to the Pizza Inn and the ATM to get some money.
I will rest more today than the two previous days.
Today I’ve seen other beautiful places near the Icheri Sheher and they look perfect. There was another park with lovely benches, trees, fountains and a high palm tree. I also saw the magnificent building of the Philharmonic Hall and then went for supper to the Pizza Inn again. I spend more money here than I did in Europe. Actually, a day of my life here costs more than 100 Euros.
Day four September 16 I visited Surakhany (some thirty minutes by bus) to see the Ateshgyah Fire Temple in the morning. It is a small complex
behind stone walls consisting of the temple of fire worshippers and there are many rooms inside the fortress walls where there are wax statues representing the people who lived here back in the days. The fire would come out of the temple because of the burning gas (there were gas outlets at that place, then they were cut off by an earthquake; today, the gas flames are man-made, but unfortunately, I didn’t see them). I guess the gas flames are only thrilling to look at in the evenings. I looked inside each small room where the fire worshippers lived.
In the evening, I will go to Sheki by train and arrive to it the next morning.
I decided to go by metro from the bus stop after I returned from Surakhany. My mind doesn’t want to recall how and when I bought the metro card (it costs 2 manat, and each trip costs several kapiks (1/100 of the manat, a coin), but if you don’t want to go by metro anymore, you can return the card and the price of it will be returned). There are various tunes played loud at different metro stations - one
can hear the music and guess that it’s his/her station.
Very pleasant surprise! My bank card says it has no money, which is impossible! So, I’m already without any money, and I’ll have to get a bank transfer from home if the card is really empty (but it can be empty only if someone has stolen money from it or if the bank is mind-fucking again; pardon for the last word).
Actually I’m in very low spirits now because of the card. Why on earth should that happen on such a lovely day! I checked some five ATMs and each one says go and beg for food, you loser.
And the wi-fi in the room is no more working, why that?? Don’t I deserve some internet? I will go and ask the receptionist soon. But for the time being it’s quite useful to rest without the web. So, I’ve already had three and a half excellent days, now it must be the time for some stupid problems. I called my bank and settled this problem and for the third time here went to the Pizza Inn. Spending so much money on food here. I
will be in extremely low spirits until tomorrow morning when I come to Sheki and walk there.
Don’t expect everybody to speak or understand Russian here. They do, but you’d better be prepared and learn some everyday phrases in Azerbaijan language. I speak only Russian here.
I came to the train station an hour and a half before departure. I asked the ticket sales woman for a return ticket from Sheki to Baku and they turned out not to sell such tickets - I could buy them only in Sheki. After that I was looking for my train. There were a lot of trains and I finally asked a train woman showing her my ticket, where on earth is this train? She replied in perfect Russian, you’re standing right in front of this train, so get in please. The train journey was to last for about 9 hours and I fell asleep almost as soon as I got inside the carriage and when the train woman brought the linen, I went to bed at once and had a very excellent night.
Day five September 17 Sheki When I left the hotel to
go to the train station I made a remarkable notice of the lighting of the buildings - it was amazing and I at once decided that I would have a walk in the evening on the last day. The escalator in the metro was also lighted by different colours.
Arriving to Sheki at 7 o’clock, I saw small hills and the air was pinky because of the approaching sunset. There were taxi drivers at the very small station and the ticket window was closed; I decided not to waste any time in waiting. Instead, I went along the road (the town is far away from the station) and, after reaching a road police post, asked a man how I could get to the town; the matter was settled by taking an expensive “private” taxi to the bus station of Sheki from where I already started the walk.
I was walking with the map and it was only making trouble for me because of its schematic character. I saw several mosques and the Khan’s Palace and then I decided to go outside the town and climb a mountain (not a rock, but a hill). I saw the
highest area of a hill and went there. This is perhaps the most astonishing moment of the whole trip because it can be really considered an adventure - going not knowing where, for an unknown period of time, without any food or drink (there were only a couple of Coca-Cola drops left in the bottle, and I didn’t want to go back to the town for food). I was very firm in my decision to climb that hill. Just imagine that I (it’s fantastic luck!) turned the right path TWICE. Otherwise I would be perhaps not reaching the top.
The ascent was along a path of varying width which was covered with stones of different sizes - I guess water flowed down in spring or after rain and made those paths. One could get lost on those paths. I felt happy during the ascent and was full of energy. At times I had an opportunity to see my destination hill from under the leaves, and it disappointed me because I thought I was going in a wrong direction. However, when the stone path became less steep and actually turned into a dirt path, I already understood that I
might be going in the right direction. The ascent to the hill was not direct, that is all. After the dirt road the path lay in the forest and became steeper. I saw the clouds gathering and a small village down and far away; there was a panoramic view over Sheki as well. I drank small amounts of Coca-Cola during my short rests. I was sweating a lot. A pleasant detail, isn’t it.
Then there was a turn to another path and that was already a steeper ascent and I already was almost sure I was going right. I felt that it would be a hardship after my water is finished but there were no streams on the way. I found small bushes of blackberry which was very sweet and ate it with great pleasure. So, finally I came out to an open spot and at once smiled because my direction was correct!
I met a local gang of cows eating grass and resting there peacefully. They looked at me with understanding eyes and wished me good luck. I thought it might be nice to have some milk... But I didn’t bother the animals. I was
hoping to meet a shepherd or somebody of that kind, because there were animals and thus presence of humans would be natural. However, I didn’t meet a single soul on the ascent.
The ascent then was rather tricky because everything was cloudy and every high hill which I considered to be the top revealed another hill, still higher and even steeper… Finally, I came to the top of a hill and there it was quite clear that I’ve made the climb; please don’t laugh - it was only 1020 meters or so. Hurrah! I lay down on the grass and rested thinking of what a good boy I was. There was no one there to praise me. Of course, it’s sad that I didn’t manage to see a panorama of the mountains from top of that hill. That’s all weather’s fault - but any weather is good weather, yes.
The descent at first was easy. It became colder so I put on my sweater. I reached the path leading to the forest quite soon; at first I lost myself - because some bushes hid the path, but then I followed the path without difficulty and again
ate some blackberries. So, I was going down on the good dirt path until I’ve reached the stone path, and then some trouble and discomfort began; I said that there were so many branches of the stone path that one had to be a genius to go on the same path as during the climbing. That portion of the descent was actually more difficult than the ascent. The path seemed steeper, there seemed to be more stones, and I definitely was NOT following the previous path. I was becoming irritated and angry and really weary because the descent wouldn’t finish so soon… I had several stops. The general decision was to go simply down, not thinking of what “stream” of stones to follow. The view of Sheki at a certain point made me less angry, however, I was already exhausted. I wanted to drink badly. Fortunately, I found two bottles with some water left and drank it without hesitation. I smelled it and there was no smell of urine, but the gas water was very sweet. It might have laid there for months. Then a happy thing happened - I saw human beings and there was a source of water!
A hole was made in the water pipeline and so I could drink from the jet.
Next I found myself in the city and thanked the mountain and the weather for their hospitality and kindness. I followed a street and after not so short time reached the point of my start. I tried to find a cafe, but didn’t; so I only bought some food stuff and went to the train station. The ticket office was closed there, so I sat waiting. After an hour and a half a man came and said there were no tickets, but why! thought I and was ill at ease. Of course, the best solution was to go back (I hate losing time) to the bus station, which I did.
It took only a couple of minutes to find out that the next bus for Baku was leaving at 19-00 and so I would be home by midnight approximately. It took only 5 hours of crazy driving on a small Gazelle bus (as compared to 9 hours by train). I was sleepy during the whole drive. Upon arriving to Baku, I took a taxi from the bus station and looked
amazed at the lights of the buildings.
I was quite happy to return to the hotel.
Day six September 18 I got up early and had the usual breakfast. I will be pretty busy when I come home because I’ve got some new translations. Today will be a day of work mainly, and I will have a so-to-say celebration dinner to mark the end of my stay in this quite expensive Baku.
In the evening, I will go and take photos of the city lights.
Tomorrow the hotel taxi will take me to the airport early in the morning.
After a hearty meal (chicken soup, spaghetti neapolitana and chicken kebab) at the Pizza Inn I found an Akademkniga Bookstore and bought two textbooks of the Azerbaijan language there. I could spend many hours in a big bookstore.
It’s about 7 hours till my flight. I’ve come back from a 3-hour walk in the evening city and I was really amazed by everything. There are so many lights and so many beautiful fountains. I started at the Metro Station Icheri Sheher. The lights are very strong. I enjoyed
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my favourite statue the philharmonic hall and the fountain near the fortress wall (to my mind, it does look awesome in the evening); while the fortress walls make one think it’s a fairy tale. I still have to learn how to take pictures without the daylight, but I’m rather satisfied with the photos.
Next I went to the Giz Galasi, and from there to the Boulevard which astonished me by the loveliest fountains and the lights of the city. I tried to take a panoramic view, but failed. There were many people walking to and fro and enjoying themselves, and I saw many couples sitting near the sea water. Some day I’ll sit with a … ok, that’s not to be thought about here.
There was a large fountain in front of the Museum of Carpets and Applied Arts. Nothing can be less emotional than looking at fountains. Another fountain in front of the Government House was perhaps more fascinating than all the other fountains taken together. It included many fountains arranged on the big square and I could not take my eyes off the central fountain. I even held my breath so big and lovely it was.
Back to the fountain (Museum of Carpet), I was pleasantly surprised by the classical music playing loud and the water jets moving to the sounds. It looked marvelous and I think I saw such for the first time.
While going to the fountain square, I stopped to look at a fountain lit by different colours and some interesting trees and palm trees. I will not be tired to repeat the word fountains today - the name of the fountain square speaks for itself. Everything looked like a fairy tale, a miracle, a masterpiece of light and craftsmanship.
In conclusion, I might suggest the following list of Baku’s sights as mandatory for visit.
1) Icheri Sheher & Giz Galasi + Miniature Book Museum
2) The Fountain Square & Nizami Street
3) Philharmonic Hall and nearby park
4) The Boulevard
5) Funicular to the Martyr’s Cemetery and City Viewpoint
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Jason Smart
I'm going to save this blog to favourites and read it carefully. I'm thinking of heading there in April 2011.