Blogs from Baku, Azerbaijan, Asia - page 4

Unser Aufenthalt in Baku beginnen wir mit einem Spatziergang der Strandpromenade entlang (mit Gepäck, direkt von der Fähre kommend). Wir sind überrascht wie modern und westlich sich die Stadt hier präsentiert. Nach den vielen Städten, die einen klaren sowjetischen Schriftzug tragen, fühlen wir uns in Baku wie „zurück in Europa“, irgendwo in einer Stadt am Mittelmeer. Die vielen modernen, glas- und stahlbetonten Gebäude machen Baku westlich, modern und eben europäisch. Aus einigen Gesprächen der folgenden Tage lernen wir, dass dies noch nicht lange der Fall ist und wir Zeugen dieser Transformation sind. Ebenfalls unser Hotel knapp ausserhalb der Stadtmauern am Fontänenplatz ist wieder „wie zuhause“. Zuvorkommender Service, lächelnde Mitarbeiter an der Rezeption die Englisch können. Im Zimmer funktioniert alles (auch die Sanitäranlagen) und ist modern. Statt Kopftuch treffen wir westlich... read more

After another day with the family in the dacha, and we flew to Moscow for a change in planes for Baku, Azerbaijan.... a new chapter in our saga. Four days of exploration in an amazing part of the Caucuses, hosts and friends who dined us out of sight, wined us profoundly, showed us amazing cultural and physical places and welcomed us to their families, homes and laboratories. Baku is an oil rich beautiful city....we stayed in a small modern hotel in the middle of the walled Old City 12th century with its mosques, castles, shrines, museums and sense of history....reminded us of the Old City Jerusalem. Our last day there was Independence Date (from USSR in 1991)...we left Baku for Moscow and then home, with a display of fireworks to wish us well....quite a finish for ... read more

And so the time has come for us to say goodbye to Baku. It's been fun but it's time to move on. We've spent the last week saying goodbye to friends, colleagues and students, and we've also made new friends which is so sad as we were about to leave! It's been hectic, social and very enjoyable. We thought we should try to get into the old city one more time as it's an area of Baku we haven't really spent any time exploring. It's a nice area to wander around and we just hope that it's beautification and modernisation doesn't go too far. We even managed to get in to see Samir, a carpet seller friend of a friend, who treated us to some refreshing tea and was perfectly hospitable. He didn't even try to ... read more

Two International football matches in four days. It was too much to resist! First up was the World Cup Qualifier where neither Azerbaijan nor Wales could qualify, so it was more of a friendly really! We had met some of the Welsh fans in Finnegans bar the night before the match. It turned into quite a late one and the half price Guinness was really good! We made some good friends, especially Lucy from the FAW who couldn't believe Russ was wearing his Bridgend Ravens shirt and wanted photos for her boyfriend to prove it!! Getting to the game proved a bit of a nightmare for us. We jumped on the No 5 bus which takes us to the Icharisahar metro station, only to find that it has changed its route and no longer goes there! ... read more

Georgia may not have been participating in the Eurovision Song Contest this year thanks to the possibly political title of their song "We don't want a Put In" (Putin?!) but their music and dance ensemble Erisioni came to Baku instead to give us a taste of Georgian talent. The problem was that the tickets started at 30AZN (US$40) which we thought was a bit expensive. Having given up on the idea of going, Russ received a phone call on Friday afternoon from his Georgian student, Iza, offering us free tickets! Hooray!!!!! It was amazing. We were treated to all sorts of acrobatic dancing and beautiful women drifting across the stage. They seemed to be floating but they must have been up on their toes underneath their long dresses. The men danced high on their toes which ... read more