Blogs from Baku, Azerbaijan, Asia - page 6

One of the main sights people head out of Baku to see are an hour or so's drive South of Baku near the town of Qobustan (often called Gobustan as that's how it's pronounced). For once we had a nice Sunday to make the trip worthwhile and we hired Kamaran, one of our school's drivers, for the day. It was good as he has enough basic English to explain things for us from time to time and it was good practice for him! A free English lesson!! As you leave Baku, one of the first things you see is the Bibi Heybat mosque. It's a beautiful building and a popular spot for drivers to stop and and give an offering for a safe journey. Apparently during the Soviet era here, it was one of two major ... read more

On a glorious day it’s nice to look out over the Caspian Sea. It’s even nicer to take a boat trip out to get a different view of the city. That’s exactly what we did a short while ago. Halfway along the Bulvar promenade two boats constantly do half-hour trips around the bay. It’s ridiculously cheap and when the waters are calm (luckily for Trish we chose a good day!) it makes for a pleasant excursion. We weren’t even subjected to the loud crass music we had expected. As the boat pulls out from the shore you get a good look at the resting cormorants. You also get a terrific panorama of Baku from the bay. It’s quite picturesque but you really get a perspective of just how much development work is going on all around ... read more

There are lots of them all over the city! Here's a selection of ones we've seen so far.... read more

A pedestrian promenade runs all along Baku’s Caspian coast close to the city centre. It’s a great place for a stroll and it’s very clean and safe. It takes about an hour to stroll along its length and there’s lots to see and usually something going on. The day we took a wander by the sea there was an oil workers’ exposition taking place. We paused to see a model of an on-land oil drilling station and to read the numerous information boards. As it was all in Azeri, we could only guess what it said! No doubt with an upcoming General Election it was all about Azerbaijan’s success in the oil industry!! An orchestra were busy warming up for a free concert. We waited for about 20 minutes, had a wander to decipher more information ... read more

Tag 50 bis 74 11.200 km von Galway Hallo Leute! Sorry, dass wir Euch so lange seit dem letzten Blog haben warten lassen! In diesen Breiten, wo nicht wirklich viele Touris hinkommen, ist es gar nicht so einfach Internet Cafes zu finden, wo die Computer auch funktionieren… ;-) Wie schon beim letzten Mal geschrieben sind wir also am 5. August von der Tuerkei direkt am Schwarzen Meer entlang nach Georgien eingereist. Die Abfertigung an diesem stark frequentierten Uebergang (angeblich einziger mit Strassenanbindung, aber dazu spaeter mehr...) hat dann auch gut 2,5 Stunden gedauert. Sagte uns der tuerkische Beamte noch ganz optimistisch "Police, Customs, Exit", so standen wir dann bei den Georgiern wie angewurzelt. Nein, nicht in einer Schlange sondern ... etwa wie wenn beim Rugby alle auf einem Haufen liegen, um an den Ball zu kommen. ... read more