Blogs from Azerbaijan, Asia - page 13

Overnight train to Tbilisi $26 Since we had been so busy yesterday, we took things slowly this morning. We met an Australian woman staying at our hotel who had recently come from Tbilisi, and she recommended a hotel. After breakfast at the bakery down the street we left our laundry with the lady at the hotel. We only had one other sight we had wanted to see, the Fire Temple in nearby Suraxani. We went by the station again to check on the local train, but weren't able to find one, so we hopped in a cab again. Suraxani is located east of Baku, about halfway to the airport. The only attraction is the Zoroastrian Fire Temple, still in use by worshippers. The natural flames have been replaced with piped in gas these days. There were ... read more

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

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