Azerbaijan 2023

30 June 2023. Friday. Baku

I’m flying to Baku from Tbilisi. Returned my Metromani card in the metro (you need the receipt and passport) to get the deposit back. The Embraer 190 is quite small, four seats across, about 100 seats. But the seats are spacious, I have to say. And Buta Airways fed us sandwiches, which was very welcome! Yesterday’s nuggets from the mountain park were so dry they wouldn’t go down, and the potatoes weren’t great either. But I ate lots of apricots, took some with me to the airport))

I also exchanged 50 lari for Azerbaijani manats (got 32), so I wouldn’t have to exchange twice, into dollars and back. Although, as usual, the airport exchange rate isn’t favourable.
Everyone at Buta is so unhurried) Maybe that’s how it should be. At least all the announcements and demonstrations are understandable.
It’s hot in Baku! +31°C during the day; they say it’s noticeably hotter here in summer than in Georgia — Dubai on minimum settings. Bought a local transit card from a machine for 2 manats (reusable) and put another 3 on it.
The airport express runs once an hour, although it used to run twice as often during the day. The fare is 1.3 manats, while city buses are already 0.3.
I stayed in Baku “behind a portal into poverty”. A grimy Indochinese-style communal apartment (seriously, it smelled as if it had been soaked in pickled cucumbers), with only two undeniable advantages — the location, right in the centre by the waterfront, and the hilarious price of $5 a night. I spent as much on one lunch as on three nights here.
First thing I went to the waterfront. Beauty all around! Walked out onto the pier, into the fresh breeze. Breathing in the scent of the sea. So pleasant!

On a metal support of the railing someone had scratched “A+N”. I wonder where those “A” and “N” are now?..
The wind makes the railing hum and shake. And it blows the internet away too; disconnections happen XD
Had lunch at ZAZU restaurant by the shore and tried a local dish called gyurza. Meat in dough, like dumplings, only elaborately sealed, topped with butter and sauce and sprinkled with dried pomegranate for a sour note. Amazingly delicious! That’s where I left 23 manats (+6 more for a latte), all together.
Looks like all the prices here are twice as high; I need to find other places. In general, it feels like Baku is more expensive than Tbilisi.
All along the waterfront there are wide, beautiful parks, flowers and fountains. Even olive trees and little baobabs. Magomayev’s music is playing; they put up a monument to him there in 2020.


Walked a lot along the waterfront, took photos. Shame I’m alone. It really was sad to leave Tbilisi.
Roaming works like a charm — or rather, like a broken charm, as everywhere else. Nothing new X) But the impressions are new! Night-time Baku glows and sparkles with lights — a feast for the eyes! Beautiful illumination everywhere. It also got colder in the evening; in just a shirt it was already chilly. Had to return to the hostel and finish writing down my impressions there.

1 July 2023. Saturday. Rain, Carpet Museum and the city.

In the morning, contrary to the forecast, there was rain, clouds and wind. Cold — it even blew my hat off!
I hid from the bad weather in Deniz Mall — the one that looks like the Sydney Opera House. On the ground floor, off to the side, behind the supermarket, I found some tasty and inexpensive fast food. The potatoes were excellent! Sat by the window, watched the rain and addressed postcards.
Then I went to the Carpet Museum. A bright, colourful patch in the history of the country. They even used them to build dwellings, and made horse blankets. And trunks for carrying things. Entrance to the museum was 10 manats.

Google Maps was messing up all morning, refusing to work. Had to go to the hostel for Wi-Fi. The one on the waterfront doesn’t want to verify on a Kazakh SIM card.
Then, finally, I headed into the city. The architecture, of course, is superb! Magnificent buildings of yellow stone, with ornamentation and relief patterns. The Old City is surrounded by a fortress wall.

On the way I got a delicious bubble waffle with banana ice cream and berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries), for only 9 manats. Really filled me up) Then I went for a walk and to admire the views.
And they’re everywhere! Fountains, parks, walking areas. Found a café for locals and had shashlik with salad for 12 manats. There was even Wi-Fi. Bought some souvenirs)

The café had an interesting local atmosphere, with singer Röya playing in the background.
Baku is a wonderful city for walking! And Magomayev on the waterfront adds a special charm.

2 July 2023. Sunday. Heat. Sea and a tour of the Old City.

It’s worth mentioning the situation with beggars on holiday. In Georgia and in Baku alike, they are everywhere. And in Baku you sometimes come across such Ostap Benders: they greet you enthusiastically like an old acquaintance, immediately launch into a story about their troubles, and then ask for 20 manats — supposedly they don’t have enough for meat. In short, they don’t ask for small change. And at night, suspicious offers start appearing in the streets: buy something (probably weed) or go somewhere (probably a brothel). Such fun.
Well, never mind. I started the morning with a wonderful late breakfast in the Old City. I wanted to get up early, set the alarm for 8, but — no luck).
Had breakfast at the Xanliq restaurant, waiting for the Museum of Miniature Books to open. They came over about ten more times, one after another, asking whether everything was tasty, whether I liked it all. That’s what you call food that brings pleasure!
Several kinds of cheese, dairy sauces, cottage cheese. Jam, honey, vegetables (really sweet), omelette, butter. Even the olives were surprisingly good! Absolutely delicious! They really spoiled the inner gourmet in me))
The Museum of Miniature Books is very interesting — so many exhibits from all over the world! Some are absolutely tiny. And some are microscopic. The museum is special; it’s even in the Guinness Book of Records.

Google Maps let me down again today, the damn thing wouldn’t show routes. Such a waste of time, really inconvenient.
Despite the difficulties, I made it to the Yashyl market (bazaar), where I bought sweets and spices — sumac, Svan salt, turmeric, khmeli-suneli, paprika and barberry. Oh, and a whole kilogram of cherries for 1 manat (260 tenge). I gorged myself on them until evening.
Then I went to Shikhov Beach, about 9 km from Baku. Had to wander around, to the point of asking passers-by for directions, the old-fashioned way. The maps refused to build a route; somehow I found the transfer stop from the metro to the bus I needed. It turned out the best way is bus 125 to Green Land. Went for a couple of swims in the Caspian) It’s warm and calm here. Shallow, not very clean water, some seaweed, but lots of holidaymakers. Still, it’s nice to swim in a new sea).
From there I hurried back for a tour of the Old City. Fare — 50 qəpik, just that; metro — 40. City buses from 30. Oh, by the way, the Baku metro is neat, quite clean and well maintained. On the green line there was a new train — an articulated “accordion”; on the red line there was a vintage one, with wooden trim, like a proper old-fashioned surface train, and just as wide. The carriages are painted lilac.
There were only three of us on the tour. Me, and Eleonora and Elsa from Istanbul — mother and daughter. The tour started at the Maiden Tower and went past merchants’ houses, caravanserais and ancient ruins even older than the Old City itself. Scenes from Mimino, The Diamond Arm and Amphibian Man were filmed here. Beautiful parks and fountains with unusual plants — passionflower and poisonous oleander, araucaria and cypresses. Baroque and Empire-style houses, as everywhere in the city, made of yellow aglay stone (limestone, shell rock).

We had saj for dinner (I had lunch) — meat with vegetables, mushrooms and potatoes. Tasty). Tea in pear-shaped armudu glasses.
Then we went to the viewpoint by the three Flame Towers (there are memorials there too), stopped in the seaside park by Little Venice and in Sevgi (Love) Park, with a view of the cultural centre designed by architect Zaha Hadid.
The girls (Megan and Kanusin) are leaving Georgia today. Ah. And tomorrow I have my flight to Aktau.

3 July 2023. Monday. Back to Kazakhstan

In the morning I went to mail the postcards and had breakfast at the same restaurant again. Twelve little plates with all sorts of things, three kinds of cheese and two kinds of olives. They really spoil you) An ash-grey cat with two kittens kept begging under the table. I gave them food four times — she just blinks her eyes, while the little ones immediately swoop in and clear everything out. And the cat asks again — what a shameless creature.

At departure they didn’t even check my hand luggage. By the way, Heydar Aliyev Airport looks very futuristic.

Forty-five minutes later, the eastern shore of the Caspian appeared through the window. Welcome to wasteland! The contrast is striking, just endless emptiness all around.
In Aktau I enthusiastically surrendered to spontaneity, took a service (!) bus into the city, almost right to the hostel (“Mango”). I simply asked the driver to take me somewhere)

Got out by the sea. Wanted to swim, but the water was terribly cold, only 19°C. Walked along the Rocky Trail and watched the sunset from a cliff above the water. The shore is steep, like a marsh in a ravine. There are reeds too. The water is full of algae. The Fourth Microdistrict looks very abandoned, as if it isn’t a city at all, but simply a scattering of houses in the steppe. Although the centre seems to have new development. Taxi back cost 2,500 tenge. Ahead of me is a night flight to Astana.