Part 31: Second day in Baku, Azerbaijan
Hotel: Old City Hotel & Apartments, 90 EUR/night incl. breakfast
After a good night of sleep in my apartment, a knock on the front door announced the arrival of the breakfast service at the exact time I communicated the day before. It was quite tasty and similar to Turkish breakfast, with some white cheeses and spreads, cucumbers/tomatoes and an egg.
After a quick shower I headed straight for the building's rooftop to snap a few pictures by daylight. Needless to say, the view was still as spectacular.
Just like the evening before, I decided to focus first on the old city for what turned out to be a long, long city tour with lots of walking. There are some charming alleyways in the old town, with most buildings having very distinctive wooden balconies.
The first real objective of my selfconstructed city tour was the palace of the Shirvanshahs, the seat of a dynasty which ruled the country in the Middle Ages. Even though almost completely unfurnished now, the small exhibition was interesting and because of the painstaking renovations it did not require much imagination to see how much a magnificent complex this once must have been.
The palace as seen from the outside. What a contrast with the modern Baku skyline beyond.
Stairs leading to one of the [former] entrance gates to the palace
The complex did not only include the palace, but also a mosque, mausoleum, hammam and a ceremonial courtyard.
As it began to rain quite a bit I decided to head towards the nearest metro station. The walk along the old city walls was lovely, despite the adverse weather for which Baku is so infamous in the winter and early spring.
At the end of the old town is a big traffic square and the start of a nice park along one of the main boulevards. The buildings here are decidedly more Russian (both Tsarist-era and Soviet in style)
The metro station closest to the old town.
I headed two stops away to the square where the city's train station is located. In the evening I would take the overnight train to Şəki (in Western letters written as Sheki or Shaki). I had booked the train online to be sure of a spot and as I needed to exchange the online ticket to a real one, I thought it would be best to already have it rather to risk missing the train if queues would turn out to be horrendous close to departure.
The square on which the railway station is located (the building with the long roof to the left of the highest tower).
Luckily, there was no queue now whatsoever and the process of changing my e-ticket to a real paper one was very straightforward. Within a minute I was outside the building again. I decided to head back to the commercial centre with a short random detour along some squares/buildings I thought might be interesting judging from a map.
Government House, a Soviet building which houses various ministries
The Hilton at the seaside boulevard
City centre street scene
Opera and ballet theatre
Pre-soviet Russian architecture
Weirdly, I wasn't really hungry but I forced myself to eat something given the huge distance walked already. I ate a tasty chicken kebab, which including a bottle of water was around 1 EUR.
Close to the kebab place I spotted a lovely cafe (passage 145), so I decided to sit down for a cuppa, some nargilah and some baklava.
My next plan was to catch a cable car up a hill at the other end of the old town. I braved the rainy weather again and decided to walk there, which wasn't that bad given the many beautiful buildings and streets.
Statue of Nizami Ganjevi, a Persian poet
One of the old city gates
Underground passage. The entire city was spotlessly clean and even such pedestrian underground passageways felt rather glitzy
Unfortunately, this was the view when I arrived at the cable car station down the hill. Not a good sign when the hill and surrounding buildings are covered in fog! When I inquired at the cable car station if it was worth to go up, the guy said that for the next hour it would remain closed. I decided not to wait and continue my walk.
First I headed to the carpet museum, which is actually rather more interesting than it might sound (forgot to take pictures).
From the carpet museum, I headed for a walk across the seafront promenade back to the commercial centre. There is a lot of modern (and weird) architecture here, including a park called something like 'little Venice' just because it had one fake canal running through it.
Why visit Venice in Italy when you can visit Baku's version of it..!
Giant Azererbaijani flag in the seaside park
I did enjoy the walk down the park and along the seaside promenade despite the strong winds and rainy weather as the views were just fantastic. Perhaps the rain and fog even made it better than it would be on a dry day, the old and new buildings covered in fog just made the entire place feel rather mystical. It's like walking in Persia, Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and a modern-day skyscraper world like Dubai at the same time. It just feels weird, exciting and mostly very faraway and exotic.
Back in the commercial district, I headed for a restaurant called Firuze for dinner. It seemed similar in style and food as the excellent Nargiz where I ate the day before, and had similarly good ratings. Unfortunately, the food was not even close as good. There was hardly any meat on the bones in my traditional Azeri soup, and the dolma (stuffed cabbage or grape leaves) were very dry. The Azerbaijani beer was however tasty and I couldn't fault the attentive service.
After dinner I walked back to my hotel to take a shower and rest a bit, as in the same evening I would check out and head for the train station for my overnight train journey.
In short: I had a blast in Baku. What an exotic city it is, the mix of Persian, Russian and modern influences is very intriguing and makes for some stunning architecture. Museums are great, the people are super friendly, and even though accommodation is a bit more expensive the place in general is very affordable. It can easily compete with Tbilisi for the title of best city in the Caucasus, what a pleasant surprise this city is really.
Next up: An overnight train ride in a private compartment to Sheki in the Azerbaijani mountains