Part 35: Last day in Baku, Azerbaijan
Shah Palace Hotel, Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport and the Azerbaijan Airlines lounge
As those who have read the previous installment(s) have read I wasn't in the best physical condition when I arrived in Baku. At best, I probably managed only two hours of sleep on last night's train ride. To make matters worse, I still felt sick after smoking a bit too much nargilah the night before after accepting an invitation of some local students.
My original plan was to store my luggage somewhere and find some tour company or private taxi to take me to Qobustan just to the South of Baku, where there are some mud volcanoes and petroglyphs. After that I was planning have some late dinner back in the city, only to make it straight to the airport to get a rest in the lounge. Somehow I didn't feel like getting a hotel room when my alarm clock would go at 2am for my 6.30am flight the next morning.
Given my headache and nauseous feeling I however decided to scrap my original plans as I was not in a sightseeing shape and there was absolutely no way that I would survive without having some proper sleep. As it was very early in the morning I knew getting an early check-in might be challenging, so I was hoping that splurging on a bit better hotel would increase my chances of getting a room early. Making use of the train station wifi, I browsed a bit and eventually opted for the Shah Palace which had decent rates at 90 EUR/night.
Unfortunately, the hotel management wasn't as magnanimous as I hoped for. While at the start of the trip the Radisson Blu in Stavanger was very welcoming and granted me an early check-in after arriving in the early morning from a night train journey (and even threw in a free breakfast), there were no such freebies at the Shah Palace Hotel. If I wanted a room I had to pay up a half day rate, otherwise I had to wait until 3pm (!). Not having much other options, I just decided to bite the bullet and pay for it all. At least the staff were kind enough to grant me free breakfast.
Apart from having perhaps set my expectations in generosity a bit too high, I rather enjoyed my stay at the Shah Palace Hotel. For a start, it oozed tons of charm and history. Just look at that central atrium! It featured a small bar/restaurant, and also had historical artefacts which could be seen through glass panes in the floor.
My room itself wasn't bad either. Even though it was just a standard room, with the only windows those towards the atrium corridor, it was very big and comfortable, and had a huge bathroom.
After taking a shower I decided first to hit the breakfast buffet, which was located on the top floor. Choices and food quality were both good, and if I remember right there was also an egg station to order your custom-made omelets.
After breakfast, I had a good and long sleep. When I woke up I decided to take it easy for the afternoon, and went out for a short walk.
During the walk I found a supermarket where I bought a beer, planning to drink it back in my room while taking a warm bath. When I found out the drain stopper was missing the reception had a handyman send to the room to replace it within seconds. Overall, staff seemed to work very efficient and were very friendly.
After the bath and the beer I finally felt human again. At around 6pm I decided to get into town again back to the restaurant (Nargiz) where I had dinner the first night as I liked the place. I ordered another traditional Azerbaijani soup, some plov with pomegranate seeds and chicken, and ordered from the Georgian part of the menu card some khachapuri (cheese bread). The khachapuri wasn't very good unfortunately, but I did again like the other dishes. No beers or wine this time, just some sparkling water in a colourful green bottle ;-)
I went back to the hotel for some early sleep, as I had my alarm clock set at 2am to go the airport for my 6.30am flight to assure I had enough time to review the Azerbaijan Airlines lounge. As the hotel only asked for a small surplus for their own transport to the airport and I needed to spend my last Azerbaijani manat, I didn't bother haggling with a normal taxi. The hotel car turned out to be a proper nice luxury car with a friendly driver. It was quite cool to speed along the boulevards just weeks before the Formula One race would take place.
The driver was in fact a bit too friendly, instead of just dropping me off at arrivals he insisted to park the car and help me taking my baggage inside the terminal. That might be nice if I would have lots of luggage or would be older than 70, but as a young man with just a small trolley and rucksack? It took at least ten minutes longer until he found a parking spot compared to what it would have taken just to drop me off. It seemed a bit pointless to me..
Baku's airport is one of the nicer ones I've visited. It's glitzy and grand, and has some interesting architectural features both before and after security.
Azerbaijan Airlines has a separate check-in area for its business class passengers fenced off from the rest of the airport.
The lady behind the business class check-in desk unfortunately dropped me a small bombshell. They can only check you in at T-2. It being 3am, and my flight departing at 6.30am, that meant a one-and-a-half hour long wait in the terminal among the commoners. Ugh! No idea if this is just for the early morning flights or is the general procedure overall.
The actual weird thing here is that when I arrived back at 4.30am I literally only had to give my passport to the check-in agent, who then told me to walk a few feet further to the waiting lounge to take a seat and drink. He told me that when I would be checked in, an Azerbaijan Airlines employee would come to personally escort me through security towards the real lounge. Even though that is a very nice touch, why can't I stay the entire time in the waiting lounge and do I have to sit on some bench in the terminal until two hours before my flight?
The waiting lounge at check-in is a nice touch though. It had a basic drinks and food section, as well as a staffed coffee bar and some toilets. Nothing alcoholic though, and the food was limited to cookies and some sweets only here.
Even though I was the second person, and there would only enter two more people later on, it took the staff ages to sort out my boarding pass for whatever reason. Only after 50 minutes did a friendly girl come to hand my passport and boarding pass back, and to escort me through security and to the lounge. While the whole idea of a landside lounge and service is of course a very nice touch, I absolutely did not get why it took so long. It's just a one-off and something went wrong with my boarding pass and escort? Because if it would be the normal procedure it would be rather disappointing, as of course waiting in the real airside lounge would turn out to be much better and I wouldn't have mind to spend a little longer there than the rushed 20-30 or so minutes I managed now.
The real Azerbaijan Airlines lounge is located on the upper floor at the end of the single concourse. You take the escalator up, and on the right side is the Azerbaijan Airlines lounge, on the left the contract lounge for all other airlines.
Walking through the airport
Baku lounge heaven is all the way in the back, one level up on this picture. The escalators up are not visible as they are behind the elevator down.
My personal escort introduced me to the two lounge dragons and I was allowed in. The lounge itself looked very pleasant with some nice seating, and had decent offerings of sandwiches and pastries in the early morning. There was a coffee machine which made a very decent double espresso, as well as a decent selection of booze. No champagne unfortunately in the lounge. And even though the lounge had a very cool looking glass wall which with several dozens of wine bottles stocked behind it, also the wine selection was a bit limited.
Self service lounge bar
One of the two food stations
Lounge toilets. No showers available, unfortunately.
By far the nicest aspect of the lounge were the fancy seats overlooking the terminal. No tarmac views or so from the lounge, making these the best seats to grab.
After some twenty to thirty minutes I had to leave the lounge and head to my departure gate for my flight back to Paris.
