Romanianflyer

That's what I thought

Although on the contrary, with enough alcohol in your blood you won't notice the crap seat anymore. I *might* have even dozed off for a wee bit in the crap seats

offerendum

The Frensh can be radical

Romanianflyer

Part 27: A short stopover in Paris
Hotel: Bonsejour Montmartre, 69 EUR/night

Disembarking my aeroplane, I felt pretty much like European Commission chief Jean Claude Juncker does during EU meetings after indulging a wee bit too much during my last flight.

Unfortunately, due to the relatively early Azerbaijan Airlines flight departures to Baku, I could not book a same-day flight change and was forced to stay the night in Paris. I mulled just getting an airport hotel and getting a decent rest there, but I decided it would be a boring option. Paris hotels being generally overpriced, I found what looked like a decent choice in the Montmartre area so I opted to stay there. I managed to reach the RER station of Charles de Gaulle Airport and buy a return ticket into Paris with the suburban train. It would be a straightforward RER to Gare de Nord, an underground walk to the connected La Chapelle metro station, and then on metro line 2 to Blanche.


Crowded RER train to Gare de Nord


Waiting at La Chapelle metro station.

It was already dusk by the time I arrived at Blanche, from where it was just a ten minute walk to my hotel located a tiny bit up on Montmartre hill. It gave some good sightseeing on the way.



I selected my hotel purely based on price-quality ratio, and the Bonsejour Montmartre seemed like a decent bet. It was exactly that, decent. It was a wee bit small, and the renovation works in the hotel (paint smell, ugh) were a bit annoying. For a night it was however perfectly acceptable.





As I was getting quite hungry, it was time to search for a dining spot in Montmartre. I had researched absolutely zilch beforehand so I just decided to walk around the area a bit to see if I would come across something I would fancy. Two restaurants I spotted on Google Maps with high ratings and rave reviews did indeed look great, but were unfortunately fully booked for the night. Not wanting to walk too long around, let alone hopping to other areas of Paris by metro, I decided to just enter the first place I would encounter that had acceptable reviews. It turned out to be a pub which had OK ratings. While not exactly haute cuisine, it did had very tasty authentic French staples and friendly service. Two courses and two beers set me back 25-30 EUR, which is certainly acceptable for Paris.


Onion soup and a Belgian Duvel beer


Beef bourguignon and a Belgian tripel beer

Feeling much better after the dinner, I decided to have a late evening walk around the area. I have been to Paris on quite some occasions before, so did not feel the need to do any sightseeing. Just soaking up the atmosphere would suffice, and that was exactly what I did.




A statue of the great French singer Dalida, one of my own favourites. You can see where locals and tourists like to touch it ;-)


Walking towards Sacre Coeur church through lovely deserted streets




Sacre Coeur church

The best thing about this particular church, and Montmartre hill, are the views over Paris. Even on this cold day in March there were plenty of people sitting down to admire the surroundings and soak up the atmosphere.





I stayed a short while as well, before walking through the lovely Montmartre streets back to my hotel as the tiredness began to kick in.



Next up:The Sheltair Lounge at CDG Terminal 2D and flying Azerbaijan Airlines in business class to Baku.

Romanianflyer

Part 28: Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D and the Sheltair Lounge

With my flight to Baku departing at 10:20am, I left my hotel at six to make sure I would be in the airport on time and to enjoy some breakfast in the lounge. It first involved a short metro ride from Blanche to La Chapelle on the metro. Annoyingly, somehow my metro/RER return ticket which I bought beforehand at CDG somehow got damaged and I could not open the barriers at Blanche. Mercifully, the woman behind the ticket counter spoke a tiny bit of English, so coupled with my limited knowledge of the French language I could explain the situation. Magnanimously, she gave me a new metro/RER ticket for free. I have to say that so far every Parisian I've encountered on the short stopover was really helpful and kind, so perhaps I should adjust my long-held negative opinions about Paris and its citizens.


The iconic metro sign of Blanche metro station.


Blanche metro station

La Chapelle metro is connected by a long underground passage to Garde du Nord, Paris' busiest train station where also a couple RER lines halt underground. I easily managed to find the departure platform of my RER to Charles de Gaulle and was happy to see the train half empty at this early hour.

It being French, the train unfortunately decided to have a spontaneous strike halfway the line to Charles de Gaulle and the driver announced that everyone had to go off due to a malfunction. We were all left in the cold drizzle at a dreary platform in the Parisian banlieus waiting for the next train to arrive, which only came after half an hour. Ugh, not a good start of the day.


Waiting at an RER station somewhere on the outskirts of Paris.

From the RER station at Charles de Gaulle it was fortunately a short walk to Terminal 2D, from where my flight with Azerbaijan Airlines would depart. Lines at security were short and within minutes I was airside.


The Charles de Gaulle RER station


Terminal 2D airside.

Terminal 2D is quite long and narrow, both landside and airside. It mostly handles short to midhaul flights in Europe on airlines such as CSA, Austrian, Air Malta, Air Baltic, Croatian Airlines and Finnair. Carriers such as Ukrainian International Airlines, Air Serbia, Belavia and Azerbaijan Airlines fly to destinations outside of the EU.

The Sheltair Lounge is the single lounge in the terminal, and is located upstairs shortly before passport control to the extra Schengen part of the terminal. I was seemingly the first to arrive today in the lounge and first impressions were good: a diverse array of seats, a good layout and aesthetically it was even rather beautifully designed.







The way some walls and cabinets were placed creates many private areas, and even when the lounge filled up in the next hour it never felt crowded. Plenty of plugs and fast internet also made a good working environment.

Some stairs down led to some toilets, which were spotlessly clean. There are no showers though.



Food selection for breakfast was adequate, but nothing to write home about. Some cold cuts, jams, butter, and some French pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat. They were however very flaky and fresh, so no complaints there. There were a couple of wines available, fresh orange juice, soft drinks and beer in the fridge, and a small selection of booze. There was also some French cheese available.







I settled just for a croissant, a delicious pain au chocolat, and a coffee and orange juice. After breakfast, I spent some time working on my laptop.



After an hour or so, I decided to leave for the gate a bit earlier as I still had to go through passport control. As there were no lines whatsoever, I was at the gate within five minutes. The extra Schengen part of the terminal feels a lot more spacious than the narrow concourse where the intra Schengen flights depart.





In short: Much like other terminals at CDG, terminal 2D can be described as functional at best. The Sheltair Lounge, which is also accessible for Priority Pass holders, is not something to go out of the way for and food and booze is rather limited. That said, it is a nicely designed and quiet lounge, and makes a pleasant space to wait for your flight in quietness.

Next up:: Flying from Paris to Baku with Azerbaijan Airlines in business class.

Romanianflyer

Part 29: Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to Baku Heydar Aliev (GYD) on Azerbaijan Airlines
Flight J2 74, booked as AF8176 - Airbus A320 - Seat 2F
STD 10:20am - STA 18:30pm (flight time 5h10m)

Azerbaijan Airlines always intrigued me for some reasons as the legacy carrier from an oil-rich country. Previously branded as AZAL, it served an interesting network from Baku which not only show industry interest (they once flew non-stop to Aberdeen of all places) but also its Turkic background (Urumqi, China). Many of such destinations have since been terminated and old Soviet planes were scrapped, but the airline remained interesting to me.

As reports on it's medium haul routes on narrow-body airlines were scarce, I was all the more excited to try it out. The only ones I could find were from community giants probably well-known here, such as Lucky at One Mile at a Time who tried out the relatively new 787 service from New York to Baku and Sam Chui flying on some older birds such as the A340 and B767. Both were very positive and I was curious to see if I would have similar experiences.


The Airbus A320 at the gate. Azerbaijan Airlines does have a beautiful livery in my opinion.



Priority boarding was neatly observed. Not that it was much needed, I never saw such a quiet boarding area as gate lice was completely absent. Only after repeated calls did some more people queue up. It turned out that today would be a very light load. Business class was perhaps 50 percent full, while back in economy I don't think that more than a third of all seats were occupied. The passengers in business class (seemingly all French) were a curious mix as before and after take-off many walked up to meet with the lady seated in 2A at the other side of the aisle. She looked like perhaps the French ambassador to Azerbaijan or someone in a similar function? With aides and/or befriended businessmen catching up with her?

Alas, back to the aeroplane. No crappy euro-business seats on this bird, but comfortable recliner seats. My apologies for not having better pics, I'm still new in the business of reviewing airlines.







Upon seating, the friendly FAs asked if they could hang my coat in a special compartment. After hanging the coat, they quickly came over to hand the menus for today's flight, as well as coming with a tray containing several non-alcoholic PDBs. I settled for an orange juice, which was beautifully presented and came with some candied fruits.



A small amenity kit was brought as well. Apart from the usual stuff such as a small toothbrush it contained dark blue Azerbaijan Airlines branded socks.



Each seat also had a small pillow and a nice blanket.



Also, a voucher for fast track passport control was handed out by the crew, although being the first to disembark this did not prove necessary as all passport booths were completely deserted.



Due to the light load, boarding was quick. Even then it took quite some minutes longer before we were given the permission to leave our gate and taxi the long, long way across the vast premises of CDG.


Our aeroplane parked next to an Air Serbia bird




Concorde spotting at CDG never gets old


The French Presidential plane isn't bad either to see from the window


Air France A340 taking off before our flight




Airborne!

Service kicked off some five minutes after the fasten seatbelt sign went off. A warm towel was brought while the FA inquired what kind of drink I would like, and what my preferences for dinner would be. I settled first for a glass of champagne. Azerbaijan Airlines serves Nicolas Feuillate, a decent business class champagne and similar to the one KLM serves. Interestingly, it also serves Mumm sparkling wine, as well as a sparkling red from Azerbaijan.

The champagne was swiftly brought over and came with a ramekin of nuts.




Hot towel service and champers

The wine menu of Azerbaijan Airlines was huge, and had plenty of interesting options from Azerbaijan. I like it when airlines promote their own cuisine on board, and I was definitely looking forward to try out a few of the wines even though the international options weren't the most appealing I have ever found in a business class cabin. Let's have a look at both the food and beverage options on today's flight:



















I wanted to opt for the cold mezze plate as a starter but unfortunately the only available option was the assorted meat option. The starter was completely forgettable and not particular tasty at all, and I ended up washing most of it away with the very drinkable Chablis. The salad however was fresh and tasty, and I can't fault the presentation of the meal. Extra kudos for the tiny flower being put on every tray table as decoration.


Starter: assorted meats, washed away with a Laroche Chablis

Luckily, the main of “Murkutush chicken” was much, much better. The Savalan viognier from Azerbaijan was pretty decent, too.



I paired the cheese course with the semisweet Shah Shamakha wine, which was drinkable.



Having had enough alcohol for now, I opted for a tea with the dessert, which was tasty enough but not very memorable. The candied fruits were however delicious.



The whole meal service took perhaps an hour. The main was very good, the presentation of all dishes superb and service well-intended and friendly, but overall it wasn't very memorable. Quality-wise, most Aeroflot dishes and especially the Air France dish on my previous connecting flight were better, and both airlines have better wines too in my opinion. Just perhaps I put my expectations a bit too high here as besides the starter I couldn't really find anything wrong.

During the meal service (and unfortunate moment, if you ask me) tablets and headphones were handed out. Compared to the ones at Aeroflot, the range of interesting shows and videos was much less impressive. I still managed to find something interesting though: you can't go wrong watching Vinnie Jones exploring far-flung corners of Russia.


Vinnie is always bad-...


Vinnie interacting with a provodnitsa on board a Russian train. Not a situation I would ever imagine seeing Vinne in!

The more than five hours flying distance went by relatively quickly. Great Caucasus views one hour or so before landing.



Descent into Baku is always a bleak affair. I once flew TBS-DOH (Tbilisi to Doha) on Qatar Airways, which has an intermediate stop at Baku. Somehow, it always seems to rain, with the views on approach being enormously grey and dreary. The Absheron peninsula where the airport is located is really not the place where I'd ever like to live..!









After landing, the friendly FAs returned the jackets to each passenger. No queues at passport control meant that within minutes after disembarking I was in country number 68 or so on my list of visited countries, being ready for a new adventure.

In short: I might have set my expectations a bit too high after reading some scarce reviews and might have been a bit disappointed after the flight, but in hindsight it was a perfectly enjoyable trip. Proper business class seats, friendly FAs, beautifully presented food which tasted fine and OK enough wines. I would certainly not hesitate flying Azerbaijan Airlines again and I was curious to see how the return flight would compare.

Comparing it to Aeroflot though, I think the Russians have a more consistent product, both in food and service.

Next up: Two days in Baku, a surprisingly beautiful and interesting city.

Romanianflyer

Part 30: First day in Baku, Azerbaijan
Hotel: Old City Hotel & Apartments, 90 EUR/night

Baku's Airport is wonderfully modern, but once outside it's a chaotic mess with dozens of taxi drivers ambushing you. Advice on the internet was to haggle hard, and even then you might not get a fair price. After a few seconds I got 20 manat quoted, which is around 10 euro. As I found the price acceptable and wanted to get to my hotel ASAP I accepted, after which the taxi drivers forcefully took me away by my arm to his taxi. At one point another even driver even tried to grab me away and ended up almost getting involved in a fistfight with my driver!

Inside the taxi, a nice London cab, it was all much calmer, and within some 30 to 40 minutes I was in the middle of the old town, from where I had to go the last few metres on foot due to the small alleyways.

Hotel prices in Baku are expensive compared to the rest of the country and wider Caucasus region, mostly because of the oil industry. Where outside the capital you can get good accommodation for 20 euro, you pay at least five times as much in Baku. I opted for an apartment in the old town due to its location, good ratings and mostly because of its magnificent view.

The apartment, which was located on the ground floor, was nicely furnished, perfectly clean, and had all necessary amenities in it.











When booking accommodation, I don't have any loyalty to a certain chain. On the contrary, most such properties I find rather soulless. I mostly only really care about location, price-quality ratio, character and views. I do have a real soft spot for scenic views, and this property did not disappoint. An elevator takes you to the top of the hotel/apartment building where there is a common roof top terrace with sweeping views over Baku's old town and beyond. The owner explained that in summer, breakfast is served here and occasional rooftop BBQs are held. It being March, the weather was rather dreary: a light drizzle and very heavy winds. The city's nickname is The City of Winds for a reason! Yet somehow it made the views even more special as the sky had a weird grey glow. Watching the old town streets below to this climate almost made me feel like being in an altogether different world, it was fantastic.











The biggest eye-catcher of the Baku skyline are the flame towers, a trio of skyscrapers designed in the shape of flames. They are illuminated by LED lights, which display a variety of scenes on the building from flames to the Azeri flag.


The flame towers

After spending a bit too long on the rooftop admiring the view and snapping pictures I went back to my apartment to take a shower and head into the city for dinner. Based on reviews, I opted for the Nargiz Restaurant some twenty minutes away on foot in the commercial city centre. Getting there involved walking through the old town alleys and some lovely bit of sightseeing on the way.


A dark old town alley. It felt however never unsafe, and Azerbaijan is widely considered as one of the safest countries to visit.


Old town street with one of the fire towers on the horizon.


Mosque




The Maiden Tower, a 12th century Zoroastrian fire temple.








One of the flame towers displaying the Azerbaijani flag

A wall separates the old town from Baku's commercial city centre. The road along the old city wall is used by the Formula One Grand Prix, which would take place some two to three weeks after my visit. As you can see, they had already built up most of the safety barriers and stands along the road.





Baku's commercial centre is equally gorgeous as the old town, although completely different in character. Most of the elaborate buildings come from the Russian Tsarist era, when oil barons constructed magnificent mansions to show off their wealth. All these building were beautifully illuminated. The Baku city authorities surely know how to keep their city clean and to highlight the sight.




Nizami literature museum, the statues are of major Azerbaijani poets and writers


Fountain Square, the heart of the commercial city centre

The entrance to Nargiz Restaurant is located at the same square, as you have to walk down some small stairs to an underground door. Beyond the door is a vast cellar with several intimate dining areas which are beautifully decorated in a traditional Azeri style. The menu features traditional Azerbaijani cuisine, as well as Georgian and Turkish food options.

I ordered an Azerbaijani red which turned out to be excellent, its name I unfortunately forgot. As a starter I had one of the soups, if I remember correctly it was bozbash, the traditional mutton soup. It was equally great.



As a main, I somehow acted against my instinct for not trying out a new Azeri dish I have never tried before. I went for the Turkish Iskender kebab, which did not disappoint. On the contrary, it was gorgeously presented and was absolutely delicious.



The meal, including the wine and some water, was around 8-10 EUR. Given the prices of accommodation and the city having an expensive reputation I was happily surprised that this did not count for food and alcohol.

I was planning to walk a bit more around the city, but as the rains turned from drizzle into a torrential downpour I decided to walk back to my apartment as soon a possible. But not before snapping a few more pictures around Fountain Square and the side streets. Just look at these beautiful buildings and street lights!





Back in the old town I came across a large tent which was used as a tea/nargilah lounge. As it was still early in the evening, I could not resist an after dinner tea and smoke. I don't smoke cigarettes, but I do have a soft spot for the occasional nargilah or cigar. Compared to surrounding countries (or Turkey) this is fairly expensive at almost every place I would encounter in Azerbaijan, with nargilah costing around 10 EUR, with the same being paid for a pot of tea (these cafes don't really do single glasses). On the upside, the tobacco is always prepared inside a citrus, grapefruit or pomegranate, which adds to the flavour.



I spent about an hour sipping tea and smoking before walking the last ten minutes back to my apartment. What a lovely first evening in Baku, my first impressions were absolutely positive. I was curious to see how the city would be during daylight hours tomorrow.

Fredrik74

Baku looks real nice from pictures. Btw, were there no questions about your Armenia visit?

Romanianflyer

No questions whatsoever at immigration. I have to add though that my [multiple] Armenian stamps were all in my old passport so just by the look of my passport pages they would never have known that I visited Armenia before.

What I've heard an Armenian stamp doesn't mean they bar you entry, it just causes lots of additional questions/scrutiny. Unless it's of course proof of a visit to Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian controlled de facto independent republic which de jure is part of Azerbaijan. That would mean entry is refused into the country [they ask the question as well on the online visa website].

Romanianflyer

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

mad_atta

Still loving this report! Baku looks wonderful. I think one of my next trips will be to the Caucasus - Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia all look fascinating. Though I'm not sure the best way to visit them all on a single trip, given the state of their neighbourly relations...

Romanianflyer

I can highly recommend all three countries. Hospitable people in all three of them, awesome mountains, ancient cities and churches, fun nightlife (OK that's mostly Tbilisi, and Batumi in summer), great food, great wine and brandy, and three fascinating capital cities.

To do all three there are generally only two options as the Azeri-Armenian border is closed: Armenia-Georgia-Azerbaijan, or Azerbaijan-Georgia-Armenia.

Overall consensus says it's best to start in Azerbaijan as you won't face the same scrutiny on arrival compared to entering Azerbaijan as last country on the trp with an Armenian stamp. Note that unless you visit Nagorno Karabakh you won't be denied entry in Azerbaijan, just they will likely be more intrusive in asking questions.

Another valid reason to start in Azerbaijan is that their e-visa [if you're eligible] is only valid when arriving at one of the country's airports, and not the land border. Once in the Caucasus, there is no need to fork out $$$ for flights as trains and buses are as good, much cheaper, and there are tons of interesting sights to see in between the capitals so it would be a pity imho to fly Tbilisi to Baku and miss out on interesting sights en route.

Romanianflyer

Part 32: Baku to Shaki by train
Private compartment/spalny vagon. Price: 9 EUR
STD 10:40pm - STA 07:10am (travel time 8h30m)

Night trains in Azerbaijan are extremely good value. Yes, they are excruciatingly slow (Baku to Shaki is 246 kilometres as the crow flies, but it takes eight-and-a-half hours) but on the upside you don't have to sit in a cramped bus. Those who have read from the beginning know that I like train travel, and night trains in particular. You can get some very good sleep if you don't mind the sound of the tracks and travelling by night saves you a hotel bill and more importantly time, as you save valuable daylight time for sightseeing instead of travel.

Train travel in Azerbaijan is a Russian-era relic: the same track gauge, the same train classes, the same style trains. Platzkart is a carriage with open bunks all across, like a giant hostel on wheels. Kupe is a standard compartment with four berths, while spalny vagon is a two berth compartment. Normally, this is a private compartment if you book a single berth in it as the other berth would remain blocked. Yet for some reasons, the other berth in my compartment remained bookable online after I booked mine (you can book tickets very easily online and can select your carriage/compartment).

As one ticket was a steal at just 9 EUR, I just decided to book the other berth as well in my compartment not to run the risk of having to share it. Sometimes I really don't mind to socialise and share a compartment on a train (it's one of the charms of long distance railway travel) but given my short time spent in Azerbaijan I wanted to assure having the best sleep possible.

As I already exchanged my e-ticket for a real paper one in the afternoon, I checked out from my apartment around 9pm to head to the railway station. Even though the management kindly offered to drive me there, I politely declined as I wanted to ride the metro again to make some more pictures of some of the magnificent stations.


Going down the deep escalators of Icheri Sheher metro station




Gorgeous Nizami Ganjavi station, considered Baku's most beautiful

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to visit more metro stations (and honestly didn't dare to take more pictures as I read many reports of police/security frowning upon it) so I continued my journey to the train station. Even though the old stone station building next to the platforms is still intact, all ticket counters, shops, waiting areas are in a modern shopping centre at the end of the platforms.


Train station waiting hall


Walking towards the platforms. On the right side you can still see the old station building.


Looking back at the modern terminal building

Even though I'm fairly used to these ex-Soviet trains and have travelled on quite many ancient carriages across different former Soviet republics, this train in particular looked very old. No pictures from outside unfortunately, as there was quite some police presence on the platforms and I didn't feel comfortable snapping too many pictures. From the inside, the corridor as well as the compartment was very dark, although perfectly clean and comfortable.


My room for the night.

The conductor took my ticket and handed me the plastic bag of bed linen so I could make up the bed. Even though he did not speak a word of English, the surprise on his face was clear when I gave him two tickets having booked both berths under my name. I'm still somehow puzzled a bit if it's really necessary to book both berths if wanting to have a private compartment, or if it should suffice just booking one.

I bought some beers beforehand, as well as some typical Russian breaded cheese as a beer snack as a small nightcap before going to sleep.





I managed a good five to six hours of sleep when the conductor knocked on my door some twenty minutes before arrival in Shaki. As the train station is some ten to twenty kilometres out of town in the middle of nowhere along the main provincial road, I had to take a taxi to get me into the town. There were a handful of cars waiting, and I negotiated a ride in a shared taxi for just 1-2 EUR.


Waiting taxis at Shaki station




Riding into town

I was the last person to be dropped off at my address, a small guest house in a quiet residential street just a stone-throw away from the main avenue. Thanks to the good night of sleep in the night train I was immediately ready to explore town after my arrival.

In short: Trains in Azerbaijan are dirt, dirt cheap. Although hardly the Orient Express and decidedly Soviet in style, they are comfortable enough if you don't set your standards too high. Carriage and toilet were kept clean throughout the journey. If not having your own wheels, travel by train is the way to go in Azerbaijan.

Next up: A day in Shaki, a historic town in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.

ironmanjt

This report is amazing, and easily one of my favourites lately! Keep it coming!

Romanianflyer

Thanks!

I'm trying hard keep up the pace this week to finish this TR, as I still have to do write up a short TR on a trip to Greece and Malta I took in spring, and another from last month to Georgia and Turkey. To top that off, there is another epic journey upcoming next month to Indonesia (on SV and SQ in J among others, talking about two products which cannot be much further apart )

mad_atta

Thanks for the advice! That region is edging pretty close to the top of my to do list now. Perhaps next year will be the year.