JapesUK

The old town tour itself lasted almost exactly two hours and covered off a number of places on my list including the maiden tower, miniature book museum, the artists house, and both of the restaurants I wanted to see. It will be the same guide for tomorrows night tour and he tells me we will be going to highland park etc which wipes this afternoons plans clean.




























No idea what to do with the afternoon now so it’s back to the room for some replanning and probably a nap given that I have been falling asleep whilst uploading those photos!

JapesUK

In the end it was most definitely a nap, albeit not exactly planned, more demanded. I sat on the bed, picked up the iPad and the next thing I knew it was ninety minutes later.

I remembered from the club lounge literature that they offered an afternoon tea and that seemed like a good idea, especially as the need for coffee was strong! I’d politely describe the afternoon tea offering as underwhelming



Yes, that is it in its entirety. However it had the double advantage of being at my fingertips and complimentary.

A plate with a little bit of everything and a decent cup of coffee and I’m ready for a bit of map reading to see if there is anything reasonably nearby that I can visit for the afternoon.

And, as I have already started grazing, I can tell you that the candied dried kiwi is as tough as old boots, but delicious once you get it going.

VorelNaCestach

this made my day

How is HK? I heard that the humidity is 100%

VorelNaCestach

Are there any Persian New Year celebrations or they already had it earlier this week?
I hope you've booked also some food tour. Looking forward to seeing photos of local food

JapesUK

Lots of decorations and the occasional market and bandstand.

Would I ever go anywhere for more than a day and not book a food tour? booked for Monday, the only risk is that the morning trip out of the city is late getting back.

hugolover

I noticed the same thing regarding empty hotels in GYD. The same applied to the Hilton’s in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

I imagine the various His Supreme Excellency’s and their business partners open these hotels to show off to each other and in anticipation of the demand that’s still yet to materialise.

JapesUK

In the end I decided that a good walk was called for and, as the sun was shining I set out for mini-venice, the carpet museum, and the mall.

The mall was really interesting, especially the supermarket, and having looked up the minimum and average salaries in Azerbaijan I doubt that anyone on even the average salary would be shopping here! It is fair to say that here in Baku, in every public space I have visited so far, the desired temperature is “as close to the surface of the sun as possible”. This results in a sadistic cycle of melt and freeze reminiscent of the Scandinavian sauna to ice pool torture.



Festive market, food vendors and carnival stalls


Mini-Venice

The mall

The flame towers really dominate the skyline from here

Slide inside the mall

Looking down to the fountain in the mall

Which is not a fountain at all but this massive tank of water

Carpet museum

Festive decorations

Pedestrian underpass including travelators!

JapesUK

The walk took up most of what was left of the afternoon and the sun was getting low and the temperature rapidly falling by the time I returned to the hotel nearly 2 hours later. The restaurant I planned for this evening is closed for a wedding function, which I know because it is one of the two I visited this morning on the old town tour. Rather than try to pick out an alternative I’ve decided to partake in the club lounge happy hour for a time and then head down to the hotel restaurant. Pretty certain the service will be good, given the number of guests

The lounge has the same table of nuts and fruits as earlier along with a few sandwiches and a small table menu.




Before choosing some snacks it is time to bring the caffeine level up a bit, and try one of the local wines.

JapesUK

I decided to order the Nachos which have just arrived.




If these look rather un-tortilla like its because this is actually a bowl of salted crisps with a cheese sauce

Odd, and oddly, it works rather well

JapesUK

Not really feeling hungry at this point I’ve decided to give a proper evening meal a pass for today and instead harvested a few cold cuts and baklava to keep the munchies at bay.



The cloud is even lower tonight, almost completely obscuring the flame towers. Here’s hoping for better luck tomorrow on the night tour!



Tomorrow is hotel switch day and so the plan of the day is incredibly lazy as follows:

Long leisurely breakfast and far too much of that delicious curry
Lurk in the lounge for plentiful amounts of coffee
checkout before noon and the very short walk to the Radisson where, hopefully, I can get an early check in
Over to the Heydar Aliyev centre and environs for the afternoon, around an hours walk each way
Back to the hotel for a quick refresh
And finally the night tour

hugolover

The lounge food is those snacks and sandwiches? No buffet at all?

JapesUK

Exactly that, very disappointing compared to other Intercontinental and Radisson club lounges

hugolover

Weird. nicolas75 is at pains to explain how terrible Hilton is vs IC, but Hilton Baku does a full evening buffet with several hot options. It's basically a buffet dinner. Perhaps they just don't have the occupancy to justify the cost.

JapesUK

I’m honestly not sure, the pantry is not that large and the club data sheet didn't suggest much more. I took a picture but don't think I posted it earlier, this is it, although obviously there could be multiple to suit the occasion/occupancy rate.

VorelNaCestach

Can you actually use these to slide down?