Baku, the City of Wind - Azerbaijan, the Land of Fire

Italy - Azerbaijan

Here we go. Two of us, the perfect number. Fontanarossa airport at 9:10 AM. Stopover in Istanbul, we land at 12:30 with departure at 5:15 PM for Baku. We land late in Azerbaijan around 10:00 PM local time (2 hours' time difference from Italy); quick operations at the airport for passport control and visa; currency exchange office in the baggage claim area (1 euro = 1.80 manat). In the hall, waiting for us, is the driver sent by the hotel (27 manat for the ride). The Seven Boutique Hotel is an apartment with a few rooms inside an imposing building 50 meters from Fountain Square; the common spaces are very limited, the breakfast room can't comfortably hold 10 people at once; spartan room; a few notes to make about the cleanliness of the towels.

The first evening we don't have dinner, nor do we go out to visit the city, we prefer to test the shower, the air conditioning and the mattresses...

Baku Old City

The time difference is barely 2 hours, but we'll feel it all week. We get up very early, wait until 8 before having breakfast; we're disappointed by the quantity and quality of the offerings, but we prefer not to go looking for bars/cafés; we waste time in the room putting our clothes in the wardrobes, then we venture out into Baku, entering the Old City first, and aiming for the Flame Towers afterwards. We rely on the indispensable Lonely Planet guide, and on the directions of other travelers who have left their travel diaries on the internet (which I keep collected in an app on my smartphone).

Around 10 we cross the famous Fountain Square; the Double Gate is still under restoration, so we enter the old city from the upper entrance, which allows us to take a few photos of the imposing walls without framing the works in progress, then we move onto the main street leading toward the Maiden Tower. Along the way, numerous guides will try to stop us to offer their tours, some more insistent, others less invasive. The walk is pleasant anyway, among bizarre statues of cats peeking from the windows, billboards with images of daily life covering the works of the numerous construction sites, small bazaars, gardens and little oases to relax in, venues decorated with tapestries and carpets… The Maiden Tower presents itself as the first real approach to Azeri history, as well as an excellent viewpoint of the old city of Baku, a UNESCO Heritage site.

A single ticket costs about 8 euros, and allows access only to the interior of the tower, without a guide, up to its "terrace." The alternative would be the combined ticket with the Palace of the Shirvanshahs with a guide, but that wouldn't allow us to be free enough to wander around the city and get lost in its alleys… Only I go up, along with my mirrorless camera; for me it will be tiring to climb the 29m of stairs, for the camera it will be demanding to take over 100 shots in a few minutes…. Interesting inside the Maiden Tower is the use of videos that literally project me into ancient Baku; the same techniques are used in other museums we'll visit.

The Flame Towers represent the flames, symbol of the country; because Azerbaijan is the land of winds and flames… and their story we'll discover in our tour of the Absheron peninsula in the following days; the techniques used for the construction of the towers we'll study on youtube in the evening; in person we understand what additional difficulty (in terms of height… ed. note) was posed by the winds that here reach remarkable speeds and force. We waste quite a bit of time taking the funicular that will take us up to the towers, due to the low frequency of the rides. Rather than reveling in the view of the Flame Towers, we enter one of them in search of the famous Fairmont Spa; for access to the pools, both indoor and outdoor, access is immediate, upon hefty payment; for access to the wellness area, a reservation is required and the prices are Western-level.

We prefer to continue visiting the city and reflect on a possible reservation for the last day of vacation. To go back down into the city we'll be lucky enough to catch the funicular attendants' 1-hour lunch break. We have a gelato and decide to focus on the tour of the Old City, diving into its little alleys, until we reach the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. The site is remarkable for historical and architectural interest, and for an incredible view of part of the old city with the Flame Towers in the background. At 5 PM we have lunch in a garden in the Old City, admiring the cooking of the food in the tandoor oven.

Before returning to the hotel, we ourselves stop one of the guys offering to act as a guide, and ask him to point us to the office of Azerbaijan International Travel; the small office near the Maiden Tower is well staffed, and we're told that only after 6 PM do they start planning the next day (since the guys scattered around the city report the "sales" of the various tourist packages). Back at the hotel we'll receive a message from the tour operator; meeting point in front of the Double Gate at 8:45 the next day for the start of the Qobustan and Absheron tour. At the hotel we watch documentaries on the internet about the construction of the Flame Towers and the Heydar Aliyev Museum, and the innovative techniques used to astonish the world, and to fight the fury of the impetuous winds (which here reach over 200km/h).

Qobustan and Absheron Peninsula

Breakfast at the hotel. Then we set off toward the Double Gate to meet the tour operator Azerbaijan International Travel. At 9 we leave. A 12-seat minibus, 1 driver and 2 guides (one for Russian tourists, one in English); our guide has Iranian origins and will have us study the history of the whole region up to the present day; we'll talk about Azerbaijan's problems in managing to make itself known and appreciated by the international community, and to enter not only the commercial but also the tourist routes of the entire Eurasian region. The tour operator will prove very serious, everything will be exactly as illustrated on the Viator website; no one will ask us a cent more for the services provided; impeccable guide, attentive, helpful and prepared.

Non-trivial organization, we start in the morning with the transfer toward Qobustan, beginning with the visit of the ancient mud volcanoes, continuing with the Museum and the homonymous petroglyph Park. Qobustan is a UNESCO Heritage site, reachable by bus in about 1 hour from Baku; the mud volcano site is reached aboard cars that more easily tackle the dirt road (in our case they'll be old Soviet-style cars, and the 20 minutes to reach the destination in the middle of the desert will be spent feeling like 007 agents chasing other reckless Azeri adventurers lost in the absolute middle of nowhere); in itself the visit isn't much, we just take a few videos of the little volcanoes spitting cold mud at regular intervals; we're offered to smear this mud on our faces, because it's said to have healing properties…. we decline and move on.

Actually, we go back toward our bus to continue visiting the area; the museum, though small and in the middle of nowhere, turns out to be interesting, and the visit to the nearby petroglyphs is also full of charm, also thanks to the explanations of our guide who manages to make us understand how essential forms of communication, graffiti, blood, helped our ancestors defend themselves from animal attacks and feed themselves. The road that takes us back to Baku for lunch is full of old oil extraction wells, mostly abandoned since operations have now moved to the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan emerged from Soviet influence 25 years ago and soon rediscovered the economic importance of exploiting its subsoil; extraction licenses were then granted to some major companies, especially European ones; this will help the nation become autonomous and begin to build its future.

Over the last decade Azerbaijan has begun to show itself to the world, sells oil and gas (the latter also to Italy), has imposing building renovation projects (they speak of over 3000 homes a year in Baku alone with investments of billions of euros), just think of the structures built and under construction on the boulevard, or the imposing Flame Towers; the country has also decided to publicize itself with the events we've already described above. The country is geographically part of Asia, but for social and historical reasons, and surely in recent years by political choice, it considers itself a European nation. We have lunch outdoors, in a garden in the center of Baku. In the afternoon we move toward Ateshgah, the fire temple, dear to Zoroastrians. Next, Yanardag, where flames fed by gas burn on the side of a hill.

The phenomena are testimony to the country's gas deposits, although in reality the flame of Ateshgah is today "controlled," despite the legends that hold it to be eternal. Our guide doesn't skimp on telling us about the history of Azerbaijan and the entire Caucasus, and narrating anecdotes and legends, on the road that takes us back to Baku. While planning the trip, from home, I had considered devoting a day to Nagorno-Karabakh; I had learned of the difficulties in reaching the area due to problems with Armenia, but I would never have imagined a conflict as bloody as the one our guide tells us about. At 6 PM we're in front of the Maiden Tower, and we walk through the little alleys of the Old City that lead us to the Double Gate, to Fountain Square, and to our hotel.

We go out a couple of hours later to dine at the excellent Sehrli Tandir, then move on for a walk along the boulevard, and conclude by mingling with the crowd in Fountain Square.

Heidar Aliyev Center

Passing every day in front of the Double Gate and not taking a couple of photos of the curves most beloved by Formula 1 fans? Impossible! Too bad no one thought to put a nice F1 simulator nearby… The restoration work on the gate is finished, and we're among the first tourists to enjoy the result. Our goal today is first and foremost the visit to the Heidar Aliyev Center; it's the only attraction in the city difficult to reach on foot, so we study how to get there by metro.

We get off at the station just outside the walls of the Old City, and head toward the machines where you get, for a fee, a service card, and then top it up to use the rides; no sooner do we realize we've chosen the wrong option for getting the card than a young man offers to help us, inserts his card, and tops up his card in full for the price of our rides and everything included, kindly lets us through the turnstiles and walks away smiling… as if to say… he paid for a couple of metro rides with our money…. We're stunned, especially since it's not even a euro at the exchange rate!! The metro stations of Baku are notable for their architecture, which closely resembles that of Moscow and St. Petersburg. A few stops and we get off at the station closest to the Heidar Aliyev Center.

The structure is the work of Zaha Hadid, its shapes are deliberately rounded, there's no reinforced concrete skeleton, the materials used are the result of careful studies on their resistance to atmospheric agents, and on their curvilinear character; both the exterior and the interiors are remarkable, with interesting exhibitions, some permanent, others temporary. The auditorium, built inside the center, absolutely soundproofed, is not accessible to the public. After a thorough photo reportage, we head toward the metro and plan the itinerary to reach the Sirvansah Museum for lunch; in Baku you eat well just about anywhere, but this museum-restaurant is a stop not to be missed.

The walk toward the hotel is long and encourages reflections on the rest of the afternoon; we decide to rest and to go out at sunset to go to the Hilton and go up to the rotating platform on the 25th floor, the Hilton 360, and sip an aperitif with a skyline view. Actually, the best photos we'll take from the terrace on the lower floor; we don't ask for a table at the restaurant, but they let us through anyway to enjoy the best view of Baku. The walk back to the hotel will make us happen upon Nutellaland… and who are we to refuse such an encounter and flee from the sins of gluttony??? We'll leave the nutella place only after carefully licking the plates we ordered...

Boulevard

We plan the last visit of the city. We start after breakfast with a good coffee at "coffe moffee," where we'll return in the evening to close out our Baku experience. We really wanted to visit the boulevard by day, to see and touch the Caspian Sea. And this last day leaves us with a bitter taste. The other side of the coin… of the impetuous rise of the Azeri economy… we discover it on August 30; breathing the air of the boulevard, leaning out and touching the Caspian Sea, walking alone in an immense park that covers over 11 km of Baku's waterfront. And perhaps the attempt is to leave about 40 meters of distance between the road and the sea, so as not to make it clear, or rather, to try not to make people think about what cursed business proliferates in this sea. Oil, patches everywhere, almost unbreathable air.

Azerbaijan's face has changed quite a bit in recent years; Baku is perfect, its skyline impressive, its rise to the honors of international news in every field imposing… everything perfect… until you stop on the capital's waterfront and instead of breathing clean air with full lungs, you witness a desecration we thought only Westerners were capable of perpetrating on our land. Baku is the emblem of modernity, of wealth, and of contradictions. The visit to the carpet museum will take a back seat compared to the walk along the boulevard. We pass several buildings along the seafront, well beyond the Ferris Wheel, but even walking quite a bit we can't manage to spot a destination of our wandering… the world's tallest "flagpole"…. since the wind recently carried it away…. We have lunch at the Art Restaurant: excellent service, good food, we can't visit the first floor for unspecified reasons.

We spend the afternoon wandering around the city, resting at the hotel, and finally going out in search of last souvenirs. In the evening we dine at the Hard Rock Café, followed by "coffe moffee."

Azerbaijan - Italy

Before 8 the cafés are closed. We reach the airport by taxi (20 manat). Delays at check-in, and at departure, scheduled for 12:55. We're not in a hurry and we entrust ourselves to Turkish Airlines; after a stopover in Istanbul at 3:10 PM, we leave again at 5:20 PM; in the late afternoon we embrace our Sicily again, with all its many contradictions, but without impetuous winds and eternal flames….