Azerbaijan. Baku

After leaving Dagestan, we entered Azerbaijan. It is evening and it is quite cold. Drivers and passengers are going to customs control separately. As cars require longer time to pass the control, it is better to wait for the car in one of multiple cafes located on the Azerbaijan side, because it is quite cold to stay outside. Our passengers crossed the border in 10-15 minutes, but it took about 2 hours for cars to do it. As we found out after crossing, families can stay together without splitting in two different queues (so we did on our way back).

Russia is behind us… Hello, Azerbaijan! Something new, something unexplored… We reached Baku easily by newly built highway with 120 km/h speed limit. The first place we visited in Baku was the sea front boulevard located along the Caspian Sea shore.

It is a lovely place to have a walk for locals and visitors of the city. Sometimes it feels like the whole city comes here for scenic views of the sea and “flame tongues” or little walk near Old City and Maiden Tower.

There are a lot of shops, cafes and restaurants here. There is Crystal Hall and national flag at the end of boulevard, lots of sculptures, flowers and fountains – the best place to spend some time in the evening.

Candy hounds must visit one of numerous shops with dried fruits and nuts! We bought about 7 kilograms of sweets 🙂

Historical center of Baku is very different. There are ancient buildings built in Persian times, houses built during Soviet Union era and modern skyscrapers. Old city is a labyrinth of alleys, mosques, historical buildings and fortifications, including Shirvanshah Palace and Maiden Tower, the part of UNESCO World Heritage. It is not only the historical place, but also the center of arts and culture.

Modern skyscrapers are growing among historical parts of city. Locals told us that Baku will look better then Dubai soon!

Sometimes streets of Baku are too narrow and steep. Average temperature in winter is +5, but sometimes roads become icy and snowy… It should probably be quite dangerous here during that time!

This street seems to be too narrow to walk with bags after shopping 🙂

Here you can find London cabs,

waste sorting

and houses for birds 🙂

As we mentioned above, “later autumn” of Azerbaijan…

…can turn into “Winter’s Tale”!

Flights to Baku:

Hotel prices in Baku: