Azerbaijan Journal

Although my wife Eda accompanied me on my recent trips, I performed Azerbaijan trip alone. Despite the fact that it was a business trip, the time left among appointments would give me the chance to meet Baku. According to pre-information I got, a Turkish citizen does not have any difficulty in Azerbaijan with his/ her "sister" character. I left my idea somehow as soon as I arrived there. Because the term "sister" expresses a profitless relationship but our relationship with Azerbaijan only consists of a unity of interest. (http://tr.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Azerbaycan) Before leaving, I had completed all my preparations a few days before and began excitedly  waiting for the date of departure. Although it was a 3 day trip, going to a new place made me excited as usual.

After 7 hour connecting flight with Turkish Airlines in Istanbul, we arrived at Baku Heyder Aliyev Airport. As soon as I got off the aircraft, I knew that this trip would be difficult. The weather was hot and humid. There was an intense smell of petrol in the air and it seemed difficult to get used to it. For the visa process, I submitted 2 pass photos and the form that I filled out and I got my visa against 10 dollars. The incumbent only checked that if you paid 10 dollars or not. As they fill the visa form out by hand, it took half an hour to get my visa. During the preparation of my visa, I witnessed a chat among the passport police and a few of our citizens. Old Turkish citizens complain about the visa application in Azerbaijan and they found  the sister country's visa application odd. The passport police was talking about not letting any Turkish citizen into the country if possible. This chat was ongoing with different claims. After getting off the plain, it was better acting quickly in order to get a front place in the visa queue. Otherwise, like my situation, it was inevitable to witness interesting chat in the queue. (http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku )

After the passport control and taking the baggage,  Mr. Mehman, nephew of our family friend welcomed me warmly. Although I could not understand them easily at first, I got used to it in process of time. Some words were totally different and accents were rough. Along the half- hour way between the airport and the city center, his question " did it fall onto your head (did you understand)?" after every word made me laugh. According to what they said, the Azerbaijanis are bohemian and lazy people who like show off. To him, the biggest problem of the country was bribery and was impossible to avoid. Bribery was a source of income from the top to the bottom levels of state. People pay  30.000 AZN (1 AZN = 1,4 USD) in order to become a traffic policeman and they do their best to get this money as soon as possible. While we were talking these, as we entered into the city, a traffic policeman driving a BMW stopped us. Although my seat belt was fastened, Mehman's seat belt was not fastened and this situation whetted policeman's appetite. You need to get used to this situation in Azerbaijan.

The hotel was in the city center on the Targovy Street. When I arrived at the address that I had, I neither came across with a hotel sign nor an image similar to the hotel. I was shocked, Mehman was confirming the address but no one knew whether there was a hotel or not. Although the payment had been done to the Austin Hotel, this case made me think that I was swindled. I was shocked, with a baggage in my hand and rucksack on my back, I could find no trace of hotel around the building. When I opened the door with  mirror, I ran into a cloth sign in roll- up style. The name of the hotel and an arrow were on it. As I went upstairs, I found an attorney's office on the first floor and the reception on the second floor. The friendly staff welcomed me and took me to my room. The room of this gorgeous hotel ,designed with Russian Architecture  consisting of maximum 20 rooms, was wide and good. Although the room having all kinds of comfort did not deserve the fee, it was not that bad either. I could see Targovy street from the window of my room.

After resting in my room and having a shower, I went out to meet my Turkish colleague Taner. Mehman had waited for me and gave me a lift to the place I was going. The city was full of beautiful architectural monuments. On first sight, it resembled St. Petersburg; though I had never been to, I knew it from the pictures. Except from the smell of the air, city’s wealthy view was enough to tell that Baku had petroleum and natural gas reserves. Newly introduced Mercedes SLS AMG cars were all around the city. The wealth of the city was not only these. Up going skyscrapers, wide and tidy roads, elegant shops were enough to tell the socio-economical situation of Baku.  After my meetings, Menman took me to the restaurant called Mirvari Cafe at Neftchiler Avenue near the beach. I had heard that Azerbaijan was a special place for meat lovers with its animals which were fed on mountains with natural herbs. This restaurant seemed the right place to test this. I was impatient to order different kinds of kebabs and taste them, and I was too hungry, as well. The menu was a disappointment, though. I was expecting a rich menu but all the good ones I could find in it were not more than five kinds of food. With Merman’s advice, we ordered Lule kebab and some appetizers. Meat seemed good but because the entire meat they used was lamb, this food was not for me. Still I was content to try and it was not a loss at all. I was planning to take pictures after going to hotel in the rest of the day. It was getting dark, without any changes in the temperature or moist. As I had learned earlier, wearing shorts was not appreciated in Azerbaijan for men, and I saw no man wearing shorts in streets other than kids. I was not able to wear my most comfortable clothes there. I started my journey with my tripod and backpack, on Targovy Street. Classical Russian architecture buildings seemed enhancing with the lights. The street was one of the most popular and colorful street of Baku, where young people spent most of their time. Almost all of the well known Turkish textile brands had a shop on there. It was very joyful to read the boards of the shops. While Azerbaijani was alike Turkish, spellings some words were not easy to be familiar in a short time. ‘’Sigara içmek yasaktır’’ (Smoking is forbidden) was spelled as‘’sigaret çekmek qadaxandır’’ was only one example. On the times when I had to use my tripod to take some photos in the low lights, I was subjected to laughter of young Azerbaijanis. I thought that was because of the reason that the county used to have a way of living isolated from the rest of the world for many years. All Far East countries and developed countries were full of people taking photos of everything with their cameras and tripods. It seemed as if years were needed for Azerbaijan to adapt to the rest of the world. All the streets were empty after 10 pm, people had gone to their homes. Young people on the streets were either having races on the wide streets with their cars or were listening arabesque music from their cars on the corners of the streets. Even all the supermarkes were closed. Only open places were some pubs and some night clubs. I had no security problems while wandering on the sreets although was quite late.

My comfy bed was cure to my foot and all my exhaustion because of the road. I needed to get ready for my appointmet with minister of petroleum affairs (if that is the correct translation for “Dövlet Neft Şirketi) at 10 o’clock. Ministry was within a few blocks distance and I went there on foot. It was an efficient meetind on my side and lasted for more than half an hour. I wanted to spend my time by taking photos untill my afternoon meetings, so I went to the hotel, changed my clothes and took my camera.  I had three hours of time and planned to visit Qiz Qalasi and Şirvanşahlar Palace which were on the list of World Heritage. (http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaycan%20_tarihi) The area called Inner City, surrounded by city walls was included to the Unesco’s List of World Heritage in 2000. Although it was very crowded and somehow messy, with the ordered boards and number system, it would only take a few hours to take a tour in the Inner City. Because I had little time, I left this historical area for Sirvansahlar Palace. They have told me that ticket for the palace was 2 AZN, and it was not weird at all. But after seeing my camera, the staff wanted another 2 AZN for it. It was the very first time I was experiencing something like this. Actually I doubted about this sanction. Anyways, I took another ticket for my camera and started my tour in the palace. After a short tour, I left for Maiden’s Tower (Qiz Qalasi). After climbing up 10 floors on the narrow and slippery stairs, i had an amazing view of Baku. My most advice for the potential visitors would be to bring water while climbing up to the roof the Maiden’s Tower. I had to go back down for water after taking a few photos in there. After resting for a little while in the park next to the Tower, I went back to the hotel.

After my afternoon meetings I went to Pizza Inn for dinner on Targovy street, of which I have heard before. Most suitable food from the menu was pizza for me and it was the right decision. The pizza was delicious. I paid 19 AZN for pizza and drink. After the diner, I went to the beach road. Port was the coolest, so the best place to have a rest in the city. Bayrak Meydanı (Flag Square) was seen from there with its highest flag of the city, which I suppose was going to be a landmark of the city soon. Underwater drill rigs were lining up. Ships were waiting to load gas and containers. There were many “fontan”s (supposedly from “fountain”) on the beach road. As far as I could observe, spending time around these pools and fountains was one of the most important social activities of these people. There were all kinds of people in the square. After a bit of more walk, I came to the famous Government Square. This glorious architectural beauty was standing in front of me, I only had seen it from the pictures earlier. Unfortunately, my camera’s memory card was out of order then, and my concern was not to be able to get the photos I had taken all day. I had no spare card with me. If ı was not able to save them, all ı would have had from my 3 days trip was going to be these lines I am writing. I retuned to the hotel and started to look for a file saving software in panic. I was not going to rest without saving my photos. Although it took a few hours, I was able to get my photos. I decided to get myself a bottle of wine and spend the night in my room. I got some blisters on my foot due to walking fast in the hot weather.

It was Saturday. I started day rested with my early sleep of the previous night. I was going to continue my Baku tour on my last day, as well. After talking to hotel staff form y check-out and getting the permission, I went to the shops on the beach road.  Some of the high fashion brands were on sale and summer clothes were 50 % off. I got a present form y wife and went to the newly opened Park Bulvar Shopping Center on near the beach (http://www.parkbulvar.az). It was recently opened and many of the shops were not open. The Shopping Center looked quite good outside but the inside was not more than average .After eating some on the fas food flor, ı continued my tour on the beach road.  Baku was consisted pf the beach road and the Inner City.

On my third day, I was bored of the city and waiting form my time to return. I decided to spend the rest of my time at the hotel. My return time had come while I was packing.  My first flight was at 20.00 to Istanbul and the second was at 23.00 from Istanbul to Antalya. Mehman took me to the airport. The most interesting security was circular x-ray for which you even have to take your shoes off and this takes an x-ray view of the body. Return flight was short for me thanks to our friendly chat with a person i met on the plane.

In brief words, Azerbaijan was similar to Turkey, although being more developed in financial terms and less in social.  Russian affects was all over the country. If it had not been a job trip, ı would see my time spent there as a loss actually. Baku is a city to be seen only at one weekend if you are very curious. Considering expensive accommodation, I would recommend you to have a short tour in Croatia which will be a EU country soon and requests no visa now or in Russia.

THANKS !!!

Please beware your time and effort to read my blog is highly appreciated. Hopefully, tips provided for your next trips will save you some time and money in addition to quality of time you will spend. I will be more than happy to share my experiences from my future trips to continue being a small guidance for you to spend a quality of time with your family, friends and partners. Giving a tiny contribution to your great memories will give me enough spirit to do so. If you think my tips were useful and would like to support my case, please donate a small amount from your heart by clicking the “donate button” below within the minutes. Hence, I can improve the content of my website with more trips. I appreciate your support.

Many, many thanks.

Oktay.