Baku, Azerbaijan

April 14-18

Crossing the Caspian felt like going through a time machine. Where Uzbekistan was all ancient history and Soviet “modernism”, Baku was a fast forward to present day. Well oiled public transit, high rise apartments, malls, and fancy sweeping glass architecture, all funded by, well, oil. We saw numerous offshore rigs on the flight over, the source of the recent Azeri wealth and the less glamorous black rainbow sheen on the water lapping the seafront promenade.

We got an Airbnb apartment on the 21st floor of a new building. Our bird’s eye view of downtown showed the seafront, the flame towers, and at least 8 cranes at high rise construction sites. We could also see a few low lying haphazard blocks that looked as if they might be next on the chopping block of the process of gentrification.

We spent much of our four days relaxing, cooking our own food for the first time in months (veggies! real scrambled eggs!) and admiring the views. I got some kind of norovirus that put me down for 24 hours, but luckily it cleared up quickly. I googled my symptoms: low temp (96.1, weird), vomiting, and headache. Google says, meningitis! Don’t google your symptoms. 

We spent one day shopping at a mall for local apparel (sneakers and skinny jeans, finally!) and another day rambling around old town. The old town was interesting but we couldn’t bring ourselves pay $10 per person per small museum (both the Maiden Tower and the palace had separate entrance fees), especially after we had just spent ten days on the silk road touring similar attractions. We contented ourselves with admiring the outside and looking in antique shops along the way. As we headed towards the promenade we also noticed preparations under way for the F1 race coming up in a week. There was stout metal fencing along the raceway, stands set up for the crowds, and a professional spray paint mural in progress.

Everything felt pretty westernized. Azeri and Russian languages were common, English much less so, except in the tourist and shopping areas. Next stop: Sheki.