Diverse Baku

Baku is historical, Baku is fascinating, Baku is chaotic, Baku is delicious, Baku is developing fast, Baku is full of interesting people, Baku is vivid, Baku never sleeps, Baku is hilly, Baku is the "City of Winds", Baku is full of palaces (key word oil boom) - in short, Baku is an impressive metropolis.
We stayed four nights at Nariman's place who is living with his cousin Nabi. From the balconies of his flat in the 19th floor we had great views over the city. During our stay we got to know more family members including four nephews and were kidding around with them while Nariman's mum and aunt prepared traditional food like Dolma, Kutab and Plow.
One day, of course, we met our friend Tural again who is currently jumping from one radio or TV interview to another after more than 2 years on the road. Our day was really amazing, thanks again for everything Tural! Even for him strolling around the old town and the city center was quite interesting as some places had changed. We climbed the Maiden Tower, which had actually been the city's main landmark before the famous flame towers were built.
As you can't pass a town in Azerbaijan without a park or monument which is dedicated to Heydar Aliev, you can not only find parks in Baku, but also the Heydar Aliev Center with its remarkable architecture. We saw different exhibitions varying from Azerbaijan history and culture over puppets to Chinese contemporary art - and a lot about "him" (which you can easily skip without remors if you don't want to spend a whole day). We also met some of Tural's friends, had a tea with Dimar and his son Murat and a great feast with former colleagues. This evening we should also learn that an Azerbaijani never drinks alcohol without a toast on something so that everybody took time to propose a toast. And never forget that the last toast of a night is always dedicated to the parents!
To get rid of the hangover, the men joined early next morning to have some Khash: Heavy soup with cow feet, along with cow tongue and stomach as sides. Sounds disgusting, but helped.
Entering the metro which is built so deep that it also serves as a bunker (and photographs are forbidden), reminded us of video scenes from the metro in Tokyo, solely there are no "pushers" (yet). There was no chance to enter, so we went up again, but going down there had been absolutely worth it just because of the beautiful mosaics in compliment to the famous poet Nisami. People in this region love poetry!Read more