Sunday, September 20
I arrived yesterday, and today I’m setting out to explore the city. The best way to do this is on foot, with plenty to see along the way. I walk through Central Park, past the flower garden, the Taza Pir Mosque, and the adjacent hammam. The Flame Towers soon loom into view; moving past them, I descend the steps from Martyrs’ Mosque toward the waterfront promenade. There are more modern buildings, such as the star-shaped Deniz Mall and the Carpet Museum, which resembles a rolled-up carpet. I soon find myself hemmed in by the F1 circuit preparations; the track is already cordoned off by towering fences, and there are only a few spots where you can pass underneath. It’s a hassle, involving a lot of detours. I wander through the Old City, admiring the charming streets and historic buildings. The Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs are well worth a visit.
The next day, I focus on modern Baku. I take a Bolt ride to the Azersu and Socar towers and catch a glimpse of the Sofaz and CBA towers. Then, I head to the Heydar Aliyev Center. It is a magnificent building—vast, white, and curvaceous. Truly beautiful. Unfortunately, it turns out to be closed, but I’ll have another chance tomorrow. The Victory Museum stands along the promenade, followed by a succession of glass towers, including the striking, circular Crescent Hotel.
On Tuesday, we visit the mud volcanoes with a guide. Along the way, we spot massive ones rising hundreds of meters high. At our stop, the largest volcanoes are just a few meters tall, with a boardwalk winding between them. It’s fascinating to watch the mud slowly bubble up, sometimes creating a new trail of mud. One of the volcanoes is black; here, oil rises to the surface along with the gas bubbles. Oil drilling also takes place in this area; apparently, drilling has been going on nearby since the mid-19th century—marking the world’s first oil extraction. Next, off to the Gobustan petroglyphs. The oldest ones date back at least 8,000 years, and some are still clearly visible. Interesting. In the afternoon, I took a walking tour of the Old City and then the metro to the Heydar Aliyev Museum. It is a gigantic building, yet almost empty inside. Truly unique and beautiful.
On Wednesday, we head west and visit the region’s oldest mosque, Juma Masjid in Shamakhi. Apparently, little of the original structure remained—only the dome—as the building has been completely renovated. A pity. We drive further into the mountains, leaving the main road behind. We travel through a gorge with sheer, vertical rock faces and visit Lahic, a charming village featuring cobblestones and stone cottages.
The next day, we stop in Nic to visit an old church—the Church of Saint Elislaeus Chotari—and a Soviet-era model house. It’s an interesting sight. Our final stop in Azerbaijan is the city of Sheki, which boasts a walled fortress; accompanied by a guide, we visit the Shaki Khan Palace. The exterior is nicely decorated, but the interior turns out to be truly lavish. We take a bus to Kic, a mountain village with cobblestone streets and quaint cottages, located not far from Sheki. There, we hike up to the church. Apparently, a temple stood on this site before 500 BC, and a church was built here in the first century—one of the earliest in the region.
