From Fire Mountains to Flame Towers: Baku’s Last Impressions (Day 5, 6 & 7)

As we wrap up the last leg of Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (Retd.) ‘s travelogue, let’s see what days 5, 6 and 7 hold in store for our readers. A resident of Kolkata, Biswajit Dasgupta takes us on a 7-day trip through his rich, unpretentious and honest travelogue. With a bittersweet flavour, this three-part travelogue series will give you a fair idea of whether you should make a trip to Azerbaijan. If you do, you will be mentally prepared.

Part 1: A Week by the Caspian: Baku’s Buzz and Gabala’s Serenity (Day 1 & 2)

Part 2: From Baku’s Buzz to Gabala’s Yawn: A Tale of Two Moods (Day 3 & 4)

Azerbaijan (Baku-Gabala) Day 5

Today was the ‘journey day’ for the road trip back from Qebele to Baku. I tried to detect if I had missed anything on the way up. Just a few windmills and solar farms closer to Baku, but the rest of it is just Day 3 in reverse order.

Since there is nothing to report about the places visited today, I would like to jot down a few random observations on the country, its people, popular food, pocket-friendliness, and a few travel tips for those who may contemplate a visit sometime in the future.

Language and people

The people are fine, but there is an external chill in their behaviour. The ‘warmth’ content is not of the Asian kind, if you know what I mean. You have to make an effort to locate a smiling face. Not that there aren’t any, but they are exceptions. The younger lot seems friendlier. English is not a strong language skill here. Those who speak a broken version have serious gaps in ‘understanding’ the language, so any slightly nuanced conversation cannot be held in the Queen’s (oops!, King’s) language. A translator app can be a handy aid.

Cost of food

In all my travels, I have preferred street food because it gives you a sense of what most people commonly eat. Secondly, fine dining and specific cuisines are ridiculously expensive in most countries. (One caveat – all my comparisons are in PPP terms in India when converted to rupees). We happened to study an Indian menu at a modest restaurant, and the cost of a dish of ‘dal’ was the equivalent of Rs 1800. With this money, two people can enjoy a wholesome meal at a respectable restaurant in Kolkata, accompanied by a beer. 

Shawarma, plov and dolma appear to be favourite staples here, and we managed to sample these. The food is a bit bland for Indian palates, even for spice-averse Indians such as us. The locals also drink copious amounts of Azerbaijani tea with a huge round of baked bread called ‘chorai’, which is dipped into the tea in a typical Indian chai-biskoot style. They also seem to have a penchant for eating raw sliced cucumber and tomatoes, again with or without bread. It was quite interesting to see a family drink tea, ayran (salted buttermilk), and Coca-Cola all at the same time, alongside bread, sliced tomato, and cucumber. Did not have the stomach to try that combo, though.

Goods and services cost (especially hotels)

Most goods and services are at least four times the cost of their equivalent in Kolkata. In some cases, many times more, if the dal price above is any indication. A 10-hour car hire charge for an economy-range vehicle with a driver is a minimum of USD 100 – a similar service costs approximately USD 25 (Rs 2000) in Kolkata. Hotels that claim to be 4-star do not always have all the facilities they are supposed to provide to guests, so choose hotels after careful scrutiny. While the idea is not to count pennies on a tour, one must be aware that expenses can mount in these areas.

Mode of payment

Payments are primarily made in cash or by credit card. UPI hasn’t made its entry here. The digitisation of payments in urban India has no equivalent anywhere in the world; a proud achievement indeed. It is advisable to carry an international credit card and some convertible currency to meet small expenses. Money is quite easily exchanged with the usual commissions.

Electricity supply

The domestic electric supply is 230V and Indian electronic gadgets work fine. Older Soviet-era hotels have recessed plug points for which an adaptor is a ‘must carry’. Newer hotels have modern electric sockets that obviate the need for special adaptors. Wifi connectivity, both at Baku and Gabala, was good at the hotels where we were accommodated. An international roaming pack on your home connection will obviate the need to buy a local SIM card.

They say, ‘knowledge shared is knowledge multiplied’. I hope this helps a few prospective travellers. 

Will return to more interesting stuff tomorrow.

Azerbaijan (Baku-Gabala) Day 6

There was more to see in Baku, and we decided to revisit the Old City for another general walk-around, specifically to visit the Shirvanshah Palace, which was the residence of the ruling Shirvan dynasty from the 15th to 16th centuries. 

The palace, built of a special limestone, has 52 rooms in two storeys. The ground floor of the palace has been converted into a museum featuring carpets, musical instruments, ceremonial clothing worn by men, knives, daggers, and utensils. The second floor, which houses the royal family’s living quarters, is not open to tourists. 

The courtyard that houses the tombs of one of the Shahs and his family is an ancient mosque that also doubled as a school, teaching the scriptures, and a huge ‘hamam’ or bath. There is also a room dedicated to women’s typical headwear, jewellery and other accoutrements. The entrance of the palace has a wall with bullet marks caused by Armenian forces when they attacked the palace during the Armenia-Azerbaijan War. Entry tickets for the palace (as for most tourist sites in Baku) cost approximately 15 AZN (around Rs 750) per person for foreign tourists.

Highland Park was next on the programme. Nothing ‘parky’ about it really. It is a huge, hard-standing structure created on two levels on one of the elevated spots in Baku City, from where you can get a commanding view of the Caspian Sea, the entire city of Baku, and its iconic structures. This is a public place and there is no entry fee.

There is also a War Memorial on the second level where an eternal flame burns and has a gallery of war heroes and their tombstones. From where the car or bus drops you off, be prepared to walk up 185 steps to the first level and another couple of flights for the second. Definitely not for the weak-kneed or super-heavyweights who will find the climb tedious. There are benches after each flight of steps, though, if that is any consolation.

And yes, a ‘friendly’ photographer trying to make some business offered to take our picture and sell us a hard copy, was disappointed at our visible lack of interest. He asked me my name, and when I told him it was Amitabh Bachchan, he introduced himself as Shah Rukh Khan. Wonder how the fellow manages to survive these days of citizen photographers.

We decided to stop at Fountain Square next for a look-see and a bite, as it was well past lunchtime. It turned out to be a pretty lively place, with a large open area featuring fountains (which were not in operation at that time), numerous well-placed benches, several cafes, restaurants, bars, and other shops, as well as kiosks displaying works by local painters and money exchanges. A great place to spend a few hours and soak in the local flavour. We experienced the typically Azerbaijan way of having tea with small pieces of a mildly sweet bread-like confectionery dipped in ‘cherry murabba’. The tea is typically drunk without milk or sugar. Now, how does that sound? 

The evening found us at the Flame Towers. These three flame-shaped buildings, featuring complete glass facades, have a light show projected on their external surfaces that is quite nicely done. This show starts at 8 p.m. and is best seen from a distance. There is also another military memorial, a mosque and a metro station in the vicinity that make a pretty picture when lit up in the late evening. 

That wraps up our penultimate day. A couple of more places to experience tomorrow before we start our journey back home. Till then…säg olun. (“Thank you” or “Be well“)

Azerbaijan (Baku – Gabala) Day 7

Today was our last day in Azerbaijan. We were scheduled to check out of the hotel at noon, and our flight back to India was scheduled for past midnight. We had about 10 hours to do as we wished before our departure. So we commissioned MFS for an additional day to tick off the remaining places of interest that weren’t on our planned itinerary.

Azerbaijan’s hidden gems

We headed out at noon to one of the most unique sights of Azerbaijan. I wonder why our tour managers left this out of the programme since time was never a constraint. This was the Yanar Dag or Fire Mountain. En route, we saw some terrestrial oil fields, which were really interesting – more about that in a bit. 

Yanar Dag or Fire Mountain

Yanar Dag lies in the area of Suraxani (pronounced Surakhani) on the outskirts of Baku. This is an oil country with oil fields, both small and large, dotting the countryside. Yanar Dag is a small hillock in this area, at the base of which burns a fire caused by the ignition of natural gas escaping from the earth. This fire has been burning for as long as people can remember and is something quite out of the ordinary for Indian tourists. Oil and gas deposits are found here quite close to the surface. An excellent place for some keepsake photographs.

Zoroastrian fire temple

Not far from Yanar Dag and within the Suraxani area is Ateshgah, a small locality that houses an old Zoroastrian fire temple. A well-preserved structure, it comprises a central altar in which burns the eternal flame, a corridor surrounding the altar with several rooms, and other structures in the courtyard that once served as ritual sites, storage, and the like.

The rooms now contain artefacts that showcase the history of the temple, as well as a few Hindu religious idols, such as Nataraj and Ganesh. There is a cafe and some souvenir shops in the near vicinity. Both Yanar Dag and the Fire Temple can be seen with a combined ticket costing 15 AZN per adult. 

Rich in oil fields

On the way back from Baku, we stopped to take a few photographs of an oil field. These oil fields use relatively simple electromechanical rigs to extract oil from the ground. The oil deposits are so shallow that one begins to understand the phrase ‘sitting on oil’. Not surprisingly, the retail prices of petrol and diesel are half of what they are in India in rupee terms, which is dirt cheap for the locals.

Heydar Aliyev Centre

We decided to revisit the Heydar Aliyev Centre, as we felt our earlier visit was somewhat rushed. It turned out that we had missed an entire section of the museum dedicated to the first President of independent Azerbaijan, Mr Haydar Aliyev.

This section is very creatively done, and it also showcases the gifts received by the former President from visiting heads of state and other notable dignitaries—a ‘toshakhana’ of sorts. The museum has made brilliant use of motion sensors – pictures come on and musical instrument sounds play when a tourist stands in front of an exhibit – a simple, yet brilliant idea.

Bidding aidue to Baku

We paid one final visit to the Boulevard to experience the surroundings and skyline by night, spent a couple of hours at the Deniz Mall and made a beeline for the airport for our return home. Baku by night was lovely, as all the iconic structures and high-rise buildings were beautifully lit, making the drive a pleasant conclusion to a week-long holiday.

Travel, they say, is the only thing you buy and get richer. It has indeed been a learning experience.

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