Introducing Baku

Azerbaijan 2022 part 1

Visiting Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is known as ‘’the land of fire’’. It has enormous supplies of oil and gas, some of it so close to the surface that flames rise from the ground. The money from fossil fuels has made many futuristic projects possible in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. This might read like an introduction to a Gulf State, but this isn’t the Middle East. The country is in the Caucasus Mountains, at the Caspian Sea, bordering Russia, Iran, Armenia and Georgia. The Azeri language is close to Turkish. Once part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian is still widely used as a second language. The majority of Azeris follows a secular stream of Islam. Wine is made here, and alcohol is available. There are many historical sights: ancient mosques, palaces, caravanserais and Zoroastrian fire temples

Baku is undoubtedly the centre of Azerbaijan. With a population of over 2 million people, it’s the largest city of both the country and the entire Caucasus Region. Since the pandemic, and still the case in 2024, entering Azerbaijan isn’t possible by land (more on this in part 2). Therefore a visit to Azerbaijan will likely start with a flight to Baku. Nicole and I went to Baku twice: in August 2017 and in December 2022. Here’s what visiting Baku is like.

Old and modern Baku

Baku offers a mix of modern and historical architecture. ‘’Icheri Sheher’’ is the old centre of Baku and the major draw for tourists. Its defence walls date back to the 12th century. The main sights here are the palace of the Shirvanshahs, built for the ruling dynasty during the late Middle Ages, and the 29 meters tall 12th-century ’Maiden’s Tower’’. People still live in Icheri Sheher, and therefore it doesn’t feel like just a landmark. It is nice to wander around this maze of narrow streets, past old houses with wooden balconies.

A short walk away is a pedestrianized boulevard along the Caspian Sea. In summer it was busy with people enjoying the sea, though you can’t swim here. In winter there was a Christmas-market at the boulevard. At the end of the promenade is the carpet museum, a modern building shaped as a rolled up carpet. The museum is not just a display of carpets: it tells a lot about Azeri cultural heritage as well. Behind the museum is a funicular going to the foot of three flame-shaped skyscrapers named ‘’the Flame Towers’’, where there’s a park with great views of the bay. Together with the Heydar Aliyev Centre outside of the centre, the Flame Towers are the modern icons of Baku.

Of course Baku is a great place to try Azeri food, a cuisine with Turkish, Iranian and Eastern European influences. Many restaurants can be found near Fountains Square and the Double Gates (we liked ‘’Dolma’’ at Istiglaliyat Street for Azeri food). Try local wine at a wine bar as well (‘’Kefli’’ at Tarlan Aliyarbeyov Street was good).

Land of fire

When Marco Polo travelled though the Caucasus over 750 years ago, he mentioned fire coming out of the ground. This can still be seen today in the outskirts of Baku at Yanar Dağ, or ‘’Fire Mountain’’, where natural gas flames come out of the rocks. Due to the abundance of fire, and being on the Silk Road, followers of the Zoroastrian religion settled here millennia ago. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion where fire is a key element, as it is seen as God’s light. Outside of Baku is the 17th century Surakhani fire temple, which is now a museum about both the complex and Zoroastrianism. It takes less than half a day to see both Yanar Dağ and the Surakhani fire temple by taxi or tour from Baku’s city centre.

Gobustan

It's not just fire coming from the ground. The combination of gasses and fluids give rise to ‘’mud volcanoes’’: mounds of mud, usually cone shaped, ranging from 20 to 400 meters in height. Mud volcanoes can be found around the world, but most of them are in Azerbaijan. Gobustan, a 60 kilometre drive from Baku, is a great place to see them. Here are a cluster of small mud volcanoes. The combination of bubbling mud cones and the desert landscape looks like a scene on another planet. But Gobustan hasn’t always been this barren. There are 6.000 stone carvings, some of them up to 40.000 years old, depicting animals, plants and people. In the Gobustan Petroglyph Reserve are a couple of trails along the carvings. An excellent museum explains the history of them. A trip from Baku to both the mud volcanoes and stone carvings can be done by joining a tour or, like we did, hiring a taxi for half a day.

Traveling onwards

With a beautiful old town, interesting new architecture, and plenty to see nearby, it’s worth spending at least two full days in Baku. From here you can explore the rest of the country, or travel onwards to Georgia. In part 2 I share our journey from Baku to Georgia via Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second city.

Practical info on traveling here

Entering Azerbaijan

Many nationalities need a visa to entre. E-visa’s for Azerbaijan can be obtained through https://evisa.gov.az/en/. The website has a list of nationalities eligible for the e-visa. As of June 2024 it is still only possible to enter Azerbaijan by flying into Baku.

Getting into Baku

The old town is walkable. For taxis we used Bolt. The metro is a convenient way travel between the old town and the central railway station.

Visiting Yanar Dağ, Surakhani fire temple and Gobustan

Getting a taxi from Baku centre to the Surakhani fire temple costed us 12 manat one way. We paid the taxi driver another 35 manat (including waiting time) to take us onwards to Yanar Dağ, and then drive back to the centre. I saw tour operators in the old town of Baku, though we booked our trip to Gobustan through our hotel.

Getting a sim card

We got a sim card at one of the Azercell shops. A sim with 6 gigabytes cost 35 manat in 2022.

Bus and train travel

From Baku, you can travel onwards by minibus (‘’marshrutka’’) or train. Timetables for buses out of Baku can be found on https://avtovagzal.az /. The schedule for trains can be found on https://biletim.az/. We booked our train ticket from Baku to Ganja at the central railway station.

CaucasusArjan MookDecember 30, 2022