Eurasia – Travel & Lifestyle

Hiya beautiful people!

I must say this trip was the most spontaneous trip I have ever done. I just wanted to go somewhere and thought to myself, why not Azerbaijan? My friends have come there already and all of their comments are like, it’s incredibly amazing there and peaceful and the weather is great plus Azeris are evidently the sweetest people! Booked my flight and hotel and there I was; 26th of June, 2019 1335H at Heydar Aliyev International Airport with my carry on bag, literally do not have any idea or any sort of plan including how to even get to my hotel. I was just down for an adventure and ready to get lost or humiliate myself in front of strangers. Haha. Nevertheless, thanks internet for making my life easy sometimes.

So, I started asking around and talked to people. Which is always the case if you’re alone and you have no idea what you’re doing. Well, I am honestly very pleased that I did that because you never know what will come out of it. You’ll make friends and basically network.

I wasted no time. Arrived at the hotel, checked in, took a 20 mins nap and started exploring the city. Met other tourists from the place I was staying in and went out together. Took pictures with each other and ate dinner later that day. Two things I’ve noticed on the very first day; police officers are everywhere and locals going the extra mile to help you. I think it’s amazing because I’ve gone into places that if you don’t speak their language they will not try to understand you or at least try to explain themselves for you to understand them. Anyways, we climbed up the stairs that are spread across the park that will take us to the Flame Towers. It was a tough climb and we were sweating as the temperature was 26 degrees, but worth doing because it offers great views of the bay area.

The next day, we went for a day tour outside the city. We paid 50 AZN (Azerbaijan Manat) in dirhams is 100 for 5 locations namely:

Mud Volcano

Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape

Yanar Dag (burning mountain)

Ateshgah Fire Temple

Heydar Aliyev Center

The experience, as well as the knowledge that the tour guides imparted, fed my curios heart about art, history and culture. Having to live almost digitally as the new norm in this era, knowing how ancient people and civilization worked is so interesting. Azerbaijan is also known as The Land of Fire. Literally, an ever-burning fire supplied by endless underground gas that reaches the surface and ignites.

The following day was pretty chill. Woke up early and headed to get breakfast then started to stroll around the city. Went to Baku promenade by the Caspian Sea and walked for hours enjoying the scenic view and eye-catching architecture. I love the parks hidden in the green bushes where you can sit without the sunlight blinding you. Later that day, a local friend was kind enough to offer a night city tour and totally enjoyed the festive vibe of the well-lit streets and parks. And the Flame Towers can’t be left unmentioned as it was the most magnificent architecture I ever did see. It looks literally like flames when lit during the night. Thank you, Ziyad!