Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan

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Not wanting to be outdone by the two adventurous GIRLS* I was classmates with while studying in Europe circa 2005, for my final project I chose to travel to Azerbaijan and write about environmental/oil issues in the Caspian Sea. I was able to justify the project because Europe was (and still is) attempting to get access to the massive reserves of fossil fuel found in this part of the world. It literally seeps out of the ground here, and early peoples could just scoop the stuff out of collection ponds.

These are the Caucasus Mountains because lets face it, when will any of us get to clamor all over them?

caucasus-mountains

Unfortunately, the “really great” shoes I’d bought in Denmark to hike around in turned out to be useless crap, and actually injured my foot enough that by the third day I was limping around. I changed shoes but the damage was done; I couldn’t bomb out to Naptha on the minivan stuffed with 25 people that pose as buses in this country and take an inky -and probably carcinogenic- oil bath, I couldn’t climb up to some of the most sacred Zoroastrian shrines, and I most certainly couldn’t meet up with the Peace Corp volunteer I’d met over the Internets and hang out with him across the border in northern Iran.
Main gov’t building in Baku. Built by the Soviets

baku-govt-building-closeup

Which totally blew, so instead I mostly spent time drinking beer at the hotel with Iranian and Turkish traders that insisted on trying to communicate to me in Farsi, hunting out the best Russian vodka and shwarma, and generally limping towards (and onto) the crazy minivans that zoomed across the roads in search of adventure. But only if it involved minimal walking.

Atagha’s shrine, located in  Shuvalan, just north of Baku

atagha-shine-and-mosque1

One such trip—after taking the wrong minivan twice—took me to Atagha’s shrine. Literally, “flesh-man,”  or “meat-lord”, the place is dedicated to a man that lived in the early 1900s without bones, or apparent lack thereof. He had healing powers and people would travel from miles around to cure ills. Azerbaijan has a curious mix of Islamic and Zoroastrian superstition, it’s quite fascinating if you dig into the nuance. After washing my hands and face and removing my shoes, I went inside this mosque, took up a spot in the corner and tried to look pious. Nobody seemed to care. It was stark inside, but blanketed in woven carpet.

Also went to this Zoroastrian temple. One of my favorite religions because they worship fire

fire-temple-sign1

fire-temple-azerbaijan1

I met up with some English-speaking students who were willing to take me to the market and translate while I talked with caviar dealers. They hadn’t heard about the international ban on Caspian caviar and had plenty on hand. So, over tea, crackers and sublime fish eggs we tried to communicate about the issue but apparently, the black market is so vibrant it doesn’t affect them.

caviar-by-the-jar

Palace doorway

baku-palace-doorway

Note the bullet holes. A succession battle I believe

baku-mosque-bulletholes1

Detail of palace mosque

baku-detail-mosque

Ubiquitous taxis. Cheap. Two dollars anywhere in the city

nice-ride-baku

Typical Old Town Baku, Azerbaijan

typical-old-town-baku

I also explored most of Baku while on this trip and absorbed every minute of it, including the small bribe I paid to an airport official that emptied my wallet. I particularly enjoyed finding an American 20 dollar bill on the floor of the airport while waiting for my flight. Seemed like a nice way to even the score.

*Kristin and Megan; two inseparable, intrepid and kinda cute globetrotters.

-SVV

COMMENTS
  • June 5, 2009

    Great pics! I can’t wait to check out more of the Middle East. I’ve only been to the “gateway” country of Turkey.

  • June 5, 2009

    This is amazing. Love the architecture. Too bad about the shoes/feet stopping you from more trekking.

    Hope you’re not freezing in Helsinki and finally got some sleep.

    Safe journeys.

  • June 5, 2009

    Eating black market caviar is entirely awesome – so is a “meat-lord.” Known around these parts as “the guy who sells me bacon.”

    P.S. I had a succession battle once. I won.

  • June 5, 2009

    Awesome story Scott!!! You have such a great eye with your shots. I had black market caviar in Argentina and it was divine…

    PS CONGRATS on the engagement! 🙂

  • June 5, 2009

    wow. look at THAT caviar! wow.

  • June 5, 2009

    At least you got plenty of beautiful shots. What a beautiful architecture they have there.

  • June 6, 2009

    Injuries on vacation = suck
    Illegal caviar + gorgeous temples + finding $20 = awesome!

  • June 7, 2009

    Is there anywhere you people haven’t been?

  • June 7, 2009

    Interesting pix, and to answer No. 8….India(just a wild guess…do tell me that I’m right on this one!:D).

  • June 8, 2009
    SVV

    Haha, slynnro and Kavita, there are HUGE swaths of the planet we haven’t been, including just about every Asian country and yes, India. Russia. AFRICA. Large sections of S. America, etc. I suppose I should be saying not “we” but “she” because she tops me by about 40 countries..

  • June 8, 2009

    Hah, I won my own quiz!:D Thank you for answering that one, and yeah, let me slip away before my bubble of mirth spills over onto this page.
    Good luck to the both of you, on all those other journeys that are waiting to be made.

  • June 9, 2009
    lindy

    hey now, SVV! you always look pious!

  • June 9, 2009
    SVV

    lindy, I think you mean I always look WHITE. This was two years after we invaded Iraq and I had a fresh haircut and spanking new aviators, making me look See Eye Aye 🙂

  • June 9, 2009
    Camels_and_Chocolate

    You forgot to mention WHY you went to Azer in the first place…to prove someone wrong that it was a country after all! =)

  • June 10, 2009

    Is caviar as expensive there as it is States side?

  • May 26, 2011
    Heidi

    Hi ya, love your blog, it’s truly inspirational! But, just one thing – Azerbaijan is NOT in the Middle East 🙂

    • May 26, 2011
      Kristin

      Hi Heidi, we are aware, but thanks for that clarification =) In order to sort destinations geographically on the dropdown bar, it has to fall within one of the seven continents. So what would you categorize it is instead–Asia? Most definitely not Africa. That really only leaves the ME.

  • September 8, 2011

    Wow. I’m never even heard of this country, but damn it is gorgeous. The mosque!

  • December 5, 2011
    Haidang

    what an interesting trip!!! you still owe Turkey and Istanbul a trip. Cant wait for you to expand your S America and Middle East adventures…salar de uyuni, medellin, amazonas, petra, pyramids (?) ;-)))))))))

  • June 19, 2017
    Lonely Traveller

    If you will travel to Baku I will suggest you very good Tranfer Service from Airport in Baku, http://www.az-tur.com
    Because it can be problematic and some time I had problems with other service providers, like sudden price increase!!!! But this guys was always in time and very frendly.

  • January 8, 2019

    An excellent post. I ‘m currently planning a trip to Azerbaijan and I’m glad that I found your blog. Thanks for sharing 🙂

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