Azerbaijan got on my radar year before I actually reavelled there. Watching a documentary about the beginning of the country’s oil-production in the late 19th century simply mesmerized me. The thick oil was literally on the surface, women were collecting it in buckets. These pictures never left me. So when in the summer of 2024 a trip took me to neighboring Georgia, the time to travel there had come.
I did not know what to expect, but Baku blew my mind. I kept saying “oh, oh” all the time, marvelling at the almost futuristic archtecture in perfect harmony with mosques from the 12th century. Baku is a modern city with modern infrastructure but not a soulless place like Dubai.
Old Baku surrounded by city wall
Visa Issues and Flights only into Azerbaijan
I was quickly desilusioned when I tried to fill out the visa application. It asked if I had been to the region of Nagorno Karabakh without the permission of the Azerbijani Government. Well, when I travelled there in 2016 nobody needed to be asked, it was a kind of independent country. I entered from Aremenia, stayed in Stepankert and Sushi and left. I knew this was a catch 22. If I said yes, my visa may be denied, if I said no, as well. I am pretty sure the immigration office would probalby know I was there. I buried the idea in the back of my head until I was in Georgia, when one of my travel compaignons remarked that she knew people in Baku. Then by chance I learned that travelling with my service passport I did not require a visa, bingo.
Next problem: although there is a train connecting Tbilisi to Baku, you can enter Azerbaijan only by plane, you may leave by train, bus etc. Why? To keep Russians and refugees out, so I was told. During the summer season, tickets for the one hour flight can be ridiculously expensive, so Azerbaijan Airways surely does not oppose this travel restriction.
Azerbaijan can only Enter by plan, as of summer 2024
Dinner with the Austrian ambassador
Elisabeth knew the Consulting of the Austrian Embassy and gave it a try.
Getting around Baku
Within the Old City I walked everywhere, for places like the Museum of Modern Art and the Heyder Alien Museum I used the metro. First you boy a BakiKart (Metrocard) at main subway station kiosks and than you out credit on it, it is super cheap and the fastest and most conveninet way to get around.
Beautifully decorated metro station like in most former Soviet countries
Woman freeing herself from veil
Baku in August is boiling, the hot air being zucket outside through huge AC makes it even worse
best simcard deal is Azericell
Baku is packed with tourist from India, Turkey, Russia and the Golf States. Well, it is a country not too far away, but they all have their special reason to visit. the language of Azerbaijan, Azeri is easily understood by the Turkish visitors, Russian is widely smoken also by the younger generation. For the Indian tourists the Zoroastrian Fire Temple is a must visit and the Arabs from the Golf States feel comfortable is an 90% Muslim country, so secular as a country can be. I never saw local women wear a hijab, alcohol is available.
I once sat in a cafe in the middle of Old Baku and watching the masses of tourists roll by and suddenly I felt like being in Vienna’s Kärtnerstrasse, the main tourist drag.
Gobustan Rock Art – Burning Mountain – Zarastrian Temple – Bibi Heyat Mosque
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