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Azerbaijan - end

Marina and I on the square near the Main Railway station. On the right an entrance to the soviet era metro can be seen.
Marina and I on the square near the Main Railway station. On the right an entrance to the soviet era metro can be seen.

I had a striking desire to go to the Baku Television Tower, so we hired one of the many taxis in the city. Most of the taxis in Baku are old French cars like the one we drove seen here above. Our driver was very nice and came with a very peculiar recommendation, that the most important thing in life is to get acquainted with different girls?! The reason why it was peculiar were because Marina was sitting on the backseat. Azeri's are friendly people but sometimes have a bit strange attitude towards foreign women.
I had a striking desire to go to the Baku Television Tower, so we hired one of the many taxis in the city. Most of the taxis in Baku are old French cars like the one we drove seen here above. Our driver was very nice and came with a very peculiar recommendation, that the most important thing in life is to get acquainted with different girls?! The reason why it was peculiar were because Marina was sitting on the backseat. Azeri's are friendly people but sometimes have a bit strange attitude towards foreign women.


On our way back from the Baku Television Tower which by the way was closed we encountered a memorial park for the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the beginning of the 1990's. Here we had a good view of the bay and the center of the city. The memorial park also featured a beautiful mosque which became the first I got the see from the inside... and yes, I remembered to take of my shoes:-)
On our way back from the Baku Television Tower which by the way was closed we encountered a memorial park for the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the beginning of the 1990's. Here we had a good view of the bay and the center of the city. The memorial park also featured a beautiful mosque which became the first I got the see from the inside... and yes, I remembered to take off my shoes:-)  

As already mentioned before the view form the memorial park was staggering. One can easily see that Baku and the surrounding area including the bay is rich on oil as the many oil wells shows in distance. Since many foreigners work in the Azeri oil industry you quite often hear other languages than Azeri and Russian in the city. If anybody is wondering about whether Azerbaijan has a lot of tourism I can tell you that it surely does not look like it, however I think they have a good potential if they focus on it.
As already mentioned before the view form the memorial park was staggering. One can easily see that Baku and the surrounding area including the bay is rich on oil as the many oil wells show in distance. Since many foreigners work in the Azeri oil industry you quite often hear other languages than Azeri and Russian in the city. If anybody is wondering about whether Azerbaijan has a lot of tourism I can tell you that it surely does not look like it, however I think they have a good potential if they focus on it.

I could not help smiling when I saw this sporty version of the Ukrainian car ??? (Zaz) in the old city. Rumors tell that this car is not well known for good quality, but I think a test ride would be recommended to make the final judgment:-)
I could not help smiling when I saw this sporty version of the Ukrainian car ЗАЗ (Zaz) in the old city. Rumours tell that this car is not well known for good quality, but I think a test ride would be recommended to make the final judgment:-)

The actual reason for choosing Azerbaijan as a destination was because of the fact that Marina lived there with her family in the 1980's and beginning of 1990's until the political situation forced them out of the country. They were living in Azerbaijan because her dad was serving in the Red Army and stationed in Astara - a small city on the border between Azerbaijan and Iran. Back then they lived in the military camp seen behind us on the picture. We were lucky enough to get access to the camp and not much had changed since then according to Marina, except for the fact that everything now lacking years of renovation. The camp now belongs to the Azeri military, but only a small amount of soldiers are stationed there now.
The actual reason for choosing Azerbaijan as a destination was because of the fact that Marina lived there with her family in the 1980's and beginning of 1990's until the political situation forced them out of the country. They were living in Azerbaijan because her dad was serving in the Red Army and stationed in Astara - a small city on the border between Azerbaijan and Iran.

Back then they lived in the military camp seen behind us on the picture. We were lucky enough to get access to the camp. According to Marina much had changed since they left and especially the lack of renovation was to notice. The camp now belongs to the Azeri military, but only a small amount of soldiers are stationed there now.

Me next to one of Azerbaijan's nice green mail boxes. This picture is taken in Astara not far from the Iranian border and of course I mailed a postcard back home to my parents in Denmark. For you information the postcard took approximately 2 months to arrive - whether it traveled by donkey all the way the story doesn't tell:-)
Me next to one of Azerbaijan's nice green mail boxes. This picture is taken in Astara not far from the Iranian border and of course I mailed a postcard back home to my parents in Denmark. For you information the postcard took approximately 2 months to arrive - whether it traveled by donkey all the way the story doesn't tell:-)

Here 4 months after the trip I can almost only look back at good memories and would recommend everybody to go there on vacation, but do not expect to get first class service or to find any McDonalds nearby. Near Astara we could see mountains in the distance and if I would go there again I would definitely go hiking in the mountains. Please notice that hiking in the mountains in the west of the country can be very dangerous due to many scattered land mines laid out during the war in the region of Nargono-Karabakh.

3rd September 2006

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