Старый город Рассказывая о прогулке по «Старому городу» (İçəri Şəhər), Эдна описывает ту теплую атмосферу и колорит, которым дышит это место, и что чувствует каждый, кто здесь побывал.




После захода солнца «Старый город», по мнению американской путешественницы, особенно очарователен.


Аллея Шехидов
Отдельный репортаж в своем блоге Эдна посвятила Аллее Шехидов (Şəhidlər Xiyabanı), где похоронены герои, отдавшие жизнь за независимость своей страны. «Проходя мимо могил с аккуратными надгробиями и внимательно просматривая даты смерти этих людей, я обратила внимание, что многие из них погибли, не дожив и до 20 лет», - пишет Эдна.

Особое внимание девушки привлекла могильная фотография Фаризы и Ильхама Аллахвердиевых - молодоженов, погибших в день «Черного января» в 1990 году. «Их могила, которую вы видите, как только входите в Аллею Шехидов – это символ любви азербайджанских Ромео и Джульетты», - пишет блогер.

В блоге рассказывается и о мемориале «Вечный огонь», к которому согласно ритуалу, возлагают цветы в память о героях, захороненных на Аллее шехидов.

Эдну поразил вид, открывшийся перед ней, когда она подошла к краю Аллеи. «Я не могла не думать о мимолетности жизни и смерти, о цене свободы... – пишет она. - Это напомнило мне, что прошлое может быть ужасно. Но пока мы не забываем его, нас ожидает яркое и прекрасное будущее».


Современный Баку Эдна шутливо говорит о том, чего она не ожидала от поездки в Баку - так это увидеть современный город. «Как я ошибалась…», - пишет она в одном из своих репортажей. Первое, что упоминается в контексте современного развития – это архитектура нового Баку, в первую очередь символичные Flame Towers и Площадь Флага со знаменитым концертным комплексом Crystall Hall.




Архитектура столицы в основном представлена традиционным т.н. «азербайджанским стилем», пишет автор. Однако современные строения отражают влияние со стороны.



В блоге есть и удивление автора от увиденных на улицах Баку фиолетовых «лондонских кэбов», и от новой «Маленькой Венеции» на приморском бульваре, а также от элитных бутиков и роскошных автомобилей.




Во время пребывания Эдны в Баку здесь прошли концерты мировых звезд – Шакиры, Дженнифер Лопез, а также международный чемпионат мира по футболу среди девочек младше 17 лет. Все это также нашло отражение в блоге путешественницы.

Поездка к горе Янардаг
Не обошлось и без посещения легендарной достопримечательности Азербайджана – горящей горы Янардаг недалеко от Баку. За счет природного газа, вырывающегося из земли, тысячи лет «горит» целая гора.

«Признаю, было странно видеть пламя, вырывающееся прямо из горы без видимого источника топлива, - пишет автор блога. - Словно кто-то спрятал дрова под камином, и все, что ты видишь – это лишь сам огонь, а не горящая древесина».
Очарование гор, теплый прием
«Неделя в горных городах на северо-западе страны - Габале и Шеки… Именно здесь я почувствовала себя абсолютно очарованной Азербайджаном», - пишет Эдна.

Люди в Азербайджане, по мнению блогера, чрезвычайно дружелюбны, воспитаны и гостеприимны, и это идет от сердца.
«Всегда легко распознать, когда тебе улыбаются для галочки, как менеджер отеля, и когда это идет от чистого сердца, - пишет она. – Люди, которые мне встречались в Азербайджане, – это по-настоящему добросердечные люди».

Азербайджанская еда и традиция чаепития
«Если бы мне пришлось описать азербайджанскую еду в четырех словах, то это было бы: баранина, соленые огурцы, зелень и соль», - пишет Эдна. Среди наиболее запомнившихся блюд она перечисляет пять: шекинские пити и халва, печеное бадамбура, традиционный азербайджанский чай с вареньем, а также копченая рыба с сыром.

(таким образом http://www.1news.az предоставил блог сокращенный американкой туристки)

Remnants of the old city still exist and surrounds (or is integrated into) the modernization. Soviet-era Ladas and clunky buses speed down brand new highways while London-style purple cabs jostle over cobblestoned streets. 12th-century castle turrets are dwarfed by the new Four Seasons hotel; Dior and Tiffany’s share space in tiny alleys with local hammams; and hilariously, designer shops for children are housed in buildings that imitate Azeri architecture along the promenade.



There is oil and gas here, and it shows.


Buildings are illuminated with thousands of lights come dusk, enhancing Baku’s metropolitan feel at night. Gasoline is only 0.65 manat — roughly 75 cents — per liter (for Americans, that amounts to a $2.84 gallon of gas). Many of the expats are Americans and Brits taking advantage of the boom in business (who dine nightly at the rooftop restaurant of the Hilton and are happy to buy bottles of champagne for people they’ve just met…so cheers to that).



THE COUNTRYSIDE
Out of eleven known climate zones in the world, Azerbaijan has nine of them. This leads to a variety of landscapes, which I noticed on long bus rides through parts of country: Baku was humid and sub-tropical, the northern towns were mountainous and lush, and in between were stretches of plains, deserts, grasslands, and undoubtedly more landscapes that I completely slept through.


THE MOUNTAINS
During a weekend in the northern towns of Gabala and Sheki, I learned more about the country’s history, experienced one of the simplest yet memorable meals along a misty mountainside, encountered awe-inspiring sunsets and found overwhelming peace in unexpected places.
It was here that I felt truly charmed by Azerbaijan.







FOOD


I already described the sometimes sweet, often salty, and always mutton-y goodness of Azerbaijani food in this post. But who doesn’t want to see a photo of that amazing piti soup again?

THE PEOPLE

The Azeri people are undoubtedly what made my time in Azerbaijan the most memorable: unwaveringly friendly, polite, and hospitable, even when I myself was frustrated and on edge. I was there for a big FIFA event so to those who think people were only nice because they wanted to leave a good impression — No. You can tell when that hotel manager is faking the smile for appearances’ sake, and when someone is genuinely kind with a good heart.
These were good-hearted people. The locals I met were welcoming and always wanted to make sure these visitors to their country were well-fed, taken care of, and having a good time — whether that meant sharing a large meal or bottles of booze, or complete strangers inviting us into their dance circles at a dinner party. In Baku I saw older men gathered in parks and open spaces to play boardgames and drink tea, providing a sense of calm and slowing the pace of life in a chaotic city.
Even when I was approached for photos, because for some reason women really wanted their photo taken with me, it was done in a respectful, adorably shy manner — not the aggressive and presumptuous requests I’ve seen by people in other countries.





PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I was in Azerbaijan for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, of which most of the games were hosted in Baku. Therefore I also encountered some unique moments during my trip: watching J.Lo and Shakira perform at the Opening and Closing ceremonies(respectively), being on live television (I may have danced a bit), touring national press and television offices, meeting quite a few government and sports officials, living in a hotel for a month that found me waking up every morning to see the sun rise over the Caspian Sea, watching more football games than I’ve ever seen before in my life (including the World Cup in 2010), and go-karting at a dinosaur-mascoted theme park in the mountains of northern Azerbaijan.






I had such a hard time choosing just handful of photos to act as both an introduction and an overview to my time in Azerbaijan. I have so many more photos and stories — I can’t wait to share them all.
Update: Some readers seem to think I stayed in the Four Seasons and did not get a true sense of Azerbaijan. While I admit being there for work exposed me to a different side of the country, for the record I was NOT in the Four Seasons. I just took some photos of it — which doesn’t necessarily mean I stayed there.
Any questions about Azerbaijan? Let me know and I’ll try to answer them in upcoming posts!

Most of the architecture in Baku was in the typical Azeri style, but newer buildings clearly had an outside influence. Below, from left to right: Park Bulvar Mall, Trump Tower, and the Baku Business Center.

Even the metro stations were pretty modern. In most cities, subway station exits appear to be bare-bones entryways; they are simply there to serve a purpose, not to look pretty. Not in Baku — I’ve never seen such detail put into a metro’s exterior appearance.


While we’re on the subject on transport: Baku’s taxi fleets, while not entirely lacking in old Soviet-era cars, were also surprisingly Western due to what I dubbed their “purple cabs” — taxis that look and drive just like London’s famous black cabs, except painted in a lovely shade of eggplant.

And I mean, can you really call yourself a “metropolitan city” if you don’t have at least a couple punk drivers who can’t park and insist on driving hideous cars fitted with spoilers and custom license plates?

Baku also had some very notable Western influences — for instance, (surprisingly well-hidden) mini-Venetian canals like this one, which I stumbled upon while walking through a small park. Or the influx of designer brands…for babies.


Baku held an international humanitarian forum while I was in town, as well as various conferences by international news agencies, NGOs, and even a French tourism board. It might all be for show, it might not be — either way, it appears Azerbaijan is trying to turn around about its reputation regarding human rights and become a more open country.

Of course, governments can do all the showing and telling they want, but you really haven’t changed anything in the people’s eyes until you have J. Lo come over and perform in front of 30,000 people, and Inter Milan fly into the city for a Europa League game against Azerbaijani team Neftchi Baku.


But regardless of everything else, what made the greatest impression on me — as they always do — were the lights. When dusk falls and a city becomes an illuminated silhouette of itself — to me, that’s when a city feels the most metropolitan and modern.


So back to my first question: What comes to mind when you think of Azerbaijan?

If I had to describe Azeri food in four words, it would be: pickles, herbs, lamb, and sodium.
Each meal would begin with a plate of ‘starters’ to be eaten with warm naan-like bread, including fresh herbs, cheeses, olives, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and an assortment of pickled stuffs: pickled onions, pickled cabbage, pickled olives. I even had pickled mushrooms at one restaurant.
(Funny enough, what I would call a pickle they called a white cucumber.)
Herbs are highly appreciated here; sometimes they would be brought out on an entire plate of their own. They smelled wonderful.
Then at least one of the main dishes would feature lamb. Even those that didn’t still contained large amounts of sodium, the likes of which I’d never tasted before.
I am highly loathe to complain about food. I hate to do it and can’t stand others who do. But I will admit that after a month in Azerbaijan, I was ready for a sodium break. (And this is coming from someone who has, on multiple occasions, sat down to a movie with a jar of pickles and demolished them in one sitting.)
Dinner was usually followed by tea, an important part of Azerbaijani culture and something I will definitely be writing more about in a separate post.
***
Right, so now that you have an understanding (or at least understand my understanding) of Azerbaijani cuisine, we can move onto the good stuff:
The 5 best things I ate in Azerbaijan

1. Piti soup, Sheki


This. Oh my god this. By far, the best thing I ate in Azerbaijan. Piti is a soup prepared in individual earthenware pots that you ‘disassemble’ before eating. First you break apart pieces of bread into an empty bowl. Then you tilt your piti pot slowly so that the broth covers the bread; after that you let the rest of the ingredients fall on top to complete your dish — do these steps too quickly, and you’ll be splattered with hot soup.
The recipe itself is simple: mutton, chickpeas, chestnuts, and potatoes. But the end result is a hearty and flavorful soup, in fact one of the most flavorful I’ve ever had in my life — most likely owing to the large portions of fat cooked in (see those white chunks in the photo above? Not all of them are bread).
2. Badambura, Baku

Badambura (pronounced boddum-boora) is a common Azerbaijani pastry that comes in various shapes and is filled with sugar, cinnamon, and finely chopped nuts. I got my first taste at the tournament accreditation center, of all places. While waiting for my accreditation to print, I mentioned in passing that I was hungry. The center volunteers promptly took the badambura and juice boxes out of their own lunch packs and insisted I eat. I don’t know if it was the hunger or their kindness, but I never did find badambura as delicious as that first one.
3. Black tea and cherry jam, Baku

Like almost all of the meals on this list, there’s a story behind this tea that makes it memorable. But the tea itself was also fantastic, which is not surprising as it is such a huge part of Azeri daily life; I’d often see men on the streets playing board games while sipping black tea from their small curvy glasses. There’s a special way to drink it with the jam, but I’ll get to that in another post.
4. Halva, Sheki

Sheki was only a day trip, so our stop into a local candyman’s store lasted no more than five minutes. But in those few minutes I could see how popular this guy’s halva was: the tiny store was teeming with locals, all jostling for the latest batch of halva. Boxes would disappear as soon as the man could cut his candy and fill them. By the way, halva — a dessert consisting of chopped nuts sandwiched by wafer-thin fried dough and absolutely dripping with honey — is a specialty of Sheki, so I feel like we got the best of the best here.
5. Caspian fish and smoked cheese, Gabala

The salt content in these made for excellent beer snacks (just looking at this photo makes me want a beer). I didn’t catch the name of the cheese, but it was offered at every meal, even breakfast. It was smoky and tough but there was something addictive about it; every time I gnawed on a string I felt like a horse with a salt lick.
The fish weren’t as appetizing, but that might be because I first had to pull off their heads, then mind their bones as I devoured their tiny bodies.
Again, it’s the memory of this night — drinking with local Azerbaijani guys who knew no English other than “Edna!” and “Vodka!” — that puts these salty snacks on the list for me (and far outweighs the salt content I had to ingest to get through the vodka).

What’s your favorite dish here? And more importantly, who’s up for an Azeri meal?

Right, so here’s the flame from the front.

Here’s the flame from the side.

Here’s me at the flame, wondering who wears a scarf and blazer while standing in front of a roaring fire.
I will admit, it was strange to see flames shooting out of a hill with no visible source of fuel. It was like someone had stuck a sandstone facade over a fireplace, so that all you’d see was the flames and not the burning wood.
And to its credit, the fire may be small but it sure was mighty — I could feel the heat coming off it as soon as I turned the corner and was just at the top of the stairs.

The lone building at Yanar Dag

After we exhausted all of our photo options (90% of which you have just seen above), we returned to our bus and headed back to Baku.
I think we spent more time getting to Fire Mountain than we actually stayed there.

Not the busiest tourist attraction.

However, I was still glad we made the trip out. We were able to witness the Land of Fire’s famous flames — and the drive home turned out to be just as memorable (if not slightly more interesting).
There was such a marked difference between life within the capital and outside — even just ten miles outside. I felt as if I were watching an old reel of what Baku looked like before the development and modernization — as well as a preview of what Baku and Azerbaijan hoped to become.





The adventure was short and sweet, and culturally relevant. If you have a spare afternoon in Azerbaijan, Absheron is worth a visit.