Baku: 26 April- 4 May

Where to begin about Baku…it is a crazy city with big dreams. Since we had 7 days here, we can speak a bit more about our experiences in this city. Fortunately, it has quite some oil reserves that will keep it prosperous for the next 20 years.  One can only hope that Azerbaijan will do what the UAE has done with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to preserve its wealth for when the natural reserves run dry.  Only time will tell. 

Baku Old City with the Maiden Tower

Shaki -Baki: Day 14 (26 April, 2012)

We started the morning with a heavy breakfast (turned out to be more expansive than the dinner, but good). Next we visited the castle and the palace. The Russians only left the smallest building of the palace in place, so there was not that much to be seen anymore, but the surroundings were very nice. The remaining palace building is more or less symmetrical, with one side for the woman and one side for the man. The guide didn't like us to step on the balcony for woman, so we quickly moved to the other side.



We drove calmly to Baki, taking the inside road along the mountains again.

Tbilisi - Shaki, Georgia - Azerbaijan: Day 13 (25 April 2012)

Today we woke up in a spacious 6 people dormitory with beautiful sunlight. The night before we decided to take an easy day and to go to the city centre for some sight seeing and breakfast. The first time since the start of the trip that we really could "waste" some time. It was about 600 km to Baku and we didn't know the road condition, so we thought it better to do the trip in two days and enjoy the traveling a bit more. Probably partly inspired by Grant, the Oz master of slow travel, and also feeling guilty towards our friendly host who's so proud of her country.