Paykan’s, Peugeots and Paddy Fields
Location: Sefid Kenar Hotel, Bandar Anzali, Iran
Date: 21st April, 2008
We’d arranged our driver to pick us up at 1030, so, as is the way, is was nearer 1130 when we left. It was a long and pretty boring drive amongst the mighty Kamaz trucks to the Azerbaijan/Iran border at Astara.
The border is a door at the end of the street. A little unusual, but we founf a porter and were whisked though Azeri customs and immigration in 5 minutes with a salute and a “good-bye and good luck”! The Azeri people are truly nice.
Welcomed into Iran by a 20 year old smiling soldier with ginger hair who would have looked more at home in Dublin than Iran, we had our passports taken and told to sit down. While they were very friendly, we were sitting for a hour or so while they found the fingerprint kit. I don’t know why they did this, but it was the old, dirty and inky way. Still, it was done with good nature and apologies, although one stern looking guy took great delight in watching our faces as he slowly snapped on the latex gloves – just before laughter all round. Whew…
Once fingerprints were taken, we picked-up our bags (no one looked at them) and Amir, our driver and guide for the next 16 days whisked us away in his car.
A 2/3 hour drive, punctuated with surprising views of rice growning in paddy fields, hundreds of Paykans (a ubiquitous car made in Iran), and Peugeots made here under licence, a stop at Gisum Beach, ended at our hotel in Bandar Anzari, where we crashed after a long day.
Maidens & Mud
Location: Ramada Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan
Date: 20th April, 2008
Today went quickly, a trip to the Maiden Tower in central Baku – great views of the city, picking up our carpets and a trip to the mud volcanoes and pictograms in Gobustan.
The ancient Shah and the Coppersmiths
Location: Ramada Hote, Baku, Azerbaijan
Date: 19th April, 2008
After enjoying the night at the Caravanserai hotel, we wandered around Sheki, and visited the amazing Khans Place.
After sending some postcards, we drove to the mountain village of Lahic, founded over a 1000 years ago by a retiring Persian Shah in a beautiful setting among steep-sided valleys.
Famous for it’s copperworks, we wandered around the small centre, browsing and talking to the coppersmiths. We ended up buying a small oil lantern (yes, we rubbed it, it’s sans-djinn), and talking to a guy who showed us a small museum above his shop.
It was getting late and we had a long drive to Baku, but I couldn’t resist the sight of the old guys of the village drinking tea and playing dominoes, so we joined them.
We got a few strange looks, but we ordered “chai” and started playing dominoes together. A crowd soon gathered, tea was delivered and then the shopkeeper challenged me to a match! We had a few good games, and I held my own but lost on the tie-breaker… Not bad for a first-timer though! Kristy then had a few games, and the sight of a woman playing dominoes was clearly too much as a bigger crowd gathered around to watch! We had a great time in Lahic, with great people, but we had to get back to Baku…
Kristy took the exciting night-driving shift, and it was a long drive. We didn’t have a place to stay, and as luck would have it we passed a “Ramada” sign after by-passing Baku, and pulled into a huge new hotel.
About 200 rooms and we were the only guests! We were very spoilled! We’d missed the restaurant (although the manager was about to call the chef and wait-staff back), so we went to the nightclub. Blaring music, locals dancing and flashing lights made to an entertaining and surreal end to the day…
I highly recommend “Russian Standard – St Petersburg” vodka, as smooth as a good scotch!
Ramada Baku
http://ramadabaku.com
Salyan Highway, Shikhov Beach, 1023 Baku, Azerbaijan
Mud, Mountains and the road to Seki
Location: Caravanserai Hotel, Seki
We drifted off to sleep last night hoping that the lashing rain wouldn’t leak into our yurt; we survived well and even got a late start. After a typical breakfast of tea, bread and cheese we headed north along a rapidly deteriorating asphalt road. Potholes the size of olympic swimming pools and a heavy fog (really just the cloud at 4000ft) hampered our progress, but within 45 minutes we arrived at Perguli.
Pergulis claim to fame is it’s 1960’s observatory. Built in classic Soviet style, i.e. without any, I understand it earned it’s renown with some observations on Mars back in the day. With the cloud we had, it weren’t observin’ nuthin today. Still, there was a break in the cloud and I snapped a hasty photo over the fence, expecting any minute to be pursued by a goose-stepping conscript and being thrown on the next train to Moscow. Instead I just jumped back in the car and got out of the rain. The weather really added to the “back in the USSR feeling”! Driving on, we passed a particularly depressing accommodation block. Anything that can make you feel proud of a 1970’s British Council block really has problems.
It seems the USSR funding only covered building an asphalt road to the observatory, and as we planned to loop around to Lahic we plunged (quite literally) onto the puddle covered mud track northwards.
If ever there was a day I wished for my Best Friend Goodrich and his interminable Mud Terrain tyres it was today. The $3 tyres we have are labelled “4×4″ and “Cross Country” but were reduced to slicks in 3 seconds flat. Slip-sliding along a rough mountain track in the fog and rain – cool! It wasn’t long before I was wishing my Defender was attached to those BFGs. Still, it was occasionally scenic and it’s always good to get off the beaten track.
At least, until the track becomes a river. We rounded a crest (scared a horse – blame Kristy), and could see the village of Damerchi over a very wide river-bed, that had a number of well-stocked-from-last-nights-rain rivulets to cross, the first being the widest and fastest. Now with slick tyres and not much clearance, and the infernal independent rear suspension further lowering the clearance of our supermarket-run 4×4 Honda CR-V, I would say cheeks were clenched. Aw, hell, I’d seen a couple of tractors earlier, surely one would be along if we needed it. So I went for it. And of course it was ok. Apart from one little bit where we lost traction, but we were across the river and on to Damerchi.
Damerchi doesn’t see many tourists. I’d bet Damerchi doesn’t see much of anything. Apart from rain and mud by the look of it. There was a major lack of anything mechanical, and as we drove up the main road I had the feeling we were the first to do so in a good while. Like the rest of Azerbaijan, it’s clean and tidy, though the rain and mud make it feel less so. It’s obviously a hard-working rural town (it wouldn’t survive otherwise), and again, like the rest of Azerbaijan, the locals were not really interested in us (take note, children of North Africa)!
The road to Lahic left through the North and West of the town, so after a quick photo-op we pushed on. But not for much longer. This road was clearly little traveled, and we were pushing 2 inch deep ruts as we were driving. I could see that the road was heading up and over a pass so (for a change) discretion got the better part of valour. After jumping out for a quick check, sinking 2in into the mud and barely being able to stand upright, I jumped back into the car and retraced about 3.5 hours back to the main highway. Did I mention I was wishing for my Defender?
(above – snacks on the Road to Seki)
The rest of the day was driving through beautiful countryside, farmland, orchards, forests and enchanting woodland, Azerbaijan is a really pretty country. We arrived at our destination, the Caravanserai hotel in Seki to a wonderful surprise.
Caravanserai Hotel
Seki
+994 177 44814
I’d heard the hotel was worth a visit, but it is awesome. A 17th or 18th century caravanserai tastefully make into a hotel, complete with comfy beds and hot water. Thick stone walls, a bigger than you expect courtyard and a front door that could tell some stories make for a place with great character. Recommended!
The Absheron Peninsula
Location: Babayurd Yurt Camp, Near Pirguli, Azerbaijan
The day started with Hertz delivering our “Full Size 4WD” vehicle, a Honda CR-V! Apparently, Hertz Azerbaijan has a fleet of six vehicles so I’m not complaining. We need some wheels to get around off the beaten track, and that’s just what we’re doing – though my advice to you whenever renting a vehicle outside of North America or Western Europe is to very carefully check the vehicle, not just for bumps and scrapes but also that it has a jack and wheel-brace, the wheel nuts are in place and tight (I once had one with 4 nuts, and one of those was loose), and that the engine bay can pass a visual inspection.
We checked-out of the Radisson (miffed that they quoted us a net-rate though), loaded up and headed out of Baku. Advice to Azerbaijan – use some oil money on road-signs! We have a GPS, but only for compass functionality and trackback. Getting out of Baku was a bit of a nightmare, heavy traffic and construction. Still, all we had to do was head North-East-ish and we finally got out of the city.
Everything east of Baku is on the Absheron Peninsula, a great piece of land shaped like an eagles head sticking out into the Caspian Sea. It’s also your de-facto Soviet wasteland. I reckon one sight of a place like this would convince most people to drive less. I guess the USSR didn’t have a place in it’s 5 year plans for the environment. I imagine it’s much better than it used to be, a lot of the old smoking factories have closed down, but it’s still a little shocking. The whole place smells like a refinery!
There are gems out in Absheron though, and first on our list was the Ateshgah Fire Temple, a Zoroastrian temple with permanent fire fed by natural gas. Without a single sign, we asked a friendly cop (who didn’t have a non-gold tooth in his head), who promptly jumped in the back of the car and took us half-way. Once on the right road, it was pretty easy to find using the map in our guidebook.
We had the Temple to ourselves. It’s arranged as a caravanserai, with rooms on the outside of a courtyard with the temple surrounding the permanent fire within. There’s a small exhibition in some of the rooms, and you can also climb on the roof for a better view of the temple and the town around.
Next up, the search for Yanar Dag – the flaming hillside. Here, since 1958, part of the hillside has been on fire, fueled by natural gas. It is a truly strange spectacle. You also have to watch for the wind, a quick gust and you’ll loose an eyebrow! There’s a teahouse right next to the site, we though we’d support them by having some tea – they said it was AZN 9 – over $10! We made our apologies and left…
Next we turned west, and headed off the Absheron Peninsula and onto the Azeri mainland. We’re heading for Sheki, but planned to spend the night about halfway near Pirguli. Just off the main road we’d heard about some “mud volcanoes” at a place called Perekishqul, basically piles of mud with methane bubbling through water to the top. Just south of the road, just after KM38 (if you’re heading west, turn left at the signposts on a sweeping right-hander). We drove around 600m up a gravel road, passing a huge flock of sheep and a surprised sheepdog (which I didn’t even see, Kristy tells me it was an Anatolian Sheep Dog, looks just like a sheep), to the top of a hill. The funny shaped volcanoes (only a few feet high), are easily visible to your right. We parked up and had a wander around. I stuck my finger in (they’re cold), and regretted not having a lighter! It was strange to see the mud bubbling up, looking like, well, at least what I imagine, a fart would look like… 
Finally, we made it to a cool campsite at about 3500ft up in the mountains consisting of 3 or 4 Mongolian Yurts (gers) – the Babayurd Yurt Camp. We think it’s early in the season as we’re the only ones here and have not seen any tourists today (and only 3 or 4 since we arrived). Anyway, as I write this by lantern (my Macbooks keyboard gives off more light), we can hear the rain lashing down on the hopefully watertight roof…
A day in Baku
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
Summary: Got our Iranian visas, saw the old city, bought some rugs and ate at a great restaurant!
So, both Lonely Planet and the Trailblazer guide to Azerbaijan are advising people to go to the Iranian Embassy near Old Baku to pickup visas. This information is now out of date. You have to go to the following address, right over the road from the Nizami Metro Station:
On the left, the Iranian Consulate. On the right, Nizami Metro Station.
Iran Islam Respublikasinin Bakidaki Sefirliyinin Konsulluq
C. Cabbarli 10
Baku, Azerbaijan
They were exceptionally friendly there, and one of the gentlemen spoke excellent English. You have to fill in a form (1 page), provide a single passport photo and a single copy of the information of your passport, and some cash. It’s currently EUR 85 for Brits and EUR 65 for Americans. I’ve no idea why Kristy got a discount! Anyway, this money has to be changed at the bank for some kind of money order thing, but a fixer did this for us – it took him about 45 minutes and he was based in a building right next to the consulate.
He didn’t charge us a penny…
We dropped everything back off at the Embassy, and came back 3 hours later to issued visas, many smiles, much handshaking and a demand to enjoy our visit to Iran!
Next up, we walked to the Old City. This is the medieval walled city in the center of Baku. It was a relief to get away from the traffic and honking horns, it is much quieter and less busy in there. Like all medieval towns, it’s full of character and alleyways just waiting to be explored. As these places tend to be dynamic, it was a wonderful mix of old and new (well, as new as early 20th century). It reminded us of small Iberian mountain villages.
The most imposing part of the old city is the Shirvanshah’s Palace.
It costs AZN 2 per person, about USD 2.4, and we almost had the place to ourselves. Well, we thought we did until we rounded a corner and realised that the mosque was in full swing! Maybe there’s a better way to describe it, but anyway, we left.
We wandered past the infamous carpet sellers, which were very mild and polite by global carpet selling standards! We even bought a couple (don’t ask how much), very fine silk specimens which we were assured were not made in China! Actually, they’re really nice and we loved them – which is really the only criteria you can apply if you’re going to lug the things by hand for the next 3 weeks and 5000 miles…
After wrapping up the carpet-bagging, we continued around the Old City, passing by the Maidens Tower.
It was 1820. It closed at 1800… Next time…
Finally, we were aiming for a restaurant I’d read about earlier – the Karavansaray. It’s wonderfully atmospheric, situated in an old caravanserai. Small rooms off the main courtyard contain the tables and a roaring gas fire – it’s very cosy. Vegetables like you’d forgotten they could taste (what do we do with our veg in the US and UK?), fine caviar for USD 50 a plate-load (and I do mean load), hunks of meat and grilled veg. We spent about USD 150 on the best meal we’d had in ages. Highly recommended.
A quick walk back through the double gates and fountains square and we were back to the Radisson, which BTW has a great central location.
Azerbaijan!
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
It’s great to be finally and properly underway! We took a flight from Birmingham in the UK to Baku via Frankfurt. The flight connections in FFT took all of a couple of minutes, contrasting with the pain of connecting through LHR. That airport is making me bitter and twisted, I should just avoid it…
Anyway, Baku was a surprise to us both, despite not leaving the airport until around 2200 local time (the airport, by the way, is bright. modern and efficient – we cleared immigration, got our bags, cleared customs and were in a taxi within 40 minutes).
Driving to the hotel, I was really surprised at the architecture. It’s dark outside, but there’s clearly a lot of turn of the (20th) century buildings that look like they’re in great shape. Kristy tells me they were from the oil boom that happened around that time. I’m just amazed at how much I felt like I was in a European city.
Leaving the hotel to try and find dinner just after 2300 was also fun. It’s late, but it seems like it’s a “late” city. Loads of people walking around (it’s fine and around 13C, 55F), and lots of places still open. We chose an interesting little place that I have no idea of the name, down in a basement with around 20-30 seats. The menus showed items in both the Roman and Cyrillic scripts, but unfortunately in a language neither of us can read…
We need not have worried. We ended up with colourful salads, full of peppers, chicken and croutons followed by some mutton and some kofta-type kebabs. And some Sprite (I could read that one)! All for less than USD 10.
A great start to our trip. We’re really looking forward to seeing Baku in the daylight.
Getting ready to leave for Azerbaijan & Iran
Location: Denver, CO, USA
We’re leaving later this week to start our trip to Azerbaijan and Iran. The Iranian authorities have not yet issued the authorization number we require to get our visas. We only have a couple of days left to get them, and I’m not feeling comfortable about it. If push comes to shove I’m hoping we can pickup the visas in Baku.
Getting visas is always stressful…
