Azerbaijan and its capital Baku were never places I ever imagined myself going to. Why? No particular reason. I just never heard any stories about them and I never saw any breathtaking pictures making me dream of the day I would land in Azerbaijan. But the cliché is oh-so-true when they say unknown paths often lead to the most beautiful destinations. Because after three days in Baku I can tell you this city is more than just a gem. It’s alive. It’s modern. It’s traditional. It’s everything. It’s amazing.
Baku, Azerbaijan was given the honor to host the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final. And together with one of its main sponsors, Kia (Australia), my flatmate Carol and I temporarily traded in the beaches of Bondi for beautiful Baku.
Xoş to Baku & Azerbaijan!
After almost 24 hours of traveling we landed in Azerbaijan, at Baku’s modern airport. Big signs of the Europa League Final surrounding us everywhere, getting us even more excited for this epic game.
Jet-lagged but super excited we arrived at our hotel. Not much was planned on our first day in Baku, but after some freshening up Carol and I couldn’t resist going outside and soaking up the city vibes for the first time.
Baku, I love you already
Baku captured and bedazzled me straight away. Romantic like Paris, historically beautiful like Rome, enchanting like Marrakech and futuristic like Dubai. It’s where the old and traditional meets the new and the modern. It’s Baku, a unique city and capital of Azerbaijan.
To get a good overview of the city we first visited one of Baku’s main sights: the Maiden Tower. This tower, a world-famous landmark, is located in Baku’s old city and dates back to the 12th century. A few sets of stairs and a fair amount of steps will help you reach the top, giving you breathtaking views over the city. Inside of the tower houses a museum for you to learn all about the history of this iconic landmark.
The kindest people
After our climb up and down the Maiden Tower we decided we needed some extra strength to fight our jet lag, so we went in search for a coffee. Soon we stumbled upon a cute spot with a rooftop, and the staff happily escorted us up. Now I have to admit I’m always a bit apprehensive when I get lured into local restaurants while traveling. Experience has taught me that spots located next to historic highlights like the Maiden Tower are often extremely expensive. But thirsty and in need of caffeine as we were, we decided to take a leap of faith.
Upstairs we found a beautiful restaurant which reminded of something I had only seen in Aladdin. I immediately noticed how friendly the staff is, and how they were all excited and even curious to get to know these two foreigners who just walked into their restaurant. And in their best English they tried to make conversation, asking us where we’re from and if we were there to see the Europa League Final, pride radiating off their faces.
Day two in Baku
After a great nights sleep we couldn’t wait to discover more of Baku and Azerbaijan. Kia had the entire day planned out for us, making sure we wouldn’t miss anything of Azerbaijan’s capital and its surroundings.
Our first stop of the day was Gobustan, a National Park located about 65 kilometers from Baku. Gobustan is famous for two reasons:
– Ancient rock art: the rock art in Gobustan is amongst the oldest in the world, together with other countries such as Australia. We wandered around the rocks of Gobustan, able to admire the rock art from up close. It always makes me wonder what life must have been like back then, so many, many years ago.
– The second reason why Gobustan is a well-known place in Azerbaijan is because of the mud volcanoes. There are 800 mud volcanoes in the world, of which 360 are in Gobustan. Due to safety reasons (these muddy buddies tend to erupt from time to time) it is not allowed to visit them.
Lunch with a view
Lunch was served in a modern restaurant, back in Baku. The restaurant, Gate 25, is located up high in a skyscraper, giving you amazing views over the city. As I am vegetarian I got served a different dish than the others, and I must say the food wasn’t very special, to put it kindly. I was, however, very amused by the food my fellow travelers got presented with: a huge hamburger which came with, yes, a pair of plastic gloves! Haha, why not?!
Getting even higher
After lunch we drove up to the Highland Park, one of the locals favorites. If you’re planning to visit Baku this park should definitely be on your list. Not only is it a pretty place to stroll around, it also gives you the absolute best views on the three iconic Flame Towers, as well as over the city.
Dining like a local
At night dinner was served at Sirvansah, a beautiful traditional Azerbaijani restaurant. Walking through the restaurant felt like walking through a museum, with beautiful carpets everywhere, traditionally dressed staff and something to see around every corner. And the food was delicious – even for vegetarians. Lots of delicious cheeses, bread, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini and other veggies filled my tummy, and to top the night off we were treated to some Azerbaijani pastries with a cup of Azerbaijani tea. Did you know some Azerbaijani drink up to 40 cups of tea a day?!
Day three
Day three started with a tour around Baku’s Old Town, followed by a lunch in another gorgeous Azerbaijan traditional restaurant. The lunch was delicious, but what came after lunch was even better: Kia organized a cultural afternoon!
We got to engage in several cultural activities, the first one being tasting Azerbaijani wine. We already heard wine was a local specialty, and bottles of wine start as cheap as just $2. Because Pomegranate is one of the local fruits of Azerbaijan I decided to give the Pomegranate wine a try. Sweet. Very sweet. Not really like wine, but definitely delicious! Carol tried a darker and deeper wine, which had some sort of smoky taste to it.
We then got to dress up in traditional Azerbaijani clothing. And come on, who doesn’t enjoy a little dress up party? Azerbaijani costumes are very colorful and consist of a long dress or skirt. Topped off with the traditional headwear I felt like an Azerbaijani princess 🙂
The Azerbaijani’s love tea – as mentioned before even up to 40 cups a day. One cultural activity is painting these beautiful tea glasses. And I can tell you: this is not as easy as it looks! Carol and I both decorated our own glasses, which are now proudly displayed in our home. But as much as I loved it, glass painting clearly isn’t one of my talents 😉
After this exhilarating afternoon we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit, and to prepare for the night we’ve all been waiting for: the Europa League 2019 final. More on that in this blog post 🙂
❤ Eef
Disclaimer: this trip was sponsored by Kia Australia. However, all opinions are 100% mine. I was not paid to write this.
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