Baku is the capital of the AZERBAIJAN and which is the biggest city of this country . The cities old town and couple of monuments are major attraction in the city . In the outskirts of the city there is lots of places to visit like toward yanar dag , gobusthan national park , Gabala , mud volcano , first commercial oil rig in the world and many more .
The Palace of the Shirvan Shahs , Maiden’s Tower (Giz Qalasi) , Atashgah Fire Temple , Yanar Dagh , Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center , Latif Karimov Carpet and Applied Arts Museum , miniature museum , mud volcano ,gobusthan national park , Baku Boulevard , baku metro , Nizami (Torgovaya) St and Fountain Sq , oil rig ,
This time my journey to azerbaijan starts from Indira gandhi International airport of new Delhi . It was Azerbaizan airlines and date was 28 th april 2024 . It left Newdelhi at 4 :25 am in the morning . The sunrise from the sky was wonderful . It reaches Baku at local time 8:05 am . It was a 5 hours flight . baku is a small airport but well organized . After I landed , first I withdraw money . The currency is Mannat . 1 Mannat is 50 inr . After I just left there is a kiosk from where I buy a Baki Cart .
Baki Card is a electronic card which can be used in mode of public transport like like bus , metro . I just deposit 10 manna where the price of the card is just 2 Mannat and the rest of the balance is balance . From Airport I take the airport express bus which cost around 1.5 Mannat to reach the city center . It is 25 km from the airport . This bus takes around 1 hour .
In airport you will see lots unique old shaped red Cars . This are the Baku taxi . This gives a unique color to the city . This country is trans continent country which means it is part of both Asia and Europe . So you enter the city the building gives like European feeling .
After reaching there , I use google offline maps to reach toward my destination . I was confused on a certain point , so I asked a local people . This guy was so good that he taken me to his home and give me WiFi . I have two big bags one bag he carries and go toward his home . I don’t expect such a welcome from a European cultured people . I must say the people of this city is very welcoming towards India and fan of Bollywood movies . The city is safe , always police are petrolin in the city . The skin color of this people are white but I never faces any racism there . As it was the part of USSR so Russian is very frequently used and there were lot’s of Russian people too .
After long try I can reach to the Hostel there was no name written outside the door . So it very confusing to find the hostel . Some local people helped me on this . It is very near to Nizzami street and bed in a dormitory priced between 5-8 mannat . There was a family stayed in this apartments and some parts is allocated to the guest . The host is very welcoming . After reaching she give me a cup of tea . but next day also give some food to me . I refused to take as I am not paying for it . Then after I feel they feel bad as I refused . This is the kind of treatment and Hospitality I got in the Baku city . People are very hospitable still it has European vice . It is my own experience that muslim country people are very hospitable towards their guests .
My hostel is near to the Nizami street . It is the place where are lots of restaurants , hotels , parks , shops ,night clubs, Turkish bath and spa . In the evening it is packed with tourists and local people . some people ride on their electronic small scooter . some resting in the park and there are lots of fountains in this area . This area is mostly pedestrian area . You can say this is the city center of Baku city . lots of Shops are filled with different items . You can see some musicians play music in the road side . It is a pleasant moment and the boulevard is not far away from this place . you can enjoy the cold breesefrom the caspian sea .
All together I stayed in the Baku city more than 10 days . One thing to remember that For Indians though Azerbaizan issued 30 day visa though if you want to stay there for more than 15 days you have to register your place of residence . That might be the Hotel or hostel . Better to request your place of residence because in asan khidmat center you can register free of cost but you need authorization center from your place of residence . It is not easy process . For the last 10 days I have to book the full days in a hostel though I have been almost 5 days to the northern area in quba and Khinaliq village .
There is underpass every where and the metro experience in this city something like a science fiction movie . This metros are build in the soviet time and metro are too much noisy . The most interesting fact of this metros are the escalator . This are almost like five to six storied building . It is so high that when you just enter into the escalator you can not see the bottom . From the bottom if you look toward the top it almost spinning your head . It is so deep .
In the platforms you can view the art and decoration which are influenced by russian culture . The ticket price in metro is .40 Mannat . How long will go . Mostly there were old lady beside the ticket punching machine and in the area where the escalator touches to the platform with uniform . they always keep strict eye on the passengers . It is written iin the Baku metro station that you can not take photo inside the metro and platform .
Summary :-
Baku is a beautiful city beside the Caspianea sea . The building of the city looks like European but it is a trans asian country . It is very popular among the Indian tourists . In the outskirt of the city there is lots of places to visit like the Yanar dag(which is the fire mountain) , mud volcano , Fire temple , oil rig and lots of Mosque . Some unique food od Baku are the dovga , Qutub , dovga , Piti and many more . As It is situated in the middle of Europeand Asia so you can have the variety of food .
