Day 19 11 May Exploring Baku - old, new, fire and formula one

Photo above - Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku.

Oil boom

After breakfast we set off on foot to explore the city. Oil and gas is the main economy of Azerbaijan, and they were the first country to drill industrially in 1846. In recent times, Baku played a major role in the 'oil boom' of the early 20th century, when the country produced more than half the world's supply of oil and the capital grew uncontrollably.

Old city

First stop was the old city. The old city was a walled city of 22 hectares, established in the 12th century. A lot of the wall is still there, outside of which are some nice gardens, as well as a metro station! Baku was an important staging route on the silk road, given it's position on the Caspian Sea. Within the walls is the Shirvanshah's Palace complex, parts of which date back to the 15th century. This was the palace of the middle age rulers of Azerbaijan. Inside now is a small museum, and outside there are some nice views of the city

We walked through some of the streets that are now filled with cafes and souvenir shops but tastefully presented. Next we came to the Maiden Tower, which you can climb up to get great city views, just 183 steps!

We took a break next and found a cafe where we had a light lunch.

Formula One

We then walked down to the main road that is between the city, and the park that runs along the coastline here, to get a bus for the next stage of the day. The five lane road it turns out is part of the track for the annual Formula one race here. As we left on the bus we went passed the F1 pits as well.

Azerbaijan, land of fire

Next we drove a short way out of central Baku to visit Yanar Dag natural flame, a testimony to why Azerbaijan is known as the land of fire. Here you can see the natural occurrence of flames literally coming out of a hill, fueled by natural gas underground.

Next we drove about 20 minutes further out of the city to the Absheron peninsula to visit the Zoroastrian Atesgah (or fire temple). On the way we passed several oil fields, with the sort of nodding dog type drilling equipment you see in the US. Zoroasta was a prophet from Iran. The Zoroastrians worshipped fire and built temples over the fire coming out of ground. Again the stone buildings is now a simple museum. There are only about 67,000 Zoroastrians left worldwide, mostly in Iran and India, and the religion is not practised in Azerbaijan anymore.

More amazing architecture

Finally we returned to the city, driving passed some amazing buildings and structures, stopping on the way to look at the amazing architecture of the Heydar Aliyev Centre, designed by the female architect Zaha Hadid.

Tomorrow, we take a road north west into the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.