Today's hotel breakfast was a premade platter of a subset of items from the buffet yesterday, as well as an omelet. The lady serving it didn't really ask if that's what I wanted. I made sure that what I saw in the omelet was cheese and not meat, and she took back the meat from the tray, and then I ate it.
I headed out to meet the guide at an updated meeting point. I had booked the double gates as my point as it's a minute from the hotel. I hadn't originally noticed that when he sent me a confirmation message, he changed the pickup place. It was only 15 minutes away, but I wanted to allow time to get lost or pick up snacks.
Once everyone had gathered, we hopped into a brand-new minibus/van that was decked out like a party bus. We first went by the Formula 1 station, and he pointed out where a speed record was set. Then, he told us about Stalin's time in Baku, and about other famous people with connections to Baku.
We took a path similar to what I had taken on the bus last night and saw the oil derricks in during the day. They're actually cooler at night. 
Outside Bibi-Heybat Mosque
Our first stop was the Bibi-Heybat mosque. There was a mosque here a long time ago, but the soviets tore it down during their "antireligious" crusade. Since, the mosque has been rebuilt. The outside is very Persian and reminds one of the desert. The inside is shiny. The floors have Azerbaijani carpets on them. The stained glass windows were nice, but it was raining outside, so I'm sure they're much better in the sun.
Inside mosque
On the way to the next stop, we learned about Azerbaijan. The guide was very open about the corruption, talking about how his cop relatives are rich from bribes. He talked about how Iran is seen as a troublesome neighbor. There are more Azerbaijanis in Iran than Azerbaijan, but their language has long been suppressed. However, since the new president is Azerbaijani, he has started giving interviews in Azerbaijani and building Azerbaijani schools, so there's hope.
He did point out some sights from the window, but it's too rainy to really see anything. He also told us that it's unfortunately too rainy to go off-roading to see the mud volcanoes. We'd have to settle for seeing them from a different place.
Our next stop was a minimarket. I had already picked out snacks for today, but I did want to bring back something for an Azerbaijani friend. Yesterday's guide has suggested horrible Soviet wine, but today's guide had a better suggestion- special cookies that they had for the Nowruz holiday. They have a flaky outer pie-like crust and are filled with a sweet nut mixture. I think that's a bit of a better suggestion. Plus, I wouldn't have to check luggage just for the wine. 
Mud volcano
We entered Gobustan. Someone noted that the scenery was like a browner, wetter version of the Southwest US. Flattish ground with only scrub cover stretched for miles, with vague mountains in the distance. Occasionally, we spotted a herd of sheep or cows.
We arrived at the mud volcano site. It's apparently very new. It used to be that on days that are rainy like this, tours would be canceled completely as the off road vehicles couldn't get out in the mud. But now, there is an area with a boardwalk that runs past a few of the mud volcanoes so that people can at least walk by a few.
At least the ones we saw here are much less impressive than the videos I saw of them.
The guide did point out a few stages of their "lifecycle". We saw a flat puddle on the ground that was bubbling. (A baby). We saw a short 1-foot tall volcano shape that started to have bubbly mud. (A young one.) And we saw mounds taller than we were, with big pools with multiple bubble spots.
The guide explained that the bubbles are caused by methane and oil escaping the ground, so there's no lava and these are not hot. The mud is also not rich in special minerals, it's just oily mud, not for skincare.
The bubbles are constant, but not as big or often as I had expected.
It was cool to see, but a bit underwhelming. Still, it was something different, so I'm glad I saw it.
Bubble in the volcano
Next stop was an open air "museum" of petroglyphs. I've seen stuff like this before, where the lines are hard to see, and even if you can see them, it's hard to figure out how the scientists decided that it was some specific animal. Here, most carvings were much clearer. While I still couldn't have guessed the animal on a few, most were obviously cows or horses or whatever animal they were. They were actually pretty impressive.
Petroglyph
The guide took us through a small rocky hike so we could see them all, and he explained the petroglyphs, the rituals with the shamans, the water collection methods, and other history of the site.
It was rainy and misty the whole time, so visibility was limited. (It reminded me of Machu Picchu early in the morning, before the mists had lifted.) He'd occasionally say "if it weren't rainy, you'd see x if you look over there."
Rainy hike through petroglyphs
One thing we didn't see because of the rain is the nearby prison. He joked that it was for the worst offenders- the opposition to the government. He was very forthcoming about the government being a dictatorship.
On the way out, we saw a fox, which is apparently a rare sight. The fox was attracted by the food that a local was feeding to some street cats. It took some and disappeared off into the woods.
lady feeding cats and a fox
We headed back to town and I got a nice nap in the minibus. I awoke to the guide explaining that the Sydney opera house-like building on our right is a shopping mall built by a family member of the dictator during coronavirus when everyone else was not allowed to do stuff.
He was not shy about comparing the current government to the Ceausescus in Romania and asking Santa to give them a similar Christmas present.
He pointed out a few other important buildings and which section was owned by all of the various government ministers.
I asked if he was concerned that someone in the government would find out what he's saying. He said that he's been called to the police before and told to stop posting on social media. But he doesn't feel he has anything to lose, so he'll continue speaking his mind.
We finally made it to the lunch place. It's a standard tourist trap where the guides get commission or freebies for dragging in groups. The menu has Azerbaijani specialties, European specialties, and Indian specialties, because that seems to be where a lot of the tourists are from. Another group came in and I waved to one of the other tourists I ate dinner with yesterday. Later I waved to someone else on my tour yesterday who was in even a different group. 
tourist food
I did enjoy my overpriced Azerbaijani food though. I got a tower of fried eggplant that actually had a tasty sauce on top, that sort of reminded me of a sweet Szechuan sauce. I had a dish that had something green inside and the outside was the same bread from last night that was something between a piece of phyllo dough and a tortilla. I also got the same eggplant rolls as yesterday lunch, although from the picture on the menu, I thought I was getting something completely different. And I really enjoyed the huge pear soda. Based on the price differential to the other beverages, I believe this was local. It may have been overpriced, but at least there were sauces, spices, and flavor on it, unlike some of the other local foods I had.
After we all finished eating, we walked over to the Atashgah temple. On the way, we passed a much smaller Azerbaijani restaurant and a cafe, both with much more reasonable prices, but neither with room for big tour groups. In any case, I enjoyed the company of eating with the group, so I won't fret over a few manat.
temple
The Atashgah temple is also known as the fire temple. It is a holy place for Zoroastrians and Hindus, so that's one reason there are a lot of Indian tourists in Azerbaijan.
First, the fire was from the natural gas that was in the ground. The Zoroastrians built a temple. Then, it was a stop on the silk road, and acted as a caravanserai for traders. Many Hindus came to worship and become ascetics. Eventually, the fire went out, but the Soviets brought in piped natural gas to make it into a historic monument.
We saw some Indians praying at the main fire, and even some coins that had been put in as offerings.
carving over room in temple
The rooms that would have been used for ascetics and traders has displays relating to the history of the site. Some had creepy dioramas, others had artifacts, and others just had pictures. Many, but not all, had plaques in English explaining what was there.
The rooms were very warm, in contrast to the bitter cold outside. I couldn't find a heating system, so I think they have some kind of in-wall heating, but the guide thinks it's just that the curtains block the air flow. I find it hard to believe that they could be that warm naturally.
caravan life diorama
We popped back into the minibus to head to our next site, another fire site.
This one is fueled by natural gas leaking from the ground and has been lit for at least 1000 years. It could go out tomorrow or in another 1000 years, nobody knows.
Eternal Flame
A hill was built during a world war so that bombers wouldn't see the fire so easily and wouldn't be able to use it to tell where the oil fields were, but otherwise it's been this way.
The warmth was welcome. It had become increasingly frigid throughout the day. I was now in my full Antarctica coat.
I asked about the pile of coins in the fire. The guide said that they're mostly rupees thrown by people who believe that they'll come back if they throw in a coin.
Just as we were warmed by the fire, the guide said we had to go to our last stop- the I love Baku sign.
We hopped out of the van, grabbed a picture, and went back in.
Our guide had been pressuring us for reviews since lunch, before we even finished the tour. He tried again, but the site hadn't opened reviewing yet. I found it extremely pushy, and was glad that I would have time to process and not have to do the review in front of him.
When the tour was over, it dropped us at the Sahil metro station. Since I had a lot of bus money left on my card, I thought it was a good idea to test out my route for the morning. I'm going to need to be on the first metro train, and so far I've only used the buses.
The metro is easy to use, but I'm glad I tried it since the entrance and exit are on different sides, which is important to know if you're in a rush. It's a simple process- you theow your bag on the x-ray machine, get it, scan your card to open the turnstile, and go in. There aren't jumpers as there are police everywhere. I guess Sunday is a normal workday here, because the metro was extremely crowded. I wasn't confident that everyone waiting would fit on the already-full train.
I took it to the May 28 stop and made sure I knew exactly how to get out to the airport bus. I was hoping to also find something interesting for dinner, but KFC and doner were the only choices, so I took the metro back to another station that seemed close to my hotel. It is not closer and is uphill, so I won't be using that one. It did, however have really cool mosaics in it. I have no idea what stories they're supposed to tell, but I liked them.
Metro Art
I found myself looking for dinner near all of the Indian restaurants and tourist ones again. I really didn't want to spend that kind of money.
And then I got lucky. I saw a little out of the way hole in the wall called Purple that said they had Korean street food. I love Korean food.
I was a bit annoyed that they only had QR codes for a menu, and then the website wasn't even translatable. So now I couldn't use google translate lens AND I couldn't translate the page. I had to click on each item individually and pop them into translate, which was super annoying.
Restaurant owners, take note: QR codes suck. Just make a regular menu.
I don't think I'm quite their target audience though. The place was decorated with pictures of k-pop bands and k-pop memorabilia. K-pop was playing on the speakers. They actually had some k-pop items (like stickers, stuffies, etc) on the menu. Some kids came in at one point not to eat, but just to browse for Blackpink something. (They were in tiny boxes, not really sure what they were.)
I had ordered a mozzarella corn dog, which was basically a huge mozzarella stick on a stick. It was gooey and cheesy and delicious on its own, but everyone knows that all food is better on a stick. The kimchi ramen was also delicious. It was spicy and hot and perfect for a cold day. I was very happy with my choice.
I headed back to the hotel to pack, chat with the kids, and get to bed at a reasonable time, but took a little detour on the way. I still hadn't gotten my Azerbaijani pin for my collection, and I wanted to scope out bakeries.
I had been to the historic part of old town and also to the path to my hotel, but there was a street that seemed to be restaurants and souvenir shops for tourists that I hadn't seen yet.
I caught a guy just closing up his souvenir cart and asked about a pin. He wanted 3 manat. I know that you're supposed to negotiate, but I just can't bring myself to negotiate 25 cents off something that is already so cheap. I had already set a price I was willing to pay in my mind, and this was well within that. I'm sure he needs it more than me, so I just paid it.
I also noticed that there was a restaurant that said it was open 24/7. I thought it might be great for breakfast, since I doubted much else would be open before 6am. The menu wasn't great though, and they wanted crazy prices for simple food like bread and jam.
So, I finished up my last day in Azerbaijan.
On the way here, I wasn't able to get my boarding pass via online check in, but on the way back, I was. It allowed me to be a bit more relaxed about timing. Still, I wanted to be at the metro when it opened at 6am to get to the airport bus early enough to allow for waiting.
This morning, it was truly raining.
I don't know which European civil engineer designed these streets but the drainage, especially on the cobblestones of the streets near old town, is horrible. There are huge puddles everywhere.
What's open at 5:45 am here? Not much, as expected. I passed a open minimarket or convenience store here and there, but also a karaoke bar where someone was singing Gangsta's Paradise.
I arrived at the metro just past 6, and there was a line to get in. The doors were opened shortly, and everyone tumbled through.
Fortunately, the trains weren't overpacked at this time of morning. I had an easy ride to the bus and caught it just as the driver had started moving.
I had intended to spend my last few manat on some breakfast, expecting some kind of bakery to be open, but nothing was. Even at the airport, the breakfast choices were extremely limited. I ended up with a vending machine croissant, hoping the plane food would be ok. If not, I could always dip into the food I was bringing home.
This plane was a bit better than the last. It still had jo in flight entertainment, but the seatback pocket stretched to accommodate my water bottle and there was a usb charging port.
The food was equally unseasoned, but that made it worse this time. Who wants a pile of wilted spinach and sauteed mushrooms without sauce? The eggs covered with beans and tomatoes were ok because they at least put plenty of salt in. Even bad fried potatoes are good, but I would have loved some sauce or other flavor.
Oh well. The plane got me home with a more-charged phone battery, so I really can't complain.
My conclusion for Azerbaijan Airways after 2 flights: it's a normal airline with bland food. Nothing stands out except for lack of entertainment.
This featured blog entry was written by spsadventures from the blog Adventures by spsadventures.
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