new old and new new

Well of course our flight to Baku from Moscow was late - further eroding the limited time we had to spend in Baku. (Thank you S7)

But there was a very nice gentleman in a very nice Merc waiting at the airport for us. He whizzed down the wide boulevard like roads from the airport to downtown Baku and deposited us at our hotel in the old town.

We had an afternoon and the next day to get around and see what we wanted to see - which turned out to be quite long enough!

Oil rich, the old city was renovated, restored and re-imagined to within an inch of its life and ended up feeling like a Disney version of an old Central Asian city. But quaite naice to wander around. despite the close to 40 degree heat.

Old and the new:

The Flame Towers - gharishly lit up at night:

The Carpet Museum (yes designed to look like a rolled up carpet!)

Heydar Aliyev Centre designed by Zaha Hadid - a wonderful looking building that initially didn't appeal to me until I saw it in person.:

After leaving Baku we were driven north to near the Georgian border (by the same gentleman and his Merc who collected us from the airport) to a town called Sheki where we were interested in seeing the Sheki Summer and Winter palaces.

Me enjoying cocktails on the Sheki Palace Hotel courtyard (well..a Sprite to be precise.)

Unfortunately the Sheki Summer Palace forbids interior photography so all I have is some interior photos of the Winter Palace.