4-6 Baku Old City

A lot of walking today.  Our hotel, Hotel De Vinci is in the old city.  We were so happy that we had someone from the hotel pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel.  We parked outside the city walls and walked in.  The scene below is just across the street.

We went out one of the city gates to take a photo of the wall.

There is a park with fountains and restaurants just outside the wall.

It is difficult to navigate in this area.  They are getting ready for a Formula One race to be held at the end of April.  Notice the fencing in front of the pink building.  These fences are all around the old town.  The race is held right on these main streets in the city.

This happy dude is Aliaga Vahad, a famous  Azerbaijan poet.

The Flame towers are very tall.   We are very near the Shirvashanah Palace.  We tried to pay for tickets in with several credit cards - none of which seem to work here.  Then a 100 Manat bill.  Fee was 30 Manat - but the ticket booth had no change what so ever.  We will try to go back with exact change.

Street scenes - Cats are hanging on for dear life in Baku as well as at home!

As we wandered the streets, a woman came out of the building - Ah - you must be looking for the Quran Library.  Let me show you.  So in we go.  Lots of Qurans from many centuries.

A more modern version - I like the design.

The area in and around the Old City is interesting.  They are in the process of revitalization.  So sometimes you see something like below - Just a painting of what it used to look like.

And then the real thing!

A work in progress.  I liked the scroll work.

More street scenes

Then into the shopping part of the old city.

Mike making the serious selection of a magnet from Azerbaijan.  He ended up also buying a camel haired scarf for $5.88.

We wandered into an area where there were a lot of studio cameras setup.  then came across this scene.  There were a lot of men dressed as policeman and others as thugs.  They were practicing a throw-down scene over and over.

 The Maiden Tower.  Lots of legends, but still not sure why it is called that.

From Maiden tower back to where we came from.  Police extras watching the action from the "throw-down" scene.

 Replicas of things from archaeological digs.

Old walls?  Lots of modern vendors selling wears hanging on the fences.

The Maiden Tower is 29 meters high - we didn't count - but at least 6 stories high.  Steps heights are not even but not the worse we have been on.  But we made it to the top.  There are glass walls all around the top - too many suicides.

And another shot when we finally got back down.

More views.

We saw several versions of these "horse People" today.  Kids seem to like them.  These are in Fountains Square.  All the photos below are in Fountains Square.

Just across the way is the Hard Rock Cafe  - just made for reflection shots.

Another famous Azerbaijan dude.

No, not him - he's from Albuquerque!

We came across a restaurant with some interesting designs on its outside walls.

And more horse people near the old city walls.

This fountain was actually working - real water!  Baku is just starting to flower out.

Maiden Tower from a distance.

We had lunch today at a fast food Turkish Donner place.  We spent $9.  Dinner tonight was at a local restaurant just up the street from our hotel.  Maybe 20 people total.  They specialized in Tandir.  We had the chicken version.  Our appetizers were Qutab's.  One with greens and one with meat.  The greens were delicious, but we couldn't remember what kind of greens they were.  Back to the main dish.  They cut the chicken into small pieces and you never know when you will find a tiny bone in your mouth.  But quite delicious.  Served with grilled egg plant, squash, peppers and potatoes.  With a drink each and bottled water it came out to around $34.  As we were eating we noted what the table next to us were being served.  The three young people were very friendly and spoke English.  One young man explained to us how to eat the Qutabs.  You sprinkle sumac flakes on them, then rolled them up and ate them.  I asked him what he had ordered.  It had arrived steaming hot with a wonderful smell.  He brought his dish over and proceeded to put a small serving on each of our plates!  He had gotten a traditional Azeri (Azerbaijanee) breakfast dish of scrambled eggs and tomatoes.