Leaving the best till last

As if to leave the best till last before my tour starts I caught a cab to the Heydar Aliyev Centre. It took about 30 minutes in heavy traffic and cost NZD3.00. Around the same cost as the cheapo meal I had a wee while ago. One third of the price of the coffee in the Flame Tower. 

I am now mentally and sensory shattered sitting in the coffee shop.  The building from the outside and the surrounding area are mind blowing and too hard to describe. Wonderful waving structures that seem to waft around depending on which way you look at them. Stark white against the blue blue sky almost makes your eyes sting and you wonder what’s going on. It is indescribable. 

And then you go inside. The magic of the building continues, the curves, the attention to detail and the pure white marble are stunningly beautiful. 

Of course, then there are the exhibitions; cars, local history, dolls, foreign artists, sculpture, hand made ancient musical instruments and on level three miniature versions of some of the Baku architectural delights. 

As I came in I noticed that there was a Dali exhibition on and eagerly went in search. I’ve been to two of his work but his art is the sort of thing I can’t get enough of. I was disappointed that I had not bought a ticket to get in but my head was already spinning from the sheer sensory overload I had just 

experienced. 

Does this place ever stop giving??

I wandered off to the main road and ask a cabbie how much he wanted to take me to my next stop. NZD20. In Princess Anne’s words “Not bloody likely”.  It only cost me NZD3 to get here. I approached a young cop who was standing there looking cool. I asked about a cab and he pointed to the guy I had just asked. I shook my head and indicated 20 on my fingers. His jaw dropped and he hailed me an Uber for NZD3. What a nice guy. 

The Uber App I have doesn’t work here and they have their own equivalent but it’s just as easy to get someone to call one for you. Vehicles are not from this century but get you round town ok and are much cheaper than the cabs - I’ve caught two cabs and was ripped off each time. 

I was dropped at Fountains Square which is in the centre of an area full of Western style restaurants. All full and all charging western style prices. As well as a few boutiques around the place there was also a great kids fairground/park thing. I scooted off quite fast. 

A honey cake (that tasted of caramel and not honey) and mocktail done I set off. 
The walk home took a while Mr Google took me the long way round. In the ended up following my nose and ending up right where I should have done. 

The tour started tonight. I met out guide Ani, a lovely young Georgian girl and one fellow traveller Robert (Bob) from Boston and around the same age as me. Nice small group. Ani filled us in to the all the details of our trip and provided some interesting information. Water from the tap!  Woohoo. I can’t remember the last time I could drink tap water on my travels. What a bonus. 

Intro’s done we wandered into the old city for dinner. This part of the old city is full of restaurants serving all types of food. Ani took us to one Qaynana which was a bustly place, very busy and with an Azerbaijani menu. 

I ordered a kebab knowing that kebabs here are a little different to what we know and are basically strips of meat that were possibly threaded on a skewer when the were cooked. They come to the table without the skewer. My lamb was accompanied by sliced onions smothered with Sumac. It was yum but nothing to write home about.  It was washed down with a Xirdalan beer (the local - brewed by Carlsberg) and not too bad at all. The star of my meal was a Plov (pilau/pilaf).  Fluffy white basmati rice, encased in crunchy filo pastry. Not overly tasty but definitely worth the try. 

Our evening finished with a walk up towards the Flame Towers. My feet were sore and I think the remnants of my bug were telling my lungs to calm down so I left the others and came home. 

A fab day; the highlight definitely being the Heydar Aliyev Centre.