One way to Bakı
a mini adventure
Some time back I had bought an unlimited yearly pass on Wizzair for €499, letting me fly wherever and whenever I like on their network. They must have had seller’s remorse soon after the scheme was announced, because it only lasted a while. It was followed by several emails from the company moving the goalposts, I assume to deal with unwanted consequences such as workers commuting from Bucharest to London every day to save on London rent. The conditions are: you can only book 3 days in advance, and you pay a nominal sum for any leg not starting in your own country.
The webpage for subscribers is distinctly cheerless. Instead of displaying where you could fly, it asks for destination and departure date and then mostly says sorry, no flights. I was toying with it a few days ago, going down the list of destinations and found I could fly to Baku, on the Caspian, for very little extra cash, so I booked it. I’ve always wanted to go to Baku, a famous Russian boomtown in pre-Soviet days, full of Belle Epoque architecture, with natural gas leaking out of the ground in flames all around. Readers of Alexandre Dumas’ account of his trip in the Caucasus will know what I mean.
I therefore booked a Baku one-way flight, got an airbnb, a visa for Azerbaijan, etc. all insanely easy. My plan is to spend two full days in Baku. I realized it was actually called Bakı in Azeri, the dotless i being the sound transliterated in Russian as ы, the driest, meanest wovel sound known to man. I remember a drunken conversation with a Russian philologist once during which we agreed that if one matched vowels to vegetables, ы would self-evidently be horseradish.
Anyway, Baku: the genius architect Zaha Hadid built her largest projects there for the Heydar Aliyev Centre and I plan to see it and take pictures. Also a cuisine midway between Turkey and Persia (I drool as I write). Also the possibility of buying some pressed caviar to bring back. Currently my ticket is one way, and I hope I can find a flight back on the Wizzair site in due course. If not, I may be crossing Turkey from East to West in buses and will be some time.
Enjoy it! I've been to Baku in 2018. I enjoyed it, but found a distinct divide in the quality of the buildings depending on the area, I guess like most cities, but especially more in capital cities in the Middle East and such places. I know this well because I spent my childhood in a Middle Eastern city.
And yes the food is excellent. The museum is truly magnificent to witness. Have a great time.
We ended up travelling to Georgia after visiting Baku. That was a country to behold!
"If not, I may be crossing Turkey from East to West in buses and will be some time." In that case, dear Luca, I hope you'll bring your tablet with you, so we don't go hungry for too long!