Discovering the ‘real’ Baku

Rachel Roberts gets under the skin of this little known capital city to see whether it’s got what it takes to become a hot short break destination.

"You can smell urgency in the air in Baku; a determination to catch up with other cities and become a contender on the world stage. It can be seen, too, in the ever-evolving skyline of Azerbaijan’s capital city – a brave new world of in-your-face architecture, where a new building seems to be erected daily.

Loosely translated, Azerbaijan means Land Of Fire, and the city’s most recognisable landmark, the 190-metre high Flame Towers, pay tribute every night when they blaze into glorious life. They are used to celebrate other events too; their fa-§ades doubling as vast cinema screens.

Wandering around the city, my own flame-coloured hair attracted a bit of attention, too, but I didn’t feel unsafe. The centre isn’t huge so you can easily cover most of it in a day. Do pop into one of the many indoor markets for an insight into Azeri life – although animal-lovers may find the rows – and rows – of fur coats a little tricky to deal with.

In fact, despite the language barrier – Azeri, a similar language to Turkish is spoken – people were friendly and helpful. Like the sweet guy who helped me down to the underground when he saw how utterly bamboozled I was.

I’m a huge fan of the London-based, Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid’s work, who designed the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, so I couldn’t wait to see the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, which she conceived too. And it didn’t disappoint: the huge white building boasting Hadid’s trademark fluid, undulating lines and elegance.

Of course, the main purpose of our visit to Baku was to watch the final of the World Challenge, the culmination of six weekends of motor racing around the globe.

It’s the first time the city has hosted such an event and the slightly chaotic organisation meant we got closer to the action than we were probably meant to. For a race virgin like me, it was thrilling to be so close to the cars on the starting grid that my throat thrummed with the sound of their engines. Although I suspect a health and safety officer might have had an issue with it!

A city built on the spoils of oil wealth usually has a dark side, and there is a problem with prostitution in Baku. Even in our five-star hotel it was something of an issue. Oil workers on leave are often put up by their companies for a few days and we saw several women being politely escorted off the premises by hotel staff.

For a Muslim city, it struck me as fairly liberal, however, and I’ve counted more burquas on the streets of London. I only saw one female driver, though it was hard to tell whether it was a religious thing or that the women here don’t have a death wish like the guys seem to out on the roads!

Baku has ambitions to become the ‘Dubai’ of the Caucasus region (between Europe and Asia) and is certainly making strides in the right direction. But it’s also doing very well as a city in its own right, thank you. I for one would love to return.

For more information about Baku, visit bakutourism.az
Photos by Jim Hill jimhillfreelance.com