How do you do, Baku

Rachel Roberts joined a delegation of media from around the world to discover Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and a newcomer to tourism.

Our coach driver stopped for the umpteenth time and asked a bunch of bewildered-looking policemen directions to the hotel. It felt like Ground Hog Day; we’d been driving around in circles in the dark for what seemed like hours.

As a group of journalists and photographers arriving in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, primarily to cover the final of the World Challenge – and see 30 racing cars hare around a circuit – the irony wasn’t lost on us.

To be fair, the city’s traffic had been thrown into utter chaos by the temporary 4km track created for the racing over the weekend of 23 – 24 November 2013, but it still didn’t feel like the most auspicious start to our five-day trip.

It was the first time Baku had hosted the race; part of the city’s continuing mission to be picked up by travellers’ radars. That work began in earnest in 2012, when the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the city’s bling-tastic Crystal Hall and beamed to audiences around the world, and will continue in 2015 when the European Games are hosted here.

You’re looking at a six-hour flight to get from the UK to Azerbaijan; a country tucked between Turkey, Russia, Iran and the Caspian Sea. I confess; when the invite pinged into my inbox, I had to have a quick spin of the globe on my desk to locate the intriguing-sounding country.

Baku itself sits on a peninsula jutting out into the Caspian Sea and as we were to discover, is a real mix of modern and ancient. Many of the city’s 2 million inhabitants seemed to be strolling along the crescent-shaped waterfront during the day, enjoying some late winter sun.

Not that the sea views will win any beauty prizes, punctuated as they are with the spectral silhouettes of oil rigs, their eternal flames burning up the sky.

Thanks to a new oil boom (the country currently provides a fifth of the world’s petroleum), Azerbaijan is enjoying a time of prosperity so isn’t reliant on tourism to support its economy. Just as well: despite declaring independence from the former Soviet Union back in 1991, tourism still feels very much in its infancy here, which isn’t a problem for the more intrepid traveller, but could throw up some issues for those who like an easier time of it.

As with many media trips, we were ushered around the places a minister of tourism deems to be important, and certainly the beautiful Old City – declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 – was spellbinding.

The tiny walled city houses the 15th-century Shirvanshah’s Palace – considered to be one of the ‘pearls’ of Azerbaijan architecture – and the Maiden Tower, built between the seventh and 12th century. Today, 300 families live and work in the city, but it still retains an ancient, mysterious air.

The Maiden Tower

Fascinating as the tour was, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the modern skyline that shoots up behind the old city. The Flame Towers are particularly striking – three towers that light up like fire when night falls. As lovely as our guide was, I was itching to ditch him, rip up my map and get under the skin of the city…

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