The journey through Azerbaijan has just begun and Baku is the first destination of my exploration. The time difference and the travel take a toll. But I’m in no hurry. There is a good breakfast on site. Armed with the camera, I set off. I actually want to find a SIM card first, but there are too many photos to take. My hotel is in the old town near the city walls.

The entire old town is a museum and is well preserved. I have a few days before my friends Uwe and Chris come from Germany to explore the old town of İçərişəhər on my own. The beautiful city center begins outside the city walls. First, however, I follow the gradient down to the waterfront, where I have a panoramic view of old and new Baku.

I follow the chic promenade and look at the not very appetizing water. The surface shimmers in menacing rainbow colors and wobbly lumps float in the light waves. The port appears to be affected by a permanent oil spill.

The stately townhouses in the city center date from the beginning of the oil boom. The modern city center is also very impressive. The city derives its wealth from oil, but nature pays the price.

To my right is a modern building that looks like a flower and is a shopping center, the Dəniz Mall. However, it is not intended to represent a flower, but rather the waves of the Caspian Sea. Behind it is the Krystal Palace, where the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 took place. The event transformed the entire city and made Azerbaijan famous. Many souvenir shops still sell flags with the event’s logo.

Not far away is the Carpet Museum, easily recognizable by its shape. The building really looks incredible. However, I save myself the entrance fee and look at the building from the outside, as I am only partially enthusiastic about the hundreds of knotted doormats.

I’m now heading towards the city center because I finally want to get a SIM card. Azerbaijanis recommend me a street in the city center where there are numerous telecommunications shops. There are tariffs from many providers there. Finally I receive my 30 GB SIM card from Azercell for 39 AZN. An eSIM would have only been 3GB for 30 AZN.

The old-fashioned SIM card is a better deal. As soon as I finally have mobile internet I will also receive two invitations. An invitation for a birthday at the home of my work colleague from Baku, then an invitation for a walk through the city from a lady from Couchsurfing.

The city center of Baku presents itself with a splendor that clearly grew out of the oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Magnificent boulevards, elegant European-style facades and lavishly designed city palaces speak of a time when “black gold” brought wealth, influence and cosmopolitan life to the city.

You can still feel this historical prosperity today in the architecture, the finely restored buildings and the sophisticated flair that envelops the city center like a shimmering cloak. The style seems to be particularly based on the architecture of French cities and I am impressed by how far this impressive city center extends.

Now it’s really high time to accept my first invitation. First I have to go back to the old town to take a shower at my hotel. For my birthday I take the metro because I have to go far away. The metro is very modern and works with a chip card. There are machines at the entrance to load the cards, but no cards themselves.

Nobody understands me and can tell me where to buy the card. A woman looks at me angrily and uncomprehendingly, then shrugs her shoulders, holds her own chip card to the barrier sensor and lets me in. How nice!!!

There are only two lines, so the risk of getting lost is quite low.

I reach the Ahmadli district, which looks very Soviet dilapidated. It reminds me of the log buildings from Yakutsk. This area represents a big contrast to the chic city center. So the pretty architecture will eventually come to an end. My colleague Yusif leads me here from the metro and leads me up the unlit stairs to the open apartment door, where a family of mom, sisters, uncles and cousins ​​welcomes me.

There is very, very much to eat. Yusif is on home leave with his wife, who is also present, and is clearly enjoying being at home. The communication is fun. I can speak English with one of them, German with the other, a few words of Russian and Turkish with my mother and Persian with an uncle. Together they speak a mixture of everything.

Eventually everyone says goodbye and I head into town to accept my second invitation.

Elvira comes from Baku, but lived in Berlin for some time, is still enthusiastic about the German capital and is looking forward to improving her German. She shows me places with a great view of the city at night. Too bad I left the camera at home. I’m going to bed very late again.

And I’m exhausted again when I wake up in the morning. Somehow I feel like this every day in Baku. The city reminds me of Berlin.

The day begins again with planned Azerbaijanis. The breakfast room looks empty and messy. Only when I find someone do I find out that the lady in the kitchen is sick and that all the guests are being escorted to another hotel for breakfast.

This time I’m walking in a different direction, deeper into the city and getting around the city is very cheap and easy thanks to mobile internet with Bolt and Uber. That’s why I’m quickly taken to Təzəpir məscidi – the Tezepir Mosque.

This mosque is not far from the old town and I am impressed by its location in a beautiful park. For a Muslim country, there are remarkably few mosques here. Alcohol and similar things are not a problem here.

Then I take an Uber to the promenade again and look at all the beautiful places that I saw that night. I stroll along Neftchilar Prospect, the large avenue near the promenade through which Formula 1 racing cars race during the annual race.

In the afternoon I meet Turana for a cup of tea through Couchsurfing. The young woman actually lives in Glasgow, but is now enjoying her warm home. Afterwards I meet the couch surfer Elvira again, who also shows me a lot of the city at night.

In the middle of the night on October 13th, my friends Uwe and Chris finally arrive. At 4:30 my phone rings – it’s Uwe. Luckily, I had already sent him access to the hotel’s WiFi in case they too found themselves in front of locked doors. And of course it happens the same way. At least I now know in which other hotel you can still find check-in staff at this time. Everything seems wonderfully chaotic again – as so often in Azerbaijan: the people are warm-hearted, helpful, but completely disorganized.

When the two finally hold their room keys in their hands, the night has long since turned into early morning. But a reunion after such a long time calls for celebration – so we open a bottle of whiskey and toast.

Shortly after five in the morning it tastes surprisingly good, perhaps because tiredness and joy mix into a pleasant high.

There’s nothing like a glass of whiskey with your friends at 5am!

Later in the day, half awake and still slightly dazed, I set off through the old town with my friends. I now know every alley, every hidden courtyard, every winding corner of Baku. We immediately leave the old town to explore the city center together. I start by showing my friends my favorite places so far and we start in the “Little Venice“.

Of course, we also have to go to Baku’s great landmark: The Flame Towers, Baku’s iconic Flame Towers, shape the city’s skyline like no other building. The three glass skyscrapers rise above the old town like stylized flames and symbolize the historic Tierra del Fuego of Azerbaijan – a country that has been associated with natural gas, fire cult and Zoroastrian tradition for thousands of years.

The towers look particularly spectacular at night, when thousands of LEDs dance across the facades and create moving fire illusions that are visible far beyond the city. Whether as a modern landmark, an architectural statement or a symbol of economic awakening – the flame towers connect past and future and show how impressively the new Baku can shine.

The important government buildings are also located here on this hill. An “Avenue of Martyrs” leads past the graves of people who died on January 20, 1990: “Black January is the violent suppression of the Azerbaijani independence movement and the pogrom against the Armenians in Baku on January 19-20, 1990 by troops of the Soviet Union. The event resulted in the deaths of over a hundred Civilians, mostly Azerbaijanis, whereas around 90 Armenians had been killed in the previous pogrom.” (Wikipedia).

I think that Azerbaijanis should remember more often that the Armenians suffered just as much at the hands of the Russians as they did.

There is a lot of sorrow that connects the two peoples.

At the end of the avenue is the Shahidlar Monument with an “Eternal Flame”.

From here we have a good view over the city, the harbor and the huge flagpole that is not far from us.

We spend a long, exuberant day in Baku. In the evening we meet my colleague Yusif again in a remote brewery and learn that in Azerbaijan you never drink beer alone, but only in company and with small bites to eat. The NZS Pivә Zavodu is almost forty minutes’ drive from the old town and our Uber driver gets lost in the darkness of the evening in the small streets that now have more industrial buildings and gas combustion towers than residential houses.

In a niche behind a parking lot and next to a refinery you will find the brewery, whose lush beer garden with its idyll seems very out of place among the brutal industrial buildings.

Yusif welcomes me right at the door!

He also takes us to a friend with a shisha bar in town where we relax for a bit. Smoking together is an integral part of the city culture here. But there is no alcohol in shisha bars. However, there are enough other bars and pubs.

A few days later, at the end of our trip, we are sitting with Elvi in ​​a bar and can witness the special event for Azerbaijan: the Champions League football game between Atheletic Balbao and Qarabağ.

On the morning of October 13th we met Elvi again, this time for breakfast at a roof top bar with a great view over the city and the sea.

It’s our last day in Baku, because tomorrow we want to rent an off-road vehicle and explore the Caucasus.

Afterwards we visit the futuristic Heydər Əliyev Merkezi. Azerbaijani President Heydər Aliyev has created a very personal monument for himself with this museum and cultural center. From a bird’s eye view, the building takes the shape of the president’s signature.

Unfortunately, the extravagant museum is closed on Mondays, so we can only admire it from the outside. The construction work doesn’t seem to be finished yet, as the park is still disturbed and full of barriers.

After a coffee in Elvis’ favorite café, we decide to visit the village of Bibiheybət outside Baku. To do this we have to take an Uber another half hour out of the city. We also spend a good time there until the evening. (-> Baku South)

We head back into town to see the illuminated scenery from the sea at sunset.

We take a boat and get there just in time. In the dark we can no longer see that we are actually driving over an oil slick. The Krystal Hall, the largest flag in the world, the flame towers and the other buildings in the city are illuminated from their most impressive side.

We leave Baku and explore the Absheron Peninsula not far from the capital. We visit a huge mosque north of Baku.

It’s called – surprise! – Heydar Mosque and was completed in December 2014 and dedicated to then President Heydar Aliyev.

After our return to Baku after traveling through Azerbaijan’s hinterland, Elvi immediately knows how to fill our day. We visit the Ahmad Javad Museum.

This famous son of the country was a patriot and poet who, among other things, wrote the lyrics to today’s national anthem. His apartment is now a museum

The Nationale Historische Museum is also interesting and shows everything that has happened over the years of the country’s history, from hand axes to bazookas.

Many artifacts are on display and you get a good idea of ​​why the country looks the way it does today.

Azerbaijan presents itself to me in many different ways. I see modern Baku with my old friends and new ones I made here. The city has many charms and also impresses with its historic old town.

I also see the terrifying landscape of the Absheron Peninsula as well as the picturesque village south of Baku. The country has many faces and it is exciting to see all of them.