Castle and Fire Worshippers Temple

No longer the natural vent it once was, this is the Zorostrain Fire Temple. The building is from the 18th century but the area has been sacred since 6 AD.

Walk around the open flame three times while thinking of your greatest wish and it will be granted. Want to guess what I wished for?



There used to be countless vents like this but most have burned out. The flame seem to leap out of the ground and even burn in area with no visible places for the gas to vent. You can feel the heat from 20 feet away. I was unable to get a clear answer on how exactly they were lit, the tour guide suggested that this one was lighted by a local shepard about 40 years ago.



This is know as Ramana and is about 700 years old. It is being rennovated so we were unable to go inside. Past the castle the landscape is full of derricks and oily pools as far as you can see.

Gobustan

Today I got a tour guide and a car and went to Gobustan, about 70km South of Baku. The attraction here are the thousands of year old cave etching, made with rock into the soft limestone, and later with metal tools. The tour guide was exceptional in his description of the drawings. Here are some of the more striking ones.

A dancing petroglyph. The ritual is still practiced today.


Various animals including fish are depicted and there are literally thousands of the etchings. The glyphs also show domestication of animals and men on horseback. The women have exaggerated features of large breasts and hips with tiny heads. The men are depicted with strong legs, loin clothes, and genitals.


The ritual is that a couple getting married will run through this three times for good luck. The tour guide said that people still come up here today.

Dom Soviet, Nizami Literature Museum, Safety

During the Soviet era Azerbaijan was run out of this building. Now its mostly empty.



The Nizami Literature Museum



So far no issues with shakedowns, safety or anything like that.

Prices and Some Observations

One US Dollar is equal to about 4,600 manats. Exchange places are common (three are on the street outside my apartment) and give good two way prices on USD, Euro, Pounds, and Rubles.

Two hours in an internet cafe and three coffees cost 11,500 Manats, or about $2.50. The money is all paper bills and the smallest one I've handled is a taped together 500 manat note. Due to huge inflation since 1992 new notes will be issued this month with 1 new Manat equal to 5,000 of the old ones.

Food is inexpensive, dinner with appetizer and three drinks cost a little over $10 and you can buy lule kebabs (lamb roasted on a skewer, mixed with tomatoes and mint) on any corner for $1.

Bars and nightclubs are everywhere. Beer costs less than a dollar, but the expat places have higher prices of course. Most of the English speakers I've encountered were at these places or at tourist related places. Most of the Azeri I've encountered do not speak English.

Most of the alcohol available is imported but Azerbaijan does makes its own wines and beers. Xirdalan is brewed locally and inexpensive. The wines I've tried were stong reds and thick.

And although the population is over 90% Muslim, Islam seems to be practiced as more of a tradition. The mosques are low key and barely distinguishable from any other buildings.

Also no one wears sneakers.

Old Town

This is Old Town right off the water in Baku. It is no longer an entirely walled fortress but most of it is still standing. The inside contains the Palace of the Shirvan Shahs and a maze of steep narrow streets. Its not set up as a tourist attraction, people live and work inside.







This is the wall from the inside. Only the outer streets in Old Town are wide enough for cars and even then, just barely.

Nagorno Karagh Conflict

“We Turks, we know how to deal with those Armenians, don’t we” he said, slapping me on the back and giving me a cut throat leer. This is from the brilliant ‘Sons of the Conquerors’ by Hugh Pope, a Wall Street Journal correspondent who runs the Istanbul news bureau.

This bitterness stems from the Nagorno Karabagh conflict in the West. To get a complete summary of the war with Armenia would take a book. But essentially after the collapse of Russia, Armenia demanded the area of Azerbaijan currently occupied by many ethnic Amenians and Kurds. Azeri troops were ill prepared for the Armenians and lost the actual war and the PR war as well. The Azeris despise Armenians although the recent re-election of Ilham Alyiev has brought renewed hope of resolution. There are almost no Armenians still residing in Baku.

Here is a picture of the Armenian church. According to Azerbaijan by Mark Elliot, "..it is used to store billiard tables as the entire Aremnian community has departed." The front entrance is bricked off as are several windows. The back seems to have a working door but was inaccessible. The back of the church is surrounded by a large locked fence.



Edit: This was previously labeled as an Armenian Church that was acting as a warehouse. That is not the case. It is the Opera & Ballet Theatre. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm actually not sure what this place sells