Today was our first full day in Baku. Baku is a city of 4 million people in a country of 10 million people. It is very cosmopolitan and modern, as well as ancient and historic. It feels Middle Eastern and European and Persian all at the same time.
We are staying at the Shah Palace Hotel in the Old City. Diane ready to go!
Interior courtyard of the hotel
This is how they serve honey at breakfast!
Around the Old City:
Ruins of St. Bartholomew's Church, destroyed in the 19th C. by the Soviet Union:
The Maiden's Tower - a 12 C. structure (though the first part was built in the 5th or 6th C as part of the Zoroastrian ritualistic tradition), with 5 meter thick walls and 8 cylindrical floors.
Up we go...
The view from the top!!!
Caviar from Caspian Sea Sturgeon - so yummy!
Saj - Beef with onions, mushrooms, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, dried pomegranate seeds, dill, and potatoes, served with tortillas
Appetizer salads with bread:
Buta - eggplant with walnuts & mushrooms
Chicken with walnuts & prune
Traditional Greek salad
And.... dessert! Shekerbura - Walnut, hazelnut in a soft dough.
After lunch we visited the Shah's Palace. This was the palace of the Shirvinshah Dynasty from the 14th - 16th Century.
Detail of Door
More around town
Gate to the Old City
At a tea shop:
The Flame Towers! The modern symbol of Baku, built with a nod to the city's Zoroastrian roots:
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