Baku / Azerbaijan Visit and Observations / Findings

First, let me explain how you can get to Baku from Türkiye. Turkish Airlines operates 5 flights daily from Istanbul to Baku. The flight takes approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. Azerbaijan requires visas on arrival for Turkish citizens, but does not require visas for holders of green passports. After landing at the airport, your photo is taken at customs and your visa is issued. Some websites mention that visa officers charge extra, but I haven't witnessed anything like that.

Heydar Aliyev Airport is a newly completed, very modern airport, symbolizing that you've landed in a modern city. The roads leading from the airport to the city center are four-lane and paved with very high-quality asphalt. Along the way, luxurious new buildings greet you with their illuminated facades. Although the roads are very wide, the traffic flows differently than what we are used to. No matter how wide the road is, the lanes for going and coming are designed on separate routes; that is, the road is six lanes wide but one-way, the return lane is designed from a different place, there are very few traffic lights, and honking is common here.

We visited on March 17-18, 2015, and at that time, serious construction preparations were underway for the 1st European Games to be held in June. Numerous stadiums and playing fields were being built. They proudly explained that they were also constructing the world's most expensive building in Baku, a project being undertaken by Socar, Azerbaijan's national fuel company.

I would recommend Qafqaz Point Hotel for accommodation; it received top marks from us in terms of cleanliness, service, and food quality.

Many foreigners live in Baku; you can encounter more foreigners than Azerbaijani Turks on the streets. In fact, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and other restaurants are everywhere.

Azerbaijani Turkish differs from the Turkish spoken in Türkiye, but with a little effort, communication is quite easy. From the moment you land at the airport, this beautiful language greets you with billboards. They use some words that seem strange to us, for example, they use the word "pis" for bad or "beynelxalk" for international. Actually, looking at the essence of the words, we can say they use pure Turkish.

Here are a few more examples:

Neft: Petrol

Nuş olsun: Bon appétit

What is its value?: What is its price?

Zavod: Factory (a word from Russian)

Yüngül: Light

Maşın: Car (Machine)

Eid Mubarak: Happy Eid!

Yaxşi: Beautiful

Beli: Okay, yes, of course.

Baku is a city situated on the shores of the Caspian Sea (formed by the confluence of the Don and Volga rivers, connecting Lake Khazar to the sea). However, I haven't seen much benefit from the Caspian Sea in the city center, as it has been severely polluted by oil extraction; a slick of oil is clearly visible floating on the surface.

Their food culture is very similar to ours; meat is very popular and found in almost every dish. Here, meat is sold without being refrigerated; meat that has reached the point of being refrigerated is considered stale. A lot of rendered lamb fat is used in the dishes; if you want less fat, you must specify it beforehand. Also, a salad, which they call a vegetable salad, comes with the meal, containing herbs like green onions, dill, watercress, and parsley, and it always includes cilantro. The taste of cilantro is a bit different from ours; if you don't like it, you need to mention it beforehand. However, eating in restaurants is very expensive (we had to pay 79 manat (71.8 Euros, 200 TL) for two soups and two lamb chops), and after paying that much, we didn't dare eat anywhere else. There might be cheaper places, but unfortunately, we didn't have time to try them. Tea time is a must in Baku. Tea is served in porcelain teapots; they brew all the tea in one teapot, and a thyme tea is also served alongside. They mix the two together before drinking. There are also always various jams, lemonade, and sweets served with the tea. They drink the tea without sugar, or if sugar is needed, they drink it with a small amount (like a sugar cube). Tea is a very important part of the culture here and is very much loved.

Baku is a very luxurious and modern city. What surprised us most was that all the buildings, without exception, had their facades illuminated; they lit up the night as if it were daytime. However, the common feature of all the illuminated buildings was that their facades were covered with a special stone, and they were all located on the main streets. We didn't have the chance to go into the back streets, but according to what we were told, the back neighborhoods of Baku are in a state of squalor. There are very large and historical buildings from the Russian period, and these buildings are still very well-maintained and in use. The parks in the city center are incredibly well-maintained and luxurious. There are large olive trees everywhere, especially in the parks. The sidewalks are made of very expensive stones; you wouldn't dare walk on them. You can find stores of all the luxury brands and Turkish brands in the city: McDonalds, Rolls Royce, Adil Işık, Sabri Özel, ...

Baku is a very expensive city; for example, a simple toy costs 18 euros, a kilo of baklava costs 11 euros, a city taxi ride costs 9 euros, and a refrigerator magnet costs 1.4 euros.

99% of Baku's population is Muslim, but we saw very few mosques in the city, and unfortunately, I didn't hear the call to prayer at all. We couldn't find any prayer rooms, even in the airport or restaurants.

Baku is a vibrant city hosting numerous cultural and social activities. Walking down the street, you see dozens of advertisements for jazz concerts, musicals, theater performances, and other events. Theater is highly valued in the city; there are specialized theaters, such as puppet theaters and pantomime theaters, constantly staging plays. I found the people of Baku to be very multicultural, and Baku's history is also rich in culture. The city has a large memorial cemetery, which includes the tomb of Heydar Aliyev. This cemetery contains the graves of Azerbaijan's great artists, thinkers, politicians, and writers from the past. At the head of each grave is a statue of the person, but these are not ordinary statues; they are statues that summarize the life of that person.

There are very few public toilets in the city, and those that exist are very dirty, so you should plan your trip accordingly.

In March 2015, 1 Euro was worth 1.11 Manat; you can easily exchange Euros there, even at night, with emergency currency exchange points open. When we went, there had recently been a devaluation of around 50%.

From what we observed in Azerbaijan, industry is very weak, production is very low, the economy is largely based on oil, and this has created a sense of complacency in society. It is very difficult to find Azerbaijani-made products in the markets; Russian and Turkish brands generally dominate the entire market.

The city has numerous research institutes, but few scientists have emerged since the Russian era, resulting in a very high average age of scientists, a situation that poses serious risks for the future.

There's a general sympathy for Turkey and Turks in the city, so you won't have any difficulty communicating with people. Turkish TV series are watched everywhere, and as a result, our culture and language are very popular here. Thanks to Turkish TV series, young people speak good Turkish, but the middle-aged and older population, who are descendants of those from the Russian era, express themselves more comfortably in Russian.

Naftalan oil, which comes from a healing volcanic mud in the Naftalan region of Azerbaijan, is produced by scientists who have also created a special oil from this mud, which is said to be good for burns and joint pain. The Naftalan region is quite popular for this reason, you might consider visiting it.

Unfortunately, in this city, bribery is very common under the guise of charm and friendliness. Salaries are very low (for example, an academic's salary is 1,500 TL), so people make a living by creating an informal economy through these methods. There are no receipts or invoices in supermarkets, and taxis don't have meters (only the eggplant-colored taxis have them). I would advise you to always discuss the price beforehand for any service; negotiate the price upfront.

Hospitals are entirely fee-based; there is no health insurance system. You have to pay separately for every hospital procedure, and much of this is for cosmetic reasons.

When we were in Baku, it was the beginning of the Novruz festival, and everywhere there were plates filled with wheat sprouts, which they believed would bring prosperity and abundance.

In the city, working hours at public institutions start at 09:00 and end at 18:00.

Internet speed is generally good, and it's possible to find many Wi-Fi hotspots.

The electrical outlets are exactly the same as those in Türkiye.

Car fuel prices are almost the same as in Türkiye.

They call Baku "Baki," which apparently means "city of wind," and it was constantly windy from the day we arrived until the day we left.

The weather in March was similar in temperature to Turkey, but apparently it gets very hot in the summer months.

Must-see places:

The mausoleum where Heydar Aliyev's grave is located.

Turkish martyrs' cemetery

Azerbaijan Martyrs' Cemetery

Flag Square

Khazar coast

Grand Boulevard

We couldn't go, but we went to Gobustan.

Naftalan if the opportunity arises.

Oil extraction facilities

İçeri Şeher (Girls' Gala, Mansions)