Baku Adventure.

Arrival at the airport for our flight to Baku was yet another interesting situation. There were lots of cartoons about Perestroika with English translations. The jest of them is “if it belongs to you, you are likely to take better care of it”. Wonder why it took them so long to figure that out.

We are traveling with about 1 gallon of water for use while in Baku. The water in Baku is not safe to drink.

Entering the plane was yet another breathless experience. The odor was horrible and the carpet was so wrinkled the flight attendants had to lift the cart down the isle. The flight was 2 hours and they did offer some food. A piece of cold greasy chicken, a large tasteless cookie and a cup of tea. They reuse the cups and only rinse them out between uses. Taking photos in the airport or the inside of the plane is forbidden. Without photos to back up my claims it is likely no one would believe the condition of this flight. The flight attendants were certainly not selected for a beauty pageant. They were nearly as wide as the isle between the seats. Uniform was navy blue skirt, white blouse, white shoes without hose. One does need a fly swatter when taking a flight on a Russian commercial airplane.

 

We finally arrived at our destination and as we deplaned there was an apartment complex near the airport that was indeed very near to a slum area as you might imagine. Someone in the group yelled out Baku Airport Hilton anyone? The expression on Wilma’s face was priceless.

We drove to the hotel in downtown Baku. It wasn’t much better than the slum like apartment complex near the airport.

The odor in the lobby was horrible. Equivalent to the extremely polluted Grand Canal in China. 

The room was a little larger than the last hotel, but oh my! The construction was something else. Door handles falling off. Sink was broken and no face plate over the keyhole. Just a hole in the wood. AC did work.

This area is located in the South Caucasus, located partially in Eastern Europe and partially in Western Asia. It is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the west and northwest Armenia to the southwest and Iran to the South. In general it was indeed not a very clean area.

 

Sunday 9 July 1989.  0900 breakfast of baked eggs, bread, cheese and apple juice. Before our Russian guide had a chance to warn me I drank the juice, which was watered down, and as mentioned above the water isn’t safe to drink. Oh well, I must have a cast iron stomach as I did not develop any adverse symptoms.

 

After breakfast we went on a city tour, which included an ancient market, and the 11^th century Tower of the Maiden. Baku is thought to been inhabited since the Stone Age. It has a rich history and in particular the 12^th century Maiden Tower. I suggest you google to learn more regarding the Maiden Tower.

 

Lunch consisted of steak (which was extremely tough) potatoes and an excellent soup. After lunch we visited the Fire Temple which originates from the 17^th Century. A pentagonal complex has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks. It was abandoned after 1883 when oil and gas plants were established in the vicinity. The flame still burns but from natural gas piped in from the city of Baku. Next we visited the City Bazaar. It was extremely crowded and had lots of fruit and vegetables for sale. The main resources of this area are cotton and oil.

 

Monday 10 July 1989.  Happy Birthday Carol.

Up at 0600 and guess what?  An upset stomach and diarrhea. Must have been the apple juice watered down with the Baku water. Today we leave this less than desirable place. Hotel baggage people were informed to take large luggage but leave the hand luggage. Hand luggage was to be placed in the hotel lobby. So much for instructions. Some of the group had all luggages taken to the airport, including their hand luggage and went straight to the airport. A total complicated mess.

 

For breakfast I ate only a hard-boiled egg and drank some tea. Vera, our Russian guide gave me some pills to take for my upset stomach. She said “You see you have been eating Russian food, so you have to kill it with Russian pills”. I’m not certain I agreed however I thought one of 3 things could happen. I would get better, get worse, or stay the same. So I decided to take the pills, but also added a little Pepto-Bismol, which I always carry with me when I travel.

 

We arrived at the airport at 0910 for our flight to Kiev. The airport waiting room had a terrible odor. Cleaning and proper odor elimination certainly isn’t high on their priority list of things to do to make the tourists have a pleasant experience. Time to move on to another adventure.

Hope you are enjoying this historic trip with a great group of people.