{"id":38122,"date":"2026-05-13T15:31:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=38122"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:31:10","slug":"baku-azerbaijan-%f0%9f%87%a6%f0%9f%87%bf-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=38122","title":{"rendered":"Baku, Azerbaijan \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddff 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: 7-9th May 2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled: 13,855 kms from Taren Point to Baku in Azerbaijan  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited: Baku<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed: Sapphire Bayil Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We booked this tour so long ago that it didn\u2019t come back into our thoughts until the deal maker seriously misjudged the resolve of the Islamic State, leaving the middle eastern airlines in disarray. The last 6 weeks have seen our anirline and flight schedules change and the cost of the tour increase. But here we are in Baku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pam managed her usual 10 hours sleep on the long leg and we got to spend 6 hours is Dubia\u2019s terminal 3 waiting for the final leg onto Baku. Tracking the flight it was nice to see we kept well clear of Iranian airspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking out for a SAM launcher ?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So for the next 3 weeks we will be touring Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. These three countries are the southern Caucasus sitting between the Black Sea and the Caspian, Russia to the north, Iran to the south. Last bit sounds a bit dodgy doesn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arriving safely but a little jaded our guide says hello and puts us into hire car to the hotel. The driver obviously in a hurry drives very fast and has a habit of changing 3 lanes at a time (note the disco lighting inside the van). The freeway from the airport to the city is excellent but the Friday afternoon traffic in the city is close to a standstill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More lane changes and attempted short cuts still result in an hour from the airport to the hotel. The Sapphire is modern enough but the decor a very dated or perhaps that Azerbaijan kitch. Our rooms is large as is the bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So next morning the 13 members of our tour group (red) climb into a huge coach and head off on Baku<\/a> city tour. It\u2019s all a bit of a blur by the end of the day so I\u2019ll let the pictures show the highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sahidlae Xiyabani Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Congress Building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Azerbaijan people like a memorial. There is a complex history of independence, world wars, second independence and local grievances with the Soviet Union and Armenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alley of the Martyrs Mosque<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Wadu behind the Mosque<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hazi Asianov Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wall of the Martyrs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Shahidlar Monument<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Below some views of Baku from the memorials lookout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That impressive building in the centre frame a shopping mall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Done with the memorial its back on the bus for the short drive to Old Baku. The main point of interest being the Palace of Shirvanshahs which dates dates to the 7th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Palace of the Shirvanshahs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Palace Mosque Minaret<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Inside the Palace of the Shirvanshahs <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Palace Hammam or Bathhouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Palace Mausoleum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The palace done we walk parts of Old Baku, looking for a coffee as we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Door of the Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Costa Coffee (an English chain) was the best we could find before it was time to relocate to the new Baku for another wander and lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Baku Flame Towers centre frame<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pam enjoys browsing <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We enjoy a very late lunch in this cellar restaurant. The food an experience in itself and very reasonable priced. From a food and wine perspective Azerbaijan is good value for Australian with the current exchange rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a general comment it feels a safe and clean place, no graffiti. There are police everywhere as are the street cleaners. The parks and gardens full of flowers. Anyway that\u2019s enough for this blog, till next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael + Pam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date: 7-9th May 2026  Travelled: 13,855 kms from Taren Point to Baku in Azerbaijan   Visited: Baku Stayed: Sapphire Bayil Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan   We booked this tour so long ago that it didn\u2019t come back into our thoughts until the deal maker seriously misjudged the resolve of the Islamic State, leaving the middle eastern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":38143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-azerbaijan-","8":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38122"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38168,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38122\/revisions\/38168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}