Remember when I moved to Boston and took a while to adjust to the freezing temperatures and hostile people? One of my lifelines came in the form of a friendship with a gorgeous, sassy, hilariously pessimistic girl from Azerbaijan. After 4 years of knowing each other, I finally convinced her to let me come with her the next time she went home to visit family and renew visas etc.
Let's start with this.
I had already learned a few things about Azerbaijan through my friend, such as:
a. Azeri is the official language, but the middle/upper class speaks (sometimes exclusively) Russian. The country is a former Soviet Union nation.
b. The vice president is the wife of the president (!!!!!!!). Nepotism is extremely popular.
c. Things like feminism and government criticism are... not popular.
But there was still much to learn, so after teaching a summer school course in Boston I hopped on a plane (via NYC) to the capital city, Baku.
*Note: It would be very difficult to fully enjoy your time here or communicate dietary limitations in restaurants without someone who speaks both Russian and Azeri. I strongly recommend Absheron Tour group, run by a young, hip, trilingual, local boss lady named Natella.
Sites to see:
1. The Maiden Tower (old town)
Named for a woman who, legend has it, got a little too interested in a poor man and was sequestered in the fortress tower by her family to avoid a shameful union with him. She jumped to her death from the top story. I now realize I should have asked my friend when exactly this is alleged to have happened. I assume it was like the middle ages but now that I think about it the honor/money-heavy marriage mentality here does not seem to have changed much.
2. The Flame Towers (old town)
Azerbaijan is reportedly the home country of the prophet Zarathustra, who started the movement that developed into the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrians worship fire (among other cool stuff), and these modern office buildings pay homage to those religious roots. There are plenty of non-modern vestiges of ancient Zoroastrianism though, like number 4 on this list.
3. The Carpet Museum (old town)
France has wine and cheese. Germany has cars. Azerbaijan has carpets.
The craftsmanship that goes into carpet making is so complex that I watched a slow motion animated video on how to do it and STILL cannot fathom how one thread at a time can result in something so intricately detailed as the carpets produced here. There is a museum dedicated to the art form in which you can see not only hundreds of carpets spanning from the 15th century to the present day but also interactive loom displays where you can try your hand at carpet making (you will suck at it). The museum building itself is in the form of a rolled up carpet, which I think we can all agree is just the best.
4. Ateshgah - the Fire Temple (outside the city)
Built on space that, during the 7th century, was thought to be holy due to the fires that seemed to burn constantly in the desert (a natural gas channel below ground provides constant natural fuel), this temple was obvi a good spot to worship fire for the Zoroastrians (see #2). You can go into the center of the compound where a large fire is burning even today. If you are masochistic, you stay there for more than 2 seconds. The average temperature during my stay in Azerbaijan was 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and in the sun it feels like about 110, and next to the massive fire pit it feels like 200. Still, a few tourists were dauntlessly taking pictures by it. Psychos.
5. Gobustan - Petroglyph site (outside the city)
My favorite! Generations of tribes have contributed to these rock carvings that show not only animals and hunting scenes but also dance parties. There is a museum (partially air conditioned, glory be!) with well-done interactive displays showing not just details about the carvings but also similarities between these petroglyphs and others discovered around the world.
The only thing that is really disturbing is that while animals are portrayed somewhat realistically, and men are portrayed perhaps with a bit of delusional phallic superiority, women in the carvings are portrayed without heads or arms. Obviously my interpretation of that design choice isn't foolproof, but it doesn't seem to bode well for valuing women's intellectual and artistic contributions at the time.
Animals
Man
Women
Other things to experience in Baku include:
1. Pomegranates
They. are. so. good. They factor prominently in local art. I learned how to cut them like a pro.
2. Art
The magnet that you see on the top left of the second picture above came from an art gallery in the old town that features the work of artist Ali Shamsi. When we ducked in, the artist himself was padding around barefoot in his studio (apparently a rare sighting) as customers fawned over his gorgeous works of art. The person usually in charge of ringing up purchases had left the counter to help another customer, so I was awkwardly standing with the magnet and money in my hand when the artist himself saw me. I motioned to pay him and he immediately walked away (I wasn't too surprised, this was not exactly the procurement of a priceless canvas, which several other customers seemed to be interested in doing). But then he came back with a little envelope. He drew an impromptu little still life on the envelope to match the print on the magnet and handed it to me. Then he gave me a big smile and said something in Russian I didn't understand, but my friends translated as "You have a strong guardian angel," and he wouldn't let me pay for the magnet. So cool.
3. Food
It is not difficult, I repeat, NOT difficult to be a vegetarian here so far! There is always a cucumber tomato salad or eggplant-based dish to be had. Also, the food is extremely cheap. Even outings at high end restaurants cost a fraction of what a meal would in Boston. This one (in the touristic old city) cost about $5/person including tip:
New travel tip:
Bring magnets!
I brought these tiny magnets on a hunch and they are definitely paying off. I'm currently using them to secure clothes to a clothesline since there are no clothespins in my air bnb. This shirt held overnight despite some gnarly wind!
I also use them to secure things that I would normally use safety pins for (rolling up hemlines, etc.).
Gripes for Azerbaijan:
1. The (lack of) recycling
There is one recycling bin in the city: in the touristic old town center, not far from the Maiden tower. Essentially no one uses it. The big apartment buildings are at least a 30 minute walk from there, and many people would have to take the bus or subway to get there. I had generated so many plastic bottles (tap water isn't potable) that there was no way I could throw them in a dumpster. I dutifully traipsed the ~ 2k with my bulging recycling bag, much to the chagrin of my friend who had to share the strange looks we got. In true pessimistic Azeri fashion, she reminded me the whole way that they probably just toss the recycling in with the rest of the dumpster trash. The thought of all that plastic in a major capital city going directly into the environment is sickening.
2. The attitudes regarding marriage
As your friendly neighborhood unmarried-and-extremely-happy 32 year old, I was appalled. I'll give you an example. Another local friend, who I'm convinced will soon be a millionaire running tours in Baku with her perfect English, shared her experience with me: "Oh yeah. If you go to any doctor with any sort of pain, their first question will be 'Are you married?' If you're not married, that's the problem. It doesn't matter if your leg is hanging off by a thread. 'If you had a husband, this wouldn't be happening.'"
We are not talking about your judgmental neighborhood middle aged gripers. These are medical professionals peddling this nonsense. Grow up!
Tomorrow I leave for a short solo side trip to Georgia and on to Turkmenistan. I've been getting some very weird and sometimes overtly incredulous reactions when I've told Azeri people that I'm going to Turkmenistan. A reaction I got more than once was "Let us know when you get back safely... well, IF you get back safely." Is it really that bad? I will report back!
Books for this part of the trip: La distancia entre nosotros, Reyna Grande. Very good. Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead. Horrific but I learned several new words. Where'd you go, Bernadette, Maria Semple. Not many epistolary books these days!
Let's start with this.
That's where it is :)
I had already learned a few things about Azerbaijan through my friend, such as:
a. Azeri is the official language, but the middle/upper class speaks (sometimes exclusively) Russian. The country is a former Soviet Union nation.
b. The vice president is the wife of the president (!!!!!!!). Nepotism is extremely popular.
c. Things like feminism and government criticism are... not popular.
But there was still much to learn, so after teaching a summer school course in Boston I hopped on a plane (via NYC) to the capital city, Baku.
*Note: It would be very difficult to fully enjoy your time here or communicate dietary limitations in restaurants without someone who speaks both Russian and Azeri. I strongly recommend Absheron Tour group, run by a young, hip, trilingual, local boss lady named Natella.
Sites to see:
1. The Maiden Tower (old town)
Named for a woman who, legend has it, got a little too interested in a poor man and was sequestered in the fortress tower by her family to avoid a shameful union with him. She jumped to her death from the top story. I now realize I should have asked my friend when exactly this is alleged to have happened. I assume it was like the middle ages but now that I think about it the honor/money-heavy marriage mentality here does not seem to have changed much.
2. The Flame Towers (old town)
Azerbaijan is reportedly the home country of the prophet Zarathustra, who started the movement that developed into the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrians worship fire (among other cool stuff), and these modern office buildings pay homage to those religious roots. There are plenty of non-modern vestiges of ancient Zoroastrianism though, like number 4 on this list.
3. The Carpet Museum (old town)
France has wine and cheese. Germany has cars. Azerbaijan has carpets.
The craftsmanship that goes into carpet making is so complex that I watched a slow motion animated video on how to do it and STILL cannot fathom how one thread at a time can result in something so intricately detailed as the carpets produced here. There is a museum dedicated to the art form in which you can see not only hundreds of carpets spanning from the 15th century to the present day but also interactive loom displays where you can try your hand at carpet making (you will suck at it). The museum building itself is in the form of a rolled up carpet, which I think we can all agree is just the best.
And don't you dare call them Persian carpets! Azerbaijan is pretty sore on this subject.
 |
| A salty jab in the carpet museum #carpetwars |
4. Ateshgah - the Fire Temple (outside the city)
Built on space that, during the 7th century, was thought to be holy due to the fires that seemed to burn constantly in the desert (a natural gas channel below ground provides constant natural fuel), this temple was obvi a good spot to worship fire for the Zoroastrians (see #2). You can go into the center of the compound where a large fire is burning even today. If you are masochistic, you stay there for more than 2 seconds. The average temperature during my stay in Azerbaijan was 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and in the sun it feels like about 110, and next to the massive fire pit it feels like 200. Still, a few tourists were dauntlessly taking pictures by it. Psychos.
5. Gobustan - Petroglyph site (outside the city)
My favorite! Generations of tribes have contributed to these rock carvings that show not only animals and hunting scenes but also dance parties. There is a museum (partially air conditioned, glory be!) with well-done interactive displays showing not just details about the carvings but also similarities between these petroglyphs and others discovered around the world.
The only thing that is really disturbing is that while animals are portrayed somewhat realistically, and men are portrayed perhaps with a bit of delusional phallic superiority, women in the carvings are portrayed without heads or arms. Obviously my interpretation of that design choice isn't foolproof, but it doesn't seem to bode well for valuing women's intellectual and artistic contributions at the time.
Animals
Man
 |
| As my friend noted, the guy on the left was perhaps "the first porn star." |
Women
 |
| How are they holding the oars/bows? |
Other things to experience in Baku include:
1. Pomegranates
They. are. so. good. They factor prominently in local art. I learned how to cut them like a pro.
2. Art
The magnet that you see on the top left of the second picture above came from an art gallery in the old town that features the work of artist Ali Shamsi. When we ducked in, the artist himself was padding around barefoot in his studio (apparently a rare sighting) as customers fawned over his gorgeous works of art. The person usually in charge of ringing up purchases had left the counter to help another customer, so I was awkwardly standing with the magnet and money in my hand when the artist himself saw me. I motioned to pay him and he immediately walked away (I wasn't too surprised, this was not exactly the procurement of a priceless canvas, which several other customers seemed to be interested in doing). But then he came back with a little envelope. He drew an impromptu little still life on the envelope to match the print on the magnet and handed it to me. Then he gave me a big smile and said something in Russian I didn't understand, but my friends translated as "You have a strong guardian angel," and he wouldn't let me pay for the magnet. So cool.
3. Food
It is not difficult, I repeat, NOT difficult to be a vegetarian here so far! There is always a cucumber tomato salad or eggplant-based dish to be had. Also, the food is extremely cheap. Even outings at high end restaurants cost a fraction of what a meal would in Boston. This one (in the touristic old city) cost about $5/person including tip:
New travel tip:
Bring magnets!
I brought these tiny magnets on a hunch and they are definitely paying off. I'm currently using them to secure clothes to a clothesline since there are no clothespins in my air bnb. This shirt held overnight despite some gnarly wind!
I also use them to secure things that I would normally use safety pins for (rolling up hemlines, etc.).
Gripes for Azerbaijan:
1. The (lack of) recycling
There is one recycling bin in the city: in the touristic old town center, not far from the Maiden tower. Essentially no one uses it. The big apartment buildings are at least a 30 minute walk from there, and many people would have to take the bus or subway to get there. I had generated so many plastic bottles (tap water isn't potable) that there was no way I could throw them in a dumpster. I dutifully traipsed the ~ 2k with my bulging recycling bag, much to the chagrin of my friend who had to share the strange looks we got. In true pessimistic Azeri fashion, she reminded me the whole way that they probably just toss the recycling in with the rest of the dumpster trash. The thought of all that plastic in a major capital city going directly into the environment is sickening.
2. The attitudes regarding marriage
As your friendly neighborhood unmarried-and-extremely-happy 32 year old, I was appalled. I'll give you an example. Another local friend, who I'm convinced will soon be a millionaire running tours in Baku with her perfect English, shared her experience with me: "Oh yeah. If you go to any doctor with any sort of pain, their first question will be 'Are you married?' If you're not married, that's the problem. It doesn't matter if your leg is hanging off by a thread. 'If you had a husband, this wouldn't be happening.'"
We are not talking about your judgmental neighborhood middle aged gripers. These are medical professionals peddling this nonsense. Grow up!
Tomorrow I leave for a short solo side trip to Georgia and on to Turkmenistan. I've been getting some very weird and sometimes overtly incredulous reactions when I've told Azeri people that I'm going to Turkmenistan. A reaction I got more than once was "Let us know when you get back safely... well, IF you get back safely." Is it really that bad? I will report back!
Books for this part of the trip: La distancia entre nosotros, Reyna Grande. Very good. Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead. Horrific but I learned several new words. Where'd you go, Bernadette, Maria Semple. Not many epistolary books these days!
