Azerbaijan

If you would have asked me 3 years ago where this country was, I would have looked at you puzzled and wouldn't even be able to guess.  After having watched a few Euro Vision competitions I have learned that it is in Europe (kind of).  And last year when a colleague said that he was moving there with his family for his wife's next embassy post I took a moment ti find it on the map.  This year David and I decided to use the opportunity to visit Baku while we know someone there.  Our original plans where to visit in over our October break, but because of elections it was hard to get a visa so we had to post pone our trip.

As our last trip together we visited Baku just recently.  I had bought a book but had done little reading from it so we both went with really no idea what to expect or what we would want to see.  We figured with a friend in the area, he would be able to point us in the right direction for what we should see.

Baku is a very interesting city.  It easily mixes the old with the new together and is still building more and more.  Baku is the home of the tallest flag pole.  Other than a few museums and wandering around there isn't a lot of must-see things there.

We had hopes of making it out to the mud volcanoes but when we woke up Wednesday morning to pouring rain those plans got pushed aside.  But that's OK, it gives us a reason to return again another time.  Seeing that Kuwait is quite close that is a possibility for me.  Seeing that I know someone there is also a reason to go back.

All in all I liked Baku. I liked the relaxed nature, watching the crazy driving, and listening to the police yell at people to just move a long.  A very interesting culture.  Here are a few pictures but you can also see all of my pictures via my picasa album.