Winter Long Trip 2014: Azerbaijan border, road to Baku.

Baku. Azerbaijan.

It is the 6th day of our trip.

We are on Russia-Azerbaijan border. As usually, there are a lot of cars before Russian custom control. There are several people trying to sell their “help”. Do not even think of using these services. First of all, they will most probably disappear right after getting money. Secondly, there is nothing to help with. Wait in the queue, get inside, take your baggage to x-ray scanner and… that’s it! 🙂

Azerbaijan custom control post

There are several stages on Azerbaijan side:
– Wait in the queue again (note that there are separate queues for trucks and passenger vehicles), show passports to the soldier protecting gates and get in.
– Pass baggage control (after waiting in queue again). Take your baggage to x-ray.
– Do some paperwork: pay for the entry and insurance (about 50 eur that can be paid in almost any currency you can imagine). You’ll need your car registration and driver’s license.
– Pass passport control (a window next to the baggage control).

Last winter we were said that “passengers and drivers pass custom control separately”. So our wives had to go through the long corridor. They passed control very quickly and had to wait us for two hours behind the custom gates on Azerbaijan’s territory… Stay with your family! Do not let them freeze or get lost 🙂

We spent a lot of time while crossing the border. It is already evening. The roads are good enough and the city is just 210 km far, so we’re going to Baku.

It was a late evening when we could reach the city center. We parked near Primorsky Boulevard and went for a walk.

Baku in the night.

Baku. Azerbaijan.

Baku seemed to be quite exciting, so we decided to stay here for couple nights even though we were limited in time.

Day 7.

We are on foot again. The first sightseeing we found was an old Baku fortress and Maiden Tower.

Maiden Tower. Baku. Azerbaijan.

Cosy narrow streets…

Cosy narrow streets. Baku. Azerbaijan.

Baku. Azerbaijan.

Weird police cars.

Police car. Baku, Azerbaijan

There are a lot of small and interesting shops with souvenirs in the city center.

Souvenirs in Baku. Azerbaijan.

Souvenirs in Baku. Azerbaijan.

Attractive fountains.

Fountain in Baku. Azerbaijan.

Selfie in cool pedestrian subway.

Pedestrian Subway, Baku. Winter 2014

Some more photos of pedestrian subway… Looks pretty! 🙂

Pedestrian Subway, Baku. Winter 2014

Pedestrian Subway, Baku. Winter 2014

In a meantime, our car gathered about ten people… They were curious to know what car is it, how much fuel does it consume and how much does it cost. After short presentation, we kept walking along Bakinskiy Boulevard.

Fountain. Baki, winter 2014, Azerbaijan.

Children like jumping…

Батут для детей. Бакинский бульвар, Азербайджан. Зима 2014

…wives like taking pictures of exotic animals (even if it is just an exotic pigeon :-D)…

Exotic beast, Baku, Azerbaijan

When the family is busy, it is time for gentlemen’s rest! 🙂

It is getting late, taking last pictures of the city. But our day is not over!

Evening. Baku. Azerbaijan. Winter 2014

We need to visit Ramana Tower.

Ramana Tower. Azerbaijan.

Ramana Tower. UAZ Patriot in Azerbaijan.

One more more castle, Mardakyan Tower. It was too late when we reached it, so we couldn’t get inside 🙂 White car in a black night 😀

Mardakyan castle, Azerbaijan. UAZ Patriot

Suddenly we heard a mosque nearby.

Mosque entrance. Azerbaijan

Darkness has come – it is time to visit fired hill – Yanardag!

Yanardag. Azerbaijan.

It is worth of notice that the territory is protected and the entrance is being closed somewhere at 6 pm. But hospitable security guards agreed to let us inside for couple minutes.

The night is cold, so the fire is warming…

Yanar Dag.

We have to go back to Baku. It is already late and there will be a long way tomorrow.

There are some more pictures of Baku in a special article dedicated to this city 🙂

Flights to Baku:

Hotel prices in Baku: