Azerbaijans capitol Baku

We’ve arrived in Baku – the capital of Azerbaijan, a city with around 2.5 million inhabitants where a large share of the country’s wealth is concentrated. Azerbaijan earns most of its money from its enormous oil and gas reserves, and you can clearly feel that much of the prosperity is centered in Baku. We’re staying at a really nice 3–4 star hotel right in the middle of the city for only around 325 DKK per night for all of us, including breakfast 😎 Yes, Azerbaijan is incredibly cheap! Today we spent the day exploring central Baku 🚕🌴 The Old City, the promenade along the Caspian Sea, the beautiful parks, the bazaars, and the enormous boulevards. Wow, the city is impressive! Everywhere you look there are beautiful flowers, well-maintained parks, and wild architecture 🏙️✨ In many places, the city feels even more luxurious than we had imagined. But as soon as you move a little away from the center, you quickly notice the contrasts… We’ve rented a car 🚗, but today we left it at the hotel. Parking as a tourist is quite difficult because you often need a local Azerbaijani phone number to pay for parking 📱 Fortunately, taxis are absurdly cheap here 😅 With apps like Bolt and Yango, a ride often costs around 10–15 DKK. We even took a taxi almost 30 minutes outside the city center to Sədərək Bazaar and paid only about 32 DKK 🤯 The general price level is really low — restaurants, taxis, and many other things are very affordable 🍽️☕💸 However, locals have also warned us that corruption is still quite common in Azerbaijan. The police often keep an eye out for minor traffic violations — and sometimes allegedly even a few “invented” ones 🚔 Apparently, it’s not unusual for some people to pay a little money under the table to move on quickly… Tomorrow we’re leaving Baku in our rental car and heading out to explore the rest of Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 It’s definitely going to be exciting…