Adventurous Kate contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. When I think back to my travels in Baku, Azerbaijan, one anecdote comes to mind.
My guide points out a cluster of buildings on one side of the highway. They get to live there for free. For free. In exchange for what?
Journalists living in government-provided housing is seen as something to extol to international visitors, rather than something that should be kept under wraps. Far from it. I found Baku to be an intriguing destination, quite often perplexing, and well worth a three-day visit with my boyfriend before traveling on to Georgia and Armenia.
Azerbaijan is known as the Land of Fire โ this is a country where flames can and do burst out of the earth in unexpected places. There are places close to Baku where you can see eternal flames billowing out of the ground, or even from the water. And the reserves of natural gas cause unusual geological effects, like bubbling mud volcanoes.
The most famous of which are three modern towers shaped like flames, lighting up with even more flames at night. If you mention modern architecture set against a desert, where do you think of first? Dubai, maybe, or Doha, Qatar? I got a similar vibe from Baku. Azerbaijan is rich with oil money, thanks to its location next to the Caspian Sea, which had led to insane levels of recent development.
