After an interesting and fun trip through Azerbaijan in which I visited Baku , Sheki and Ganja , it was time to return to complete my loop of the country and to return to the Azerbaijani capital.
As my flight back to Paris would depart at 6. For a superior double room I paid 90 EUR for the night which included breakfast. Instead of taking a taxi, I opted for the short metro ride to Icherisheher station in the old town, from where the hotel was an easy 10 minute walk away. When I arrived at 7am at the hotel reception, I was unfortunately not able to check into my room as the Shah Palace Hotel only allows for check-in starting at 2pm. Normally this would not be the end of the world.
In fact, my original plan was to store my luggage and arrange a tour or private taxi to take me to the Qobustan mud volcanoes and petroglyhps in the barren wastelands south of Baku. Unfortunately, I started to feel nauseous and got a bad headache during the overnight train ride from Ganja to Baku, which must have been either the effect of some food poisoning or smoking too much nargilah the day before.
The Shah Palace Hotel was able to arrange an early check-in, but only if I would cough up half the room rate as early check-in fee. As I really felt in bad need of some sleep, I decided to bite the bullet and pay for the early check-in fee. At least the courteous staff were kind enough to include breakfast as well in the early check-in offer.
The public areas of the Shah Palace Hotel must be some of the most beautiful in the entire country of Azerbaijan. The hotel just oozes tons of charm and history. Especially the central atrium is just a fantastic place to sit down for a while and have a drink from the small cafe.
