Yep, I’m now part of the 1,50,000 Indians who can say, “I’ve been to Baku!” But let’s be real—I'm still tripping over how to pronounce it. You’d think it’s “Ba-koo,” right? Same here. Turns out, it’s more like “Buh-koo.” Took me a couple of days to figure that out. Facepalm.
Baku, Azerbaijan’s buzzing capital, is a fascinating mix of cultures. Quick geography lesson: Azerbaijan straddles Eastern Europe and Western Asia, which makes the experience even more unique. So, technically, I went to Europe for the fourth time... while still in Asia. Confused? Same!
No, no, hold up—don’t laugh just yet! Here’s the kicker: I went with my parents and 50 other people... all their age. Yep, I know you’re laughing now, aren’t you? Sigh. It was one of those classic group tours, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting to find anyone even remotely close to my age. At least it made for some hilarious memories!
Now that you know it was a group tour, you can imagine how the pace of the trip went—slow, tiring, and pretty low on energy. The itinerary was packed with places designed for, well, adults. Yes, I’m an adult too, but I’m talking about the kind of places where you can’t really let loose and just be yourself. All that fun stuff? Totally missing. But hey, I had to go, because let’s be real—my mom and dad have never gone anywhere without me. I’m their permanent travel buddy.
Here’s what my itinerary looked like:
Day 1:
Landed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport.
Lunch at (you guessed it) an Indian restaurant, Nizami Street
Checked into the hotel.
After a quick nap to recharge, I got ready for our evening city tour.
Places we covered:
Highland Park – The Alley of Martyrs.
Old City of Baku – A 2-3 hour stroll through history.
If there’s one thing you should know about Baku, it’s that you’ll be doing a lot of walking. Sure, there are some lanes for cars, but not everywhere. Since we were a big group, we mostly travelled by bus, but that didn’t save us from walking endless stretches. And as much as I love exploring, by the end of the day, I felt every single step.
Finally, we wrapped up the evening with dinner at (yep, again) another Indian restaurant, then headed back to the hotel to relax and catch some sleep.
Day 2:
The day started with breakfast at the hotel, and then we packed up for our next adventure—Gabala, the hill station. The weather forecast promised 2°C, so we were armed with everything we could find to keep warm. But here’s the catch: it was a 4-5 hour drive, and none of us were particularly excited about being stuck in a bus for that long.
But credit to our group tour manager—he saved us from complete boredom by organizing a game of Tambola, followed by a mini dance party to all the classic Bollywood hits. Not gonna lie, it was pretty fun, and definitely helped pass the time!
We made a pit stop for lunch at an Indian restaurant in Qabala (yes, another one!), then continued on to the hill station. And after all that anticipation, we finally arrived... only to be greeted by chilly winds and no snow. Zero winter vibes. We had lugged all our winter gear for nothing! Even the local kids were running around in summer clothes, totally unbothered.
Oh, and just to add to the fun, we had to climb over 100 stairs to reach the top. Yay. But at least there was a cable car ride that took us to the very peak, which offered some pretty stunning views. Still, the lack of snow dampened the mood a bit.
After spending a couple of hours up there, we made the long drive back to the city, had dinner (yes, another Indian restaurant), and finally crashed at the hotel to gear up for the next day.
Now that we’ve just hit Day 3, I realize this is turning into quite a long read! So, I’ll wrap it up here for now and leave you on a bit of a cliffhanger. Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll dive into a little tragedy I had to face on the trip. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it!
Keep reading—more stories (and drama) are on the way!
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