WARTCH THE VIDEO ABOVE !

Crossing enemy lines by air, from Armenia to Azerbaijan via Georgia, TotalAdventure landed in Baku mid day Saturday April 27th.

The immigration officer at Baku asked why I had been in Armenia and the answer was tourism business. The passport was duly stamped , this is surely a common acccurence. At least 5 other people on the Tbilisi -Baku flight had transited from the Yerevan–Tbilisi flight.

2 Flights from Yerevan, First, a 30 minute flight North to Tbilisi on Georgian Airways. . Then an 1.5 hour hour flight to Baku on Azerbaijan Airways.

The first thing one notices when entering the oil-rich city is theincredinle buildings – ;like a mini-Dubai. Here is the Hotel Crescent Architect Andrew Burns.

TotalAdventure stayed at the Fairmont in the Flaming Towers. Arounf US 250 a night, a fraction of the price in New York. In the foreground is Mosque of the Martyrs, built by the Turkish government in the 1990s soon after the Soviet collapse.

I had hoped to enjoy Caspian Caviar , as far as TotalAdventure is concerned the only real икра – Ikra, as it’s called in Russian. InTurkmenistan we hadabouta half pound for US 45 back in 2019. THisis farm raised sturgeon and very expensive. The eggs look oerfect, and the eggy taste is mild. Supposedly the ral thing will not beavailable for anouther 15 years – fishing was shut down due to population crash. However Iran and Turkmenistan produce very small amounts.

As of this writing the Azerbaijan Manat is 1.69 to the US $. Azerbaijan is a upper middle class country and prices are similar to the US or Western Europe, though high end hotels and restaurants are lower priced.

Soviet World War Two Memorial Monument.

View from the Fairmont in Flaming Towers. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE TO SEE THE TOWERS FLAME !

The Azeris area patriotic people – aligned with Turkey, with bitter memories of Soviet occupation. The ongoing war with neighboring Armenia is a result of Soviet redrawing of national borders.

The cuisine – much like Turkish ,with a hint of Persian and Russian – is deliciousa nd healthy. Here isa sampling of Caspian seafood.

Egg in pita – amazing. Bürek.

Lamb. Food is Halal in the predominately Islamic nation, though alcohol is widely available.

The Old City – Sultan’s Palace.

A grave. Before the Soviets arrived, Arabic script was used, just as in Turkey. Now a modified Latin alphabet replaces Cyrillic. Turkish and Azerbaijani are very similar and people can understand one another.

Early 20th Century.

TotalAdventure has swum in all 4 Oceans – as well as many seas – which are part of , or attached to the major oceans. The Caspian Sea connects to no other body of water. Though 100 km long and 320 km wide ( 750 X 200 miles in American measurement) , the Sea is really the world’s largest lake. Like a lake there are no tides . The salinity is only 1/3 of the average ocean. Under the sea floor is much oil and gas – enriching the surrounding nations. I swam in relatively clean waters south of Baku,.

On the morning of Tuesday April 30th = TotalAdventure flew to the Azores, via Istanbul and Lisbon.

The Caucasus region is finally opening up after years of war!