AZERBAIJAN - Baku Old City Tour

15:36 Travel Bunny 0 Comments

Azerbaijan is one of the countries in the Caucasus region. This country was once incorporated into the Soviet Union until it proclaimed its independence in 1991. Around 95% of the population are Muslims. It is one of the birthplaces of oil industry. Its rich oil and natural gas largely contribute to the country’s fortune.

I just returned a few weeks ago from the three Caucasus countries. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. First country, Azerbaijan.

We’re flying from Hamad International Airport for the first time as a family. This newly opened airport is modern in design.

Giant yellow bear. Erm, not as cute as the yellow duck.

Futuristic children playground.

A toy shop that has a roaring T-rex. My baby boy is totally unfazed and unimpressed by its roar. Haha.

We’re flying from Doha to Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital city.

After 3 hours of flight, we finally arrived in Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport by noon.

Our tour guide, Yasin picked us up from the airport and drove us to the hotel.

This is the hotel that we stayed in Baku – Amber Hotel.

After checking in to our hotel, we started our half day tour to Old City or Icari Sahar in Azerbaijani language. Old City Baku is the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the entrance gate of Old City.

The Old City is surrounded by these fortress wall.

There are many old European buildings in the Old City. It is a walking tour because only cars with specific permits are allowed inside the Old City.

All the roads are stone pavements. Definitely not baby stroller-friendly. I wished the tour guide told us this earlier before we started the tour though.

The Remain of Baku Khan’s Palace.

Police car patrolling in the Old City.

Some VIPs touring the Old Baku city.

This used to be a residential building. The owner had children who love cats. That’s why he had sculptures of them on its facade.

Many of these old buildings are converted into souvenir shops, hotel or restaurant.

The Old City is beautiful. I love all the old buildings and it’s a pleasure strolling here.

A caravan that is now used as a restaurant.

These ancient inns, dating back to the 14th century, where people stopped here for the night during the Silk Road trade.

Wished we could have lunch here but our time is quite limited.

Bellow the caravan used to be an animal stable.

Now it’s used as a bar. Nice place to chill and relax.

This is an open air museum inside the Old City. It used to be an ancient market.

Just beside the open air museum is the famed Maiden Tower.

The Maiden Tower which was built in 12th century. The Maiden Tower is now a museum.

The Maiden Tower has seven floors. The first and second floor is connected by a steel spiral staircase while the rest of the floor are connected by stone staircase.

There are a few hypothesis to the purpose of the Maiden Tower. One of them is that the Maiden Tower was used as an astronomical observatory because it enables observation of the annual movement around the sun and of certain celestial bodies. Some said it was a religious building for rituals and ceremonies that worshipped fire and the sun.

The thickness of the wall varies from 5 meters at the base to 3.2 – 4.2 meters at the top floors.

There is a water well that has been discovered at the second floor of the tower.

As I went further up of the tower, there is an interactive map that show places of interest in the Old City such as the Multani Caravamserai that I’ve visited.

Its location at the centre of Baku bay, its height, the thickness of the walls, the protected entrance area and several other factors lead some scientists and researchers to assume the tower was built for defensive purpose. However some stressed that it lacks certain features of defensive buildings. Before 1960s restoration, there were no floors within the tower.

The Maiden Tower as viewed from the Caspian Sea in ancient times.

The Legend of the Prince and the Maiden. One Baku Prince feel in love with a beautiful girl. Unfortunately, this love was not reciprocal. After much persuading, she agreed to marry the prince if he build for her a tall tower. After the tower was completed, the girl expressed a wish to admire the the view from the tower. But when the girl reached the top, she threw herself from it. Ever since then, the tower has been called the Maiden Tower.

This must be where she jumped. There are many theories of why this tower was built, but one thing for sure is the view from up the Maiden Tower is nice.

The view from the roof offers panoramic views of the Old City, The Flame Towers, The Baku Boulevard and the Baku Bay.

My hubby and baby posing in front of an alley.

These sculptural composition is devoted to the lost profession of Ghir-pourers – people whose task was to cover roofs with specific black composite that they had to boil in iron containers.

A mosque inside the Old City.

Another mosque, the Lezgi Mosque constructed in 1169

Tourists trying on hats of the souvenir stall
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Most of tourist to the Caucasus comes from Russia.

Plenty of souvenir shops and stalls here. Purchased a miniature Maiden Tower and a fridge magnet as souvenirs.

Advisable to get your souvenirs in Old Baku City.

A side alley that lead to a minaret of a mosque. The minaret of Baku’s oldest mosque, the Mahammad mosque was damaged by the artillery of Peter the Great. It has been called the Broken Fortress since.

From now onwards, it’s an uphill task because the Palace of Shirvanshahs that we’re going to visit is located on the top of the hill.

The walls of the Old City of Baku.

Nope, we’re not there yet.

And this is the bronze sculpture of Baku’s poet, Aliaga Mammadgulu (1894 – 1965).

And I can see the Flame Towers and Baku TV Tower from here.

We’re almost there.

Finally, we reached the Palace of Shirvanshahs.

The complex includes the residential building of the palace (12th – 15th century), tomb of shah (15th century), tomb of Seyid Yahya Bakuvi (15th century), remains of the key Gubad Mosque (14th century), Murad’s Gate (1585-1586), the shah’s mosque with a minaret (1441-1442), tomb of Shirvanshahs’ family (1435-1436) and bath house (15th century).

This is the main residential building of the palace.

Some of the items on display in the Palace of Shirvanshahs.

An interesting piece of one of the exhibition. A mustache keeper.

Mustache keeper was used by men to keep a mustache in shape during sleep.

The city inside the Walled city of Baku. Many of the buildings still serves as a residential place and there are many embassies around this area.

A souvenir shop inside the palace.

Traces of gun shots can be seen on the outer wall of the palace.

Next, I visited the the Shah Mosque.

There are two praying halls in the Shah Mosque: the large praying hall was intended for the Shah and his courtiers and the small one was intended for Court women. This is the large praying hall.

The small praying hall is at the side. I was told that the mosque was designed to be simple and bare so that those who enter the mosque would be able to concentrate in their prayer and not distracted by the decoration.

This is the remains of the bath house which is built in 15th century. It has 26 rooms and it was semi-underground to keep the heat in winter and the cool in summer.

Divankhana had remained unfinished due to political and historical situation. It could have served for official receptions and / or divan meetings. Some researchers believe that Shirvanshah Farrukh Yasar ordered the construction as the Shah’s tomb.

The Mausoleum of Shirvanshahs.

The Old town is a warren of narrow alleys and winding passages neatly hemmed in by high fortress walls

The medieval fortress of Old Baku called Ichari Shahar in Azerbaijani, extends from the curve of the Baku Bay through the hills behind it and much of the area is closed to vehicular traffic.

The Old City was protected by cannons and catapults set on the walls.

Time to bid goodbye to the Old City.

My hubby had to carry the baby down as there were simply too many steps to descend.

The city’s walls are behind me now.

Those days residents who lived in the city walls considered themselves to be superior to those outside and often referred to them as the ‘barefooted people of the Outer City’.