As we got into bed late last night, we slept a little longer. During a short breakfast, we discussed our plans for the days with our hosts (?). They we planning to ride to a big bazar near the city in order to buy presents for their families at home. We on the other hand wanted to have a look at the city center of Baku. When we were there, we also wanted to go to an Azercell store. As it turned out, the employees yesterday had made some kind of mistake which led to us having no Internet on the phone.
Both groups were in need of fuel so we left the house together and rode to the nearest petrol station. Riding together with all the big bikes was a little different from our normal riding. Especially the big cruisers catch a lot of attention from bystanders – the loud music they were playing certainly helped with that. Before we left, all the kids in the street came to have a look at the bikes and took turns sitting on the bikes. Not ours, only the “big” ones 😉
After refueling with delicious 95 octane petrol, we took different routes. They went to the bazar and we rode to the city center. There we found an Azercell store where we go the sim card fixed. It turned out that there was no package active. So, while surfing the web, we had consumed the money which was charged on the sim card. After paying some more money, one of the employees activated an internet package. We then put some more money on the card to be able to call the ferry office during the next days.
We then found a nice parking spot in the center, locked our gear to the bike and went for a walk. Fabis goal was clear: buy all the souvenirs. This turned out to be difficult. Firstly, there are only so many souvenirs to buy and secondly, most of them are not suited for transport by motorcycle. In the end, she did not buy any and we only had a walk around town and along the promenade. From there you have a really nice view to the well known landmark of Baku: The Flaming Towers.
Funny story on the side: During the planning phase of the trip, we joked that while in Baku, we could stay at the hotel located in the Falming Towers as it is not crazy expensive. In Ganja Kevin warned us that finding cheap accommodation in Baku might be difficult as on the 29.05 the final of the UEFA Europe League would take place in Baku. We checked the prices for the Flaming Towers and decided against staying there: One room would cost us around 300€ per night. No thanks.
An other thing we managed to get done was a haircut for Chris. People who know him since before the trip might have noticed that he cut his hair off before the start of the trip. His initial hair was longer than the one of Fabi but he cut it off for practical reasons. The new length wasn’t optimal as he noticed during the first days of the trip. In Baku we finally had the time to resolve this “issue”. We just went into a random barber shop which did look neither too dirty nor too expensive. After making (somewhat) clear what Chris wanted, the barber got to work. The haircut included washing the hair – and the entire head. The procedure was a little “odd” going by European standards. But in the end, the hair was cut and the entire head to a throughout cleaning. Including the ears.
One thing that surprised us about Baku was how clean the city was. By now we were somewhat used to plastic laying around and similar things. Not so in Baku. The city was spotless. This was ensured by an army of street sweepers which were running around.
In the evening we got back to the villa. Our route there led us past the Flaming Towers hotel. When we passed, there was a big Mercedes coach with police escord standing in front of the entry – maybe this was one of the soccer teams for tomorrows match? As the Omanis returned, they brought some dinner with them. Their driver had driven them to some BBQ restaurant which prepared different pieces of meat freshly on order. Everything was placed on the table and then everybody picked what he liked. Delicious, delicious, delicious.
