Baku, Azerbaijan 2016

General:

• With this post I intend to give a few ideas and recommendations about visiting Baku
• As a brief introduction, Baku is the economic center of Azerbaijan thanks to the oil industry in the Caspian Sea. Most population is Muslim, mainly Shiite as well as in Iran. Nevertheless it is quite an open country despite the tiring visa requirements
• The cheapest way to go from the airport to the city center is a bus (1.2 Manat, a bit less than $1) connecting with 28 May metro station, around 2km from Old Baku
• The barrier with the language is tough. It is still very hard to communicate in English with locals

Sightseeing:

• The city offers a mix between the traditional old Baku, surrounded by walls, and modernity surrounding the city center
• There are free tours for Old Baku starting at 10am, leaving from Iceri Seher metro station
• From the Old city there is a good view of the Flame Towers, especially from Maiden Tower. Walking around Baku Old city is beautiful; somehow it makes me feel I am in the beautiful Spanish city of Toledo
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sunset from Baku bay is beautiful and there are several gardens nearby where to have a pleasant walk
  
  
  
  
• Architecture of the Heyder Aliyev Cultural Center looks very nice externally, surrounded by a nice garden. Apparently it has a Museum about former president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, who as far as I understood, boosted the development of modern Baku while protecting Old Baku at the same time. There is metro station less than 1km from this cultural spot (Nariman Narimanov metro station)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Yanar Dag curious: bus 217 from Koroglu metro station for only 0.3 Manat each way. The impressive fact about this place is that it is a natural gas fire blazing continuosly
  

Local lifestyle:

• The city offers good communication with two main metro lines and several buses. After some time living in Dubai, I was surprised how easy and nice it is Baku to walk: THERE IS NO NEED FOR CAR unless you target visiting other cities in the country
• Locals enjoy outdoors when the weather is nice (around 20 to 30 degrees in the summer). In the summer you can see streets full of people and you feel a nice vibe
• Tea is widely consumed at almost every corner, and guests in restaurants and hotels are generally welcomed with tea
• It is common to see groups of mainly men in the streets playing Backgamon or domino while drinking tea
  
• Local cuisine offers a wide variety but I only had time to try a few nice dishes: pomegranate salad, dushbara soup (with small lamb dumplings) or pormidor (basically an omelette with tomato on top which was very nice):
  
  
  
  

End of the post:

• Visiting Baku is highly recommended: I was surprised how open, easy to walk and good looking city it is
• I continued my trip going to Georgia by train. Finding Baku Central Station was a bit difficult, but much more the communication with the personnel selling the ticket, which costs only 30 Manat (less than $20). There is a daily connection from Baku to Tbilisi at 20:30 in a sleeping train but THE TRIP TAKES 14 HOURS, arriving Tbilisi at 10:45 next day 
  
• 
  

Saudi Arabia 2016

Introduction:

Reason of my visit:

• There is no tourist visa as such to Saudi Arabia. However, it is possible to visit the country through certain agencies (the country receives millions of religious tourism every year)
• I was lucky to have commercial visa to Saudi Arabia thanks to my job in Dubai and before quitting I took the opportunity to visit the country and "create" my own opinion
• I will not disclose any political opinion but comment of some touristic attractions and curiosities

Roadtrip:

• 18th-23th July 2016
• Riyadh, Buraydah, Hail, Madain Saleh, Yanbu, Jeddah
• 6 days, approximately 2,500 km in a rented car

Curiosities:

• In my flight from Dubai to Riyadh I had a seat next to a local woman. The moment I took my seat she changed seat with her husband so she did not seat next to another man
• At the start of the flight Quran is read for the passengers
• In favour of traditional arabic hospitality, the man seated next to me gave me food and drink (never ever happended to me before)
• Shockingly for me, during one of my visits a local of my same gender tried to be "more than friends" with me
• Driving in Saudi Arabia is pretty intense, a bit scary and there are almost no speed cameras, especially outside the main cities, where many traffic signals are only in arabic. There are no tolls in the country, at least in the 2,500 km I drove
  
• Petrol is very cheap. ranging the liter from 20-25 cents of €. According to some articles I read, it was second cheapest country in the world with regard to petrol prices a few years ago
• I was surprised to see plenty of old and dirty cars
• There are traffic signals showing danger for camels crossing the road (and they do!)

• It is common to see restaurants  with only men. Women and men do not sit together unless they are family members
• Diving in the Red Sea is beautiful (Yanbu or Jeddah offer several options, mainly during weekends)
• However, I saw some dirtiness in the beaches
• I was lucky to come across several locals who were very helpful and hospitable (i.e. a local guy near Madain Saleh took me in his 4x4 with his little children to visit some dunes in the desert where my car could not reach)
• I found it very hard to walk in the streets of any city in the country and I saw many people with overweight
• Compared to Dubai, very few places admit card payment. Saudi Rial is almost similar to UAE dirham
• There are no hostels as such. There are no very cheap hotels but they are normally reasonable in price but for religious season
• During praying times, 5 times a day, the country literally stops: service in restaurants, petrol stations, etc

Top visits:

• Madain Saleh, the main reason of my trip
• Red Sea diving (Yanbu or Jeddah)

Trip in detail:

Description of the trip:

• Period: 18th-23th July 2016 
• Transportation: car rented at Riyadh airport and dropped at Jeddah airport
• Roadtrip: Riyadh: 18th; Buraydah, Hail: 19th; Madain Saleh: 20th; Yanbu: 21st; Jeddah: 22nd, 23rd
• Distance: 2,500 km approximately

Riyadh:

• I flew to Riyadh, the capital, to obtain the visit permit for Madain Saleh in the National Museum, according to my previos research
• When I visited the Museum, workers were surprised of my visit and did not even know how to proceed
• However one of the guys took my email and later on during my trip I received the permit

PERMITS TO VISIT MADAIN SALEH CAN BE OBTAINED AT ANY HOTEL IN AL-ULA, THE CLOSEST VILLAGE TO MADAIN SALEH, SO THERE IS NO NEED TO STOP AT RIYADH

• Next to the National Museum you have Deera Square, also known as Chop Chop Square or Justice Square. Some Fridays there are public executions in this square. Again, no political opinion. Following picture is nearby:
  
• In the afteroon I visited the Kingdom Centre tower, one of the most significant buildings in the city, more than 300m high (ticked is $15)

• Not much to do in Riyadh to be honest. I do not regret my visit but I could have perfectly flown to Hail and driven directly to Madain Saleh

2nd day on my way to Madain Saleh:

• Second day meant drving long hours
• I passed by Buraydah and Hail but I did not see anything of interest
• I continued till Al-Ula where I spent the night and got the permit to visit Madain Saleh next day

FOR THE PERMIT YOU ONLY NEED TO PRESENT YOUR HOTEL RESERVATION AND PASSPORT IN THE HOTEL AND ASK FOR THE PERMIT FOR THE FOLLOWING DAY

• Some pictues of Al-Ula:

 

Madain Saleh:

• Third day made the trip worth it
• In few words, Madain Saleh is the largest Nabatean settlement after Petra in Jordan
• The visit is made by car as it is huge 
• The visit is free (I am sure when the country is more open to tourists they will charge a good amount)
• There are more than 100 tombs and the place is astonishing

Rest of the trip:

• I continued my trip driving along the west coast of the country
• I loved swimming in Yanbu, where after several hundred meters swimming I could see lovely colors and marine life 
• On my way from Yanbu to Jeddah I saw several spots to rent quad sand race cars so I enjoyed it once...it seems I did not have enough driving in the trip :)
• I did proper diving in Jeddah in a private resort. Quite expensive for 2 dives ($100) but beautiful experience
• Jeddah is expected to grow and develop some interesting touristic spots but I did not see anything particularly nice
• On the 23rd morning I flew back to Dubai with a particular opinion of the country, somehow similar but somehow different from all I had listened before
• The recommended activities after doing this trip are visiting Madain Saleh and diving in the Red Sea