Azerbaijan

Some trips begin with a grand plan. Others begin with a practical reason to go somewhere. Azerbaijan was a little of both for us.

Visa was relatively easy to obtain, and the dates happened to coincide with my birthday. That was enough reason for Pragati and me to decide to spend a few days in Azerbaijan.

We flew from Dubai to Baku on Azerbaijan Airlines on 16 March 2018. I had booked a car to take us from Baku airport to Shahdag, where we were going to stay at a ski resort. Pragati had almost no idea what this trip was going to be like. My own knowledge was mostly limited to what I had read in online reviews.

The car was waiting for us at the airport with a placard carrying our name. The drive to Shahdag was quite long. For a while, I began to wonder if I had made a mistake.

We had booked a ski resort, but where were the mountains?

The landscape along most of the journey wasn’t particularly impressive. Pragati had fallen asleep, which was probably fortunate because I was already imagining her disappointment if we reached a ski resort and found no snow.

Then, during the last few kilometres, everything changed.

The landscape suddenly became white. Snow appeared everywhere and the mountains finally came into view. I woke Pragati with a sigh of relief.

We had reached Shahdag.

A ski resort in the mountains

We checked into the Pik Palace, Shahdag, Autograph Collection around noon, and the hotel immediately made an impression on us. The rooms were enormous and the whole place had the kind of polished, luxurious feel that reminded me of something from a James Bond movie.

Our room overlooked a completely snow-covered mountain slope where people skied. The hotel itself sat partway up the resort, with cable cars going both up and down. Because normal visitors couldn’t simply come up to this part of the resort, it was relatively quiet, with only a small number of ski enthusiasts around.

That suited me perfectly.

It wasn’t snowing when we arrived, so after settling in and taking some much-needed rest following the flight and long drive, we dressed comfortably and took the cable car down. The lower part of the resort was much busier, with buses bringing tourists in to enjoy the snow and mountain scenery.

We spent some time there, snacking and enjoying the views, before returning to the hotel for the night.

Then, sometime in the middle of the night, Pragati woke me up rather vigorously.

For a moment I wondered what had happened.

The news was good.

It was snowing.

I looked outside and the view was mesmerising. Snow was falling over the resort, while snowploughs were already working through the night to keep the ski slopes clear.

This was our first stay at a ski resort. I had wanted to experience one during our Armenia trip but hadn’t been able to. Now, unexpectedly, I was doing it in Azerbaijan.

The resort was beautifully scenic and, compared with the crowded ski resorts I had seen in Switzerland, felt wonderfully quiet. I later realised that we were only about 30 kilometres from the Russian border.

For the next couple of days, there wasn’t any great agenda. We rode the cable cars up and down, enjoyed the mountain views and simply experienced being in a ski resort. For hotel guests, the cable-car rides were included, so we could ride them as many times as we wanted.

That was exactly the kind of holiday I enjoy.

I don’t remember doing anything elaborate for my birthday, and honestly, I don’t think I needed to. I have always liked being away from home on important days such as birthdays or New Year. Being somewhere different is celebration enough for me.

Back to Baku

Our flight home was from Baku, and Shahdag was far enough away that we decided not to take a chance with the return journey. We checked out on 18 March and headed back towards Baku.

I hadn’t even booked our Baku hotel in advance. I booked it while we were on the road.

We stayed at the Hilton Baku, in a high-floor room almost at the top of the hotel. The view from the room was beautiful, looking towards the Caspian Sea.

Baku was a complete change from Shahdag. We explored the city, visited a local market, ate whatever vegetarian food we could find, and bought some nice winter jackets.

And then there was the Caspian Sea.

I had already seen the Dead Sea during our Jordan trip, and now I was standing beside another sea that felt quite different. There was one similarity, though — the smell. The Caspian Sea, at least where we experienced it, had a noticeable crude-oil smell, which made me smile.

It was still wonderful to see it.

A couple of strange moments

One evening, while walking in a park near the Caspian Sea, we noticed a tall gentleman in an army uniform accompanied by a bodyguard. He had an imposing personality, and we thought we might ask him for a photograph.

We did ask.

He politely refused.

Only later did we realise that he was apparently a fairly senior military figure. In hindsight, the polite refusal was probably the best possible outcome.

There was another incident in the local market that was less amusing.

I had a feeling that someone was following us. I noticed a man behind us for quite some time and told Pragati. Rather than continuing to walk, we decided to sit down and see what happened.

The man eventually passed us, and for a moment we felt relieved. But after crossing us, he spoke to another man, who then appeared to follow us afterwards.

I still don’t know what was really happening. Perhaps it was my overprotective side imagining something that wasn’t there. Perhaps there really was something unusual going on.

Either way, we decided not to take chances. We left the area quickly and returned to our hotel.

A birthday in the snow

Looking back, Azerbaijan was an unusual birthday trip.

There wasn’t a grand birthday celebration, no carefully planned itinerary and very little that was fixed in advance. There was a long drive from Baku wondering whether we had made the right choice, followed by the sudden appearance of snow and mountains. There was a beautiful ski resort, cable-car rides, a surprise snowfall in the middle of the night, and finally a high-rise hotel overlooking the Caspian Sea.

The trip had started because Azerbaijan was relatively easy for us to visit.

It ended up giving us our first experience of staying at a ski resort — something I had wanted to do for a long time.

Sometimes that’s all you need from a birthday.

Just be somewhere else.