Well, I am happily back in Turkey. The midnight start time on the shows (in order for them to be live across Europe at 9pm CET) along with a mattress that was worse than things I have slept on in some of the most remote Eco lodges in Melanesia have taken their toll. Nothing that a 5 star hotel room, a nap, and some Turkish junk food couldn't fix though!
Baku was an interesting place. Everything was new, and you got the impression that a show was being put on for the foreign media and tourists. I suspect that if you went back without a major international event on it would be a very different city. The stories (none confirmed by me) you could overhear in the press center about arrests, protests, journalists being silenced and the forced relocation of people were disturbing. This is a country that clearly has money, and lots of it. They had clearly done a lot of work in the lead up to Eurovision and were not afraid of an electricity bill!!!! Place was lit of up like Disneyland on the fourth of July.
One of the funniest things I saw was a hill that was brown during the day, but they used green lights during the evening to make it appear lusher. It was Canberra stadium circa 2000 Olympics!
The place was an interesting mix of the old and the new.
The above pic is the Maiden Tower, a UNESCO site.
The arena on the other hand (above) was brand new and purpose built (and still being finished during the week!).
I stayed in the old town, where you had cobbled streets and rug sellers on every corner. And cats. So, so many stray cats.
The old city is contained within a wall. It was always interesting to see the new buildings popping over the top of that wall.
One of the "highlights" inside the wall was the Miniature book museum (I kid you not). This pic is of the complete works of Shakespeare, with my finger as scale. They had a copies of everything from the bible to Lord of The Rings.
What I could not get over in Baku was all the fountains!!!!!!!
The "Hungry, Hungry Hippo" fountain...
The "juicer" fountain...
A more modern fountain...
They even lit them up at night.
So much for Azerbaijan calling itself the "land of fire". I think it should be the "land of fountains".
Am happy with the Eurovision result. Sweden will be a nice change next year. Baku was a bit of a hard slog, and quite frankly had too many Melanesian-esque challenges in trying to get things done - which I think I need a break from after the last 6 years.
Believe it or not, I am in Turkey for another tour! Am about to go to the welcome function downstairs and meet the group - wish me luck that they are better than the last one!
Baku was an interesting place. Everything was new, and you got the impression that a show was being put on for the foreign media and tourists. I suspect that if you went back without a major international event on it would be a very different city. The stories (none confirmed by me) you could overhear in the press center about arrests, protests, journalists being silenced and the forced relocation of people were disturbing. This is a country that clearly has money, and lots of it. They had clearly done a lot of work in the lead up to Eurovision and were not afraid of an electricity bill!!!! Place was lit of up like Disneyland on the fourth of July.
One of the funniest things I saw was a hill that was brown during the day, but they used green lights during the evening to make it appear lusher. It was Canberra stadium circa 2000 Olympics!
The place was an interesting mix of the old and the new.
The above pic is the Maiden Tower, a UNESCO site.
The arena on the other hand (above) was brand new and purpose built (and still being finished during the week!).
I stayed in the old town, where you had cobbled streets and rug sellers on every corner. And cats. So, so many stray cats.
The old city is contained within a wall. It was always interesting to see the new buildings popping over the top of that wall.
One of the "highlights" inside the wall was the Miniature book museum (I kid you not). This pic is of the complete works of Shakespeare, with my finger as scale. They had a copies of everything from the bible to Lord of The Rings.
What I could not get over in Baku was all the fountains!!!!!!!
The "Hungry, Hungry Hippo" fountain...
The "juicer" fountain...
A more modern fountain...
They even lit them up at night.
So much for Azerbaijan calling itself the "land of fire". I think it should be the "land of fountains".
Am happy with the Eurovision result. Sweden will be a nice change next year. Baku was a bit of a hard slog, and quite frankly had too many Melanesian-esque challenges in trying to get things done - which I think I need a break from after the last 6 years.
Believe it or not, I am in Turkey for another tour! Am about to go to the welcome function downstairs and meet the group - wish me luck that they are better than the last one!
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