Old World but oil rich in Azerbaijan

To the north of Baku Boulevard, the namesake promenade that separates the capital of Azerbaijan from its Caspian Sea waterfront, stands the Maiden Tower. The eight-story stone structure, which dates back to at least the 12th century, is thought to have once been a lookout against invading armies. Today, it is the centerpiece of the walled Old City in Baku. The 15th-century buildings within those walls are made of a honey-hued sandstone and, since 2003, have been painstakingly restored, leaving behind a movie-set veneer. A maze of winding lanes runs throughout, and tucked inside is the unadorned Palace of the Shirvanshahs, the seat of Azerbaijan’s ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Today, carpet merchants, hawking their wares, sing out the usual chorus of “Hello!” and “Where are you from?”

Outside the Old City’s walls lies another Baku. Magnificent European-style Beaux-Arts mansions, built by the city’s first oil barons a century ago, house outlets for some of the most recognizable brands: Gucci, Harry Winston, Burberry. In the evening, Mercedes-Benzes and Bentleys drop off muscle-bound men and their high-heeled dates to eat satay prepared by the Nobu-trained chef at Chinar, an Asian bistro, or to order a nightcap at chic lounges like Face Club or the Baku Jazz Center. Over the last several years, after a century of war and Soviet control, Azerbaijan has become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Oil and gasoline revenues deposited $7 billion into its coffers last year alone, and, in turn, brought an influx of foreign investment and visitors. This has left Baku gearing up for the limelight.

“Azeris don’t want to settle anymore for ‘Oh, this is good enough for Baku,’ ” said Javad Marandi, a managing partner of the Pasha Group, the firm that owns Chinar, which is the second incarnation of the teahouse that was a city staple for decades. “We aspire to be one of the most interesting capitals of Europe or Asia.”

And indeed, a grand — if still hazy — vision is beginning to take shape. Eventually the seaside promenade will grow to twice its length and will host futuristic malls, cinemas and arcades. Nearby, there has been talk of building a Guggenheim Bilbao-style project to complement the city’s newly opened Museum of Modern Art, which has a collection of more than 1,000 pieces by prominent Azeri artists as well as works by Picasso and Dalí.

A new cultural pavilion, designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, is under construction farther north of the city’s center and is expected to hold a convention hall and library and several national museums. More than a dozen luxury hotels, including the first Four Seasons to be built in any of the former Soviet republics, are scheduled to open within the next two years throughout the city.

Perhaps more important, public works projects have been undertaken, although slowly. Electrical grids have been updated, broadband cables laid and pothole-filled roads replaced with highways. By 2012, a regional railway — hailed by some as a modern-day Silk Route — is expected to connect Baku to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital to the north, and to Kars, Turkey, to the west.

Signs of disenchantment are uncommon, however, in the city’s well-heeled center, where families stroll into the evening hours on the boulevard, or chat in the bustling outdoor cafes that line it. Thanks to ubiquitous kissing teenagers, the two-and-a-half-mile strip is the closest thing Baku has to a makeout spot — a reminder that, though a thoroughly Muslim nation, Azerbaijan prides itself on being a secular one. Often, the melodies of mugham — traditional Azerbaijani folk music that blends classical forms and jazzlike musical improvisations — can be heard from street musicians and from inside Philharmonic Hall, which reopened in 2004 after an extensive renovation.

“It’s a genuine urban culture of watching your neighbors go by,” said Bruce Grant, a New York University anthropologist who has traveled to Baku regularly in the last decade. “That’s not something you see as much anymore, for example, in Russia.”

Visitors are also likely to hear a rich medley of languages, thanks partly to the various influences that have touched the country over the years: Turkish, Iranian, French, Russian. Young people especially are likely to speak three or four languages, including, increasingly, English.

“Some day Baku could be a very important bridge between the eastern Islamic world and Europe with its tolerance and kindness,” said Narmin Kamal, 29, a native writer.
From her apartment window, Ms. Kamal has a bird’s-eye view of the makeover that her birthplace has undergone. She lives near Azneft Square, the southern anchor of Baku Boulevard. In the distance, the detritus of a century of oil exploration lines the horizon. Modern-day drilling platforms are hard at work alongside the antiquated 1940s-era nodding donkeys of Neft Dashlari, a heavily polluted island also known as Oil Rocks. This vista is a daily reminder that “oil is both happiness and tragedy in Azerbaijan,” Ms. Kamal said.

Indeed, the country’s oil-fueled culture of new money means that budget travelers will find that Baku already rivals European cities in at least one way: price. A strong currency (the manat) and soaring real estate costs make a hotel room under $200 a night (about 157 Azerbaijan new manat, at .79 manat to the dollar) a bargain.

Yet for all the attendant hassles one might expect in the capital city of a modern post-Soviet petro-state, Baku and its denizens radiate an Old World warmth. The greatest charms still rest in kitchens and courtyards — for most families, the center of their social life. Befriend a resident and it probably won’t take long to be invited to dinner. Meals, usually unfussy and filling, are sure to include fresh produce, kebabs and a specialty, dolma, the minced-meat- stuffed grape leaves, cabbage or tomatoes.

Conversation can last for hours. Talk — for men, anyway — continues at the city’s bustling cayxanas. Off limits to women (by custom, not law), these teahouses can be elaborately furnished rooms, but are often nothing more than a collection of plastic tables and chairs set up outdoors. A pot of strong black tea costs little more than one manat, and friends can while away an afternoon. Men smoke and sip tea from short, slender glasses, with the clacking of nard, the local version of backgammon, as a soundtrack. The cayxanas, Professor Grant said, “are among the central breathing mechanisms of the city, giving husbands a place to go when apartments are taken over by extended families and other guests.”

It’s this conviviality that Chinar’s owners are trying to recapture — if in a more modern way. Mr. Marandi, as a child in London, often heard stories of the original Chinar from his relatives, who fled Baku in 1920 after the Soviet occupation began.

“It’s updated and contemporary, but why not?” Mr. Marandi asked. “Azeris are shouting for new and better, and they know they deserve it.”

IF YOU GO

Flights from the United States to Azerbaijan generally require at least one stopover, usually in Moscow or Istanbul. A recent online search found round-trip flights from Kennedy Airport to Baku on Aeroflot in late November starting at $763. Americans traveling to Azerbaijan must obtain an entry visa before their arrival in the country.

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel rates are steep in Baku, as is to be expected in a city experiencing an oil boom. Next year several new luxury and boutique options are expected to open, including properties by Four Seasons, Fairmont and Hilton.

Until then, the Hotel Hale Kai (18 Mirza Ibrahimov Street; 994-12-596-50-56; hotelhalekai.com) is a small American-run hotel conveniently situated a few blocks from the main Fountain Square. The rooms are tastefully decorated, and breakfast is included. Rates start at 130 manat ($166 at .79 new manat to the dollar).

For swankier accommodations, head to the elegant Sultan Inn (Boyuk Qala kuc 20; 994-12-437-23-07; sultaninn.com) in the heart of the Old City. The 11-room boutique hotel combines modern conveniences with traditional Azeri style. An added bonus: the popular rooftop bar and restaurant provide the best view of the Maiden Tower in the city. Rates start at 230 manat.


By Kathleen Kingsbury
/NY Times/