#54: Baku & The Land of Fire, Azerbaijan

My trip to Georgia was followed by the discovery of the so called Land of Fire: Azerbaijan.

“The Land of Fire is a phrase in the Azerbaijani language and an ancient Azerbaijani cultural concept that denoted either the entire Azerbaijan’s geographical land or the metaphysical realm of mortals, and later became associated with political sovereignty and cultural symbolism.” – Wikipedia

I’ve always wanted to visit Baku since years and now I finally got the opportunity to do it. Not being the ordinary girl or person who likes to travel around and within beautiful places, with palms, beaches etc. looooooots of people asked me “Why there? Do you speak their language?” –  “Nope! So what?! :)” 

Go beyond the boundaries! China taught me a lot: barriers are not linked to the difference of spoken languages, instead they all depend on how you set up your mind and how much you are willing to embrace difficulties and challenges on your own.


Azerbaijani are really welcoming. It’s true that the majority do not speak English, and we struggle to understand each other, however our Italian magic gestures helped me a lot! 🙂

Baku itself is a mix of ancient architecture and modern buildings with the famous flames saying hi from the upper point of the town.  Visible from many sides of the city as well. I loved walking on the Baku Boulevard, admiring the sea from one side and those big flames from a distance.



Those 3 buildings create a wonderful and spectacular atmosphere at night as they light up with magical effects, such as fire, local flags and colours and much more. Honestly, it even beats the Burj Khalifa at night. Congrats DIA Holding for this!


The historical part of the city is in downtown, easy to reach from any sides – Taxis are quite cheap as long as they use the meter 😛

The old city reminded me a bit of Beirut, same architecture, same colours and lots of people around. Everywhere is safe. I wasn’t aware of that kind of safety. People even stand far (very far) from you when you are about to withdraw and police is almost everywhere.

By the way: there is even a 24/7 bank there – for the ones who always have a problem with ATM machines like me (cards get trapped inside, it’s saturday, the bank it’s closed and you’re with no money till Monday.. it happened!) there’s nothing to worry: they can solve your problem at anytime. Amazing job!

Not to forget the delicious food I tasted in one of the typical restaurants over there. It’s called Firuza and it’s always full of people, guess why?! Food is simply amazing, portions are so big that I could barely finish mine. Worth to try.

I was in Baku just for 4 days, however I have to make sure to be back. I probably felt in love with its kebab that I keep dreaming of it!  XD

The more I travel the more I fall in love with all these countries, its people, its food and the magic of discovery! ❤

Baku said bye to me with a last amazing spot in town: a LIBRARY at the airport.


F A N T A S T I C  B A K U



Zaha Hadid: WE  MISS  YOU –  Thanks for all your greatest works!