A short travel vlog transcript of Kara and Nate Buchanan visiting Baku, Azerbaijan. They arrive from Tbilisi by overnight train and spend 24 hours exploring the city — walking the waterfront by the Caspian Sea, eating traditional dishes (including shah pilaf and dumpling-like lamb plates), strolling Fountain Square and the Old City (noting its 12th-century origins and UNESCO status), riding a funicular up to view the Flame Towers, and wrapping up to fly to Kazakhstan the next day. The tone is casual, observational, and enthusiastic about local food and architecture.
Questions this video answers
80th country
24 hours
12 o'clock
40 minutes
12th century
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Good morning from our 80th country of Azerbaijan. We are currently standing on the balcony of our Airbnb. Oh, that was loud in Baku.
If you missed our last video, we just arrived on an overnight train from Tbilisi, Georgia and we only have 24 hours here to explore Baku.
So we are going to make the most of it and leave now, starting with lunch, because it is 12 o'. Clock.
Let's go.
So we're taking the long way to lunch so that we can see more of the city. And this, it's just kind of like mind blowing for me. We've been in the Caucuses now for the past two weeks and this is totally different than anything else we've seen. Like, there's hints of the Soviet past here. Like you see some of like the old Soviet looking buildings, but then there's all of these like super modern, just like huge glass buildings. It's really crazy how much changed on one overnight train ride.
We have made our way down to the waterfront. This is the Caspian Sea and this city is just so cool so far. It reminds me of a combination of Istanbul and Dubai. I know that oil is the big deal here, so I think that's why they're able to make all these big, huge modern buildings. And you can actually smell it on the water right now. Like instead of a salty sea breeze, it smells like oil. I'm sorry we're talking so much. I think we're just excited to be in this new city. And by the way, we're on like the main area of the city right now on the water. And we have no idea where all the people are, what's going on. We're still looking for lunch.
This, how do you say it?
This restaurant is so cool. It's underground. I feel like we're eating in a cave. And we have ordered two traditional meals. I don't know how to pronounce this first one, but it's basically a deconstructed dumpling. There's lamb, onions, and then the dough is on the bott.
M. The minced lamb is so tasty. Like my taste buds are doing a little dance right now. And the dough is just perfection.
Wow.
That's incredible.
It's beautiful.
Thank you. This is called shah pilaf. We ordered it from the waiter. He kind of looked at us funny and told us that it was going to take 40 minutes to come out. And we told him we didn't care. But we were super excited that they had it on the menu because we read that this is like a party food or a festival food. So we didn't know if they served it all the time or if it was only for festivals. It is basically a rice pilaf surrounded with this bread called lavash. And he just cut it all open for us and made it look beautiful.
Oh, my gosh. This is definitely the most expensive thing on the menu. But we figured we're only here for one day. We wanted to have this experience, and I'm not regretting it.
I feel guilty right now. We had no clue when we ordered this that this was enough food for at least five people. It doesn't even look like we have touched it. And we're both so full. And we're gonna try not to fall into food comas so we can continue exploring our one day here in Bangkok. All right, our plans for the next couple hours are to walk Fountain Square, which is like the main pedestrian area here in the city. And then after that, we're gonna head to the old city.
Turns out that Fountain Square was appropriately named. There are tons of fountains. Also, like, all the walking area around there is where all of, like, the international restaurants are. All of the shops is just, like a super modern, really touristy feeling area. Now we're about to enter the old city.
Taxis are so cute here.
So we've just spent the last hour or so getting lost in the alleyways of the old city. And what we've learned so far is that the old city was established in the 12th century, and it was actually the very first UNESCO World Heritage site ever established here in Azerbaijan. So what's super interesting to me about the old city is that it feels like one of the most touristy areas of Baku. But at the same time, as soon as you duck into one of the little alleyways, there's still tons of locals that live here. Hence the reason the wanders here.
We were in Turkey not too long ago, and somehow we went the entire trip and never got Turkish ice cream. And I was so sad when we realized on our very last day, I feel like we're close enough to Turkey right now, and there's a guy selling it here. And it is an experience that you shouldn't miss out on. So we're gonna get. Hi. How are you?
Good.
How are you? I'm okay, thank you. Chocolate, burgundy, and Timo. Chocolate.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh, man, I thought I had it.
Thank you.
Is this a trick? Yeah. Okay.
Yes.
Okay. Thank you.
How much does it cost? Three months.
We just paid a whopping one doll dollar to ride the spinicular straight up the mountain to the top of the city, and it drops you off right in front of the three iconic buildings called the flame towers.
To be completely honest, this is not at all where I thought we would end up. When we got on the funicular, I figured it, like, took us up to a viewpoint. We were going to watch the sunset. But it turns out it just brings you up to a higher level of the city, and the sunset's on the opposite side of the mountain.
But there's a really cool view of the city, and there's tons of other things up here, like beautiful buildings, monuments. It's really cool.
So even though we can't watch, like, the sun itself actually set, the city is still a beautiful golden orange color.
We are back down by the water where we started today's vlog, and all the people are here now. I think we were just the only crazy ones earlier out here during the heat of the day.
That is a wrap for our time here in Azerbaijan. I feel like we only scratched the touristy surface of Baku. But with that said, it's been an incredible day. The city surprised me so much, and I would definitely love to spend more time here, but at the same time, I am super excited to fly to Kazakhstan tomorrow.
And we're gonna make the most of it by starting with some food.
Ouch.
Sorry.
I think this might be a plum. Oh.
What are you gonna say about it?
It's really hot, and I kept the camera recording constantly. Kara's been getting mad at me for shooting so many shots.
