Quba

This morning we took an excursion from Baku to Quba, a town of 38,000 about 160 km from Baku in northeastern Azerbaijan. It's a town with extensive Jewish as well as Moslem populations, but they live on opposite sides of the Qudyai River.

We stopped at a wayside mall on our drive to Quba. 

Across the highway, a mosque with a jagged mountain in the background.

Interior of a mosque in Quba

Interior of one of the two remaining synagogues in Quba

Detail of a loom in a carpet factory

Making baklava

NOTE: We will probably not have adequate wi-fi for posting this blog for the next three days, until we get to Tiblisi, Georgia. I look forward to making contact then.

Around Baku

Baku is not just oil - though it is definitely that. We explored aresa north and south of the city today, encountering a variety of scenes. Many involve "eternal flames", contained petroleum fires that never go out. In Baku, oil just bubbled out of the ground.

Gobustan Petroglyphs (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Oil rigs

Dining room at Ateshgah Fire Temple

One of the eternal flames at Ateshgah Fire Temple

Mrdakan Fortress

Tour leader Roger Williams at Yanar Dag, the Burning Mountain

Light show on the Flaming Towers

Simulating the eternal flame

Baku Scenes

Today we had an extensive and intense tour of some of the major sites of Baku, a surprisingly complex and interesting city.

Eternal flame, in front of one of the Flame Towers

Faces on Martyrs Lane - sort of like our Vietnam Memorial

Throne room in Shirvanshakh's Palace

Haydar Aliyev Center, designed by Zaha Hadid

Sculptures in the garden of Nobel House. The Nobel family made its fortune in Baku petroleum, before Alfred Nobel developed dynamite.

Right outside the Nobel estate, old refinery land is being converted to a residential "White City"

Small part of the exhibit in the wonderful Carpet Museum

Glimpses of Baku

We're in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on the first day of a month-long trip in the TransCaucasus: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Svaneti, and Armenia. Baku, from what we've seen so far, is an attractive city: large, nicely situated on the Caspian Sea, hypermodern from oil wealth, with a sizable and well-preserved Old Town, and remarkably clean. These few photos are from a few hours of wandering around by ourselves before the tour actually starts. Lots more to come.

Two of the famous Flame Buildings, seen through Old Town balconies

Shop front in Old Town

Section of the old city walls

View from the walls down into the extensive park that runs along the Caspian

Monuments in the Japanese Garden

Two more scenes from the Japanese Garden in March.

NOTE: We are traveling overseas for the next two months. Wi-fi connections are unpredictable, but should be OK most of the time. I'll try to post daily when I can, from some interesting parts of the world.

Water in the Japanese Garden

Waterfall, fish pond, reflecting ponds... Water is such an important feature in the Garden.

Japanese Garden Reopened

Portland's Japanese Garden reopened a few weeks ago. As always, a wonderful place for photography.