We woke on Saturday with cautious anticipation of being able to catch the ferry that had previously been anchored off Baku for around 4 days due to high winds across the ocean. Not knowing first hand when the boat might make our way to shore, save for a marine tracking app on one of our phones, we relied on Ismael to get in contact when it’s arrival was imminent.
We didn’t want to stray too far from the hotel so we made a few small excursions in the morning, the first being to the maidens tower. There are a range of theories for the use of the maidens tower range from observing the night sky to being a tall fortress that could protect and sustain a lot of people for weeks at a time. It took a while to buy a ticket from the lone kiosk outside the tower, which sold tours and tickets for many other places besides, but when we were in we pretty much had the run of the place, it being “early” in the morning.
After climbing many stairs through various exhibits theorising on the purpose of the tower we came back out into the bright morning sun beating down on the roof of the tower. Thanks more to Baku being on a hillside more than the height of the maidens tower, we were able to see much of the city from the roof.
After a successful jaunt into the city’s history we repaired to a quaint local drinking establishment called “Starbucks” and had a cool drink while we decided what to do next. What we decided to do next was to have a look around the pedestrianised shopping streets to see if we could buy some supplies for the boat since there were mixed reports on the availability of food on the journey. The Swiss team had settled in a coffee shop for some food and wait for the fixer, Ismael, to arrive. We joined them under a canopy kept cool by a light spray and fans. When Ismail arrived we established that our ferry from Baku and the Swiss ferry from Alat (chosen because it was cheaper but a much older boat) weren’t going to leave that day after all, we decided to head south along the coast to find a famous Azerbaijan landmark: the second tallest flagpole in the world.
It wasn’t there. As we approached the site it became confusing that we couldn’t see a pole of any outstanding height, no matter how we skirted around the buildings that might have been obstructed it. After a quick search on Wikipedia it turns out that the flagpole had been taken down in October the previous year due to not being designed to cope with wind. Before it was taken down it bent worryingly and a block of flats had to be evacuated. And before that, the day after it was unveiled as the tallest flagpole in the world, the flag tore, and various new ones had to ordered to cope with the wind.
Slightly more disheartening than a missing flagpole was the first sighting of our ferry at anchor off the coast. Knowing it was so close was frustrating, but we were sure we wouldn’t be waiting too much longer. When the Swiss had finished meeting with Ismail they asked if we wanted to check out the port and see what information we could glean first hand. If we could do without our fixer, who has been enigmatic and evasive all through this process, then we should try it. The Swiss guys jumped in our van and our motley bunch headed off to find the port and the mall to stock up on supplies.
The port entrance is behind a playground strangely, and there are a few cabins before the barrier that went there clearly marked. We went up to a group of men who were standing around smoking and one of them happened to be the guy we needed to talk to about getting our name on the list for the ferry. We didn’t have our car documents but Marcel and Elias did, so we added our names to the list with them and hoped that would be enough to hold a place until the morning.
That done, we headed to a underground carpark with just enough clearance for the van to fit through and bought as much food as we thought we might need for the ferry crossing (reported to sometimes take days due to berthing availability and weather in either end) as well as another 25 litres of water for use on the rest of the trip.
Our evening excursion being successful, we decided to stay a night at the hostel found the corner from the previous night’s hotel to save money and go to the port first thing the morning, after another good Azeri meal of course, complete with beef and rice (Plov) and vine wrapped ground lamb (Dolma) amongst other good things.
Fed, watered, and with a plan of action, we went to bed.
Team Yes We Khan 