From Baku to Istanbul

More absurd Intourist think. When we were checking out, we were informed that there was no hotel storage for luggage. The only option was to extend our room rate for $30. (as the receptionist said, “not much money”…an interesting comment since $30 is about 1 month’s salary for the average Azeri). So, we grabbed Mamedov and hired him for the day to drive us around and take us to the airport- for $35.

What a great way to spend the day- our own personal chauffeur. We went from the hat place (repairs to the Azerbaijani hat that John just had to have--added to his collection) to a view of the city from Martyr’s Lane. On January 20, 1990, the Russians massacred over 100 Baku citizens and they created a special graveyard to honor the dead. Since then, they’ve added the 1000’s of other graves for the dead from the Karabagh conflict with Armenia. It’s a moving site..rows of graves with their faces etched into the tombstones and flowers spread around the graves.

We went to the Azerbaijan History Museum and got a wonderful fresh-faced Azeri girl as a guide. The museum is housed in the 1896 former mansion of Z Tagiev, the richest of all of the oil barons. The upper floor is spectacular- huge reception rooms; one for entertaining European guests, one for Oriental guests.

Then it was off to the airport. Since the Azeri’s are known for government corruption, we weren’t sure what to expect from the process. We got to the passport check and the bureaucracy started. The first level said, “Cross…problem”. They found the Georgian cross in our luggage and decided to make an issue out of it. We had over 5 levels of uniformed customs officers examine the cross in detail, all saying “problem”. Finally, we got an English-speaking officer who explained to us that we should have declared the cross when we arrived in Baku. We calmly explained to him that no one spoke English when we arrived and that there were no forms in English and that it was only a $15 item from a flea market in Tbilisi- and most importantly, if it was a real problem, they could keep it. At that point- with no obvious money from us in sight, they decided to “make and exception” and let us keep it. What a change from the “no problem” attitude of the local entrepreneurs, like Mamedov.
After the hassle of check in, we had “technical problems” with the plane and were delayed for an hour. We finally headed off and landed in Istanbul about 10:00 p.m.
International news:
News from home: John Kennedy Jr’s plane crashed on the way to Martha’s Vineyard. John Kennedy, his wife and sister-in-law assumed dead.