You can tell a lot about a city from the journey into it’s centre from the airport.
In San Francisco on the BART you can discover that here is a US city that has embraced public rail transport.
In Shanghai, the Maglev tells you that here is a country driving the cutting edge of technological development.
In Beirut, the 10 minute taxi drive tells you that the airport is in the city centre.
So what did we learn about Baku on the midnight drive into the town centre?
The highly illuminated, highly ornamented walls that run along the sides of the smooth, freshly-laid 8 lane motorway told me that here was a place where presentation matters.
As the taxi arrived in the city centre I wondered if we had really just gone past a branch of Bulgari… And then we went past a second branch of Bulgari. And then a Hugo Boss Shop. And then an Armani Store.
As the taxi turned around an enormous fountain, spraying water high into the air of this desert city, we arrived at the corner of a half built Four Seasons Hotel before turning into the Old City.
Sometimes Old Cities within a modern city can be run down affairs. The first building we went past in the Old City was the Swiss Embassy. With 4 different types of Mercedes Benz parked outside.
On first impressions Baku seemed pretty flash with it’s cash. What would the morning bring?
In San Francisco on the BART you can discover that here is a US city that has embraced public rail transport.
In Shanghai, the Maglev tells you that here is a country driving the cutting edge of technological development.
In Beirut, the 10 minute taxi drive tells you that the airport is in the city centre.
So what did we learn about Baku on the midnight drive into the town centre?
The highly illuminated, highly ornamented walls that run along the sides of the smooth, freshly-laid 8 lane motorway told me that here was a place where presentation matters.
As the taxi arrived in the city centre I wondered if we had really just gone past a branch of Bulgari… And then we went past a second branch of Bulgari. And then a Hugo Boss Shop. And then an Armani Store.
As the taxi turned around an enormous fountain, spraying water high into the air of this desert city, we arrived at the corner of a half built Four Seasons Hotel before turning into the Old City.
Sometimes Old Cities within a modern city can be run down affairs. The first building we went past in the Old City was the Swiss Embassy. With 4 different types of Mercedes Benz parked outside.
On first impressions Baku seemed pretty flash with it’s cash. What would the morning bring?
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