Baku, Thursday 31st July

Next up when we get off the boat in Turkmenbashi is the long run through the Turkmenistan desert to the ancient, mysterious and completely wonderful city of Khiva in Uzbekistan.  Here's our route.  Two days if we get lucky.  Three days if we don't.

So its farewell to Baku this evening.  I've rather enjoyed our few days here.  A chance to indulge my passion for odd corners of history and experience a country that has seen überwealth bestowed on that lucky (very) few elite.  But it seems a happy, relaxed place, with lovely people. Even if they do drive like F1 drivers with blindfolds on. Definitely somewhere to put on your list.

 The public spaces are spotless and well maintained

 Heydar Aliyev, 'The Great Leader', who died in 2003.  He is credited with bringing the nation together. Ex KGB.  Succeeded by the current president, Ilham Aliyev, his son

 The view across Baku sea front,  out to the national stadium.  Spectacular

 A closer view.  Scotland played there a few years ago in another of our unsuccessful football adventures.

 Once the heat of the sun goes down, the locals like nothing better to come in numbers and stroll along the lovely seafront.

 Old Baku by night

My favourite spot looks even better by night

Baku Thursday 31st July

We have a ferry!  Leaves tonight at 9.00pm for Turkmenbashi.  17 hours and we sleep on deck.  Can't wait. Opinions vary as to what sort of ship we can expect...

hopefully closer to the bottom pic than the top, but you never know in these parts.....

These posts will almost certainly get less frequent as we move into the more remote parts of the rally. The highest recorded temperature in the next region we are going to was 51 degrees celsius, in the Turkmenistan desert in 1983.  Hopefully that was a one off.  

Baku 30th July

We have now successfully navigated  50% of the Kafkaesque maze that is trying to catch a ferry to Turkmenistan.  Many men promise to help, but few come through at a price that is acceptable and actually deliver.  So far we have a Turkmenistan visa, and we might have a boat tomorrow, but then again.  Its classic Central Asia at its intriguing and complex best.  The way through is to talk to lots of people, keep your best poker face on, and fall out with no one.  Anyway, hopefully we are seaward bound the Central Asia's own version of North Korea.

The last few days in Baku have been idyllic.  Its a place that has fascinated me for many a year, with its wild complex history, and standing as it does partly in Europe, partly in Asia and partly in the middle east.  We (the British), even occupied it briefly in 1918, as we fought (unsuccessfully) to hold of the Turks and their German allies from capturing it.  We did however stop them getting across the Caspian and threatening India (the Afghan border is only a couple of days train ride from the other side), and at one point the Royal Navy shipped submarines up to operate in said sea.  Boys own stuff.  If you want to read more, get a copy of 'The adventures of Dunsterforce', which chronicles the British campaign.

Anyway, I digress.  Baku is a mad confection of ultra-modern oligarch oil wealth and the wonderful ancient.  We have enjoyed both. Here are some pics.

The lovely Zaha Hadid designed 'Great Leaders'  Cultural Centre. Who'd have thought that a narrow based oligarchy could throw up such good taste.

This is my favourite however.  The Maiden's Tower in the Old City. Archaeologists can't even get close to dating it, with estimates ranging between several millennia B.C. and the 12th century A.D.. It has Egyptian influences running throughout it, but no-one can agree even what it was for.  It's alignment with the equinox's and its design tell me it was originally some form of Zoroastrian (fire worship, which originated around here) temple/astronomical site, which was later incorporated into the medieval defences.  V. tasteful restored and explained inside it as well

And there was quite a funky design competition being run just in front of it, with scale models decorated in various patterns

And one for the animal lovers...

Baku saw a massive explosion in wealth, population and urbanisation in the late 19th century due to the enormous reserves of oil around here, which at the time was quite literally seeping from the ground.  Some of the architecture from the time is very fine.

Right, we (hopefully) go into the unknown tomorrow. Don't know when the next wifi stop will appear!

Baku, Monday 28th July

A word about our car......

The Nostromo

We are driving a 2012 Ford B Max Titanium Turbo.  It has 998cc (the Azeri border guard burst out laughing at the small size of the engine) petrol engine, but delivers a best in class 125bhp.

We've done the basic rally mods on it.  Steel 16" wheels, a couple of halogens on the front, reinforced suspension, height raised by 30mm and a sump guard at the front. Nothing else.

It is an astonishing piece of kit. Rugged, reliable, fast and powerful when you need and very comfortable.  It is an absolute joy to drive and we have all fallen in love with her.

If I was the man in the Romanian Ford factory where it was built, I should be very happy in my work.  It really is that good a little car.

Baku Monday 28th July

Well, we've made it, and only one day behind schedule. 3,337 miles.  We arrived Sunday night in the oligarch's playground that is Baku, after leaving London the previous Sunday.  The last two days in particular were epic in every sense....I'll hand over to Rodger to describe the journey from Tiblisi....

Left Tiblisi at 9.30am,
The night before an Azerbaijani call Serge who was staying at the hotel told us the main border crossing between Georgia and Azerbaijan would take us 5 hours to clear customs but that there was la smaller border crossing to the north ......
A summit conference was held and like the true intrepid explorers and members of The League we went for it.
The roads were okish and soon the giant proscenium style gateway of the border crossing hove into view,
A sullen young Azerbaijani solder ordered Peter and I to walk through the crossing via wired off channels whilst Steve, who owns the Nostromo, had to drive into the jaws of passport control and customs alone...,
Would we ever see him again? Would he survive?
Had he remembered to leave any his 28mm figure collection to us?
It was a breeze; our passport control bloke was a cheery soul and Steve whipped the kilts out again and sailed through.
So, on to Baku!
The beautiful lush green and wooded countryside of Azerbaijan quickly changed into even more beautiful arid plains and hills as we headed south east.
Now, remember Serge? He told us we should take a road that was marked like a B road but drove like an A.
We ignored that and headed for the main drag into Baku, the mighty M1. They were rebuilding it. 
We drove 150 odd miles over pot holes the size of trenches, a small river, a mountain pass and through villages that had literally been dug up,
I'd done the early shift so was stuck in the back of the Nostromo and now have a deep insight into what it's like to be a kangaroo. Only whacked my head the three times on the roof but squashed hat off to The Dali and Steve who did the all-terrain stretches; none of us will ever complain about the state of the roads In blighty again. And hats off to The Nostromo who only muttered 'dozy t***s' the once on the the whole epic ride.
We then hit the newly laid M1 over the hills on the approaches into Baku.
I had relieved Steve at the wheel and it was the most frightening drive I have ever done .
A 2 lane road with lots of traffic all driving like total nutters on both sides with some big drops off the sides. We think there was a smash behind us as the road cleared to our rear and we saw ambulances hurtling the other way. 
In the countryside, in the main, the Azerbaijanis drive in a fairly civilised manner; indicating and only overtaking when it's safe. 
That went straight out the window on Death's Highway; they drive big powerful cars at breakneck speed swinging in and out forcing oncoming traffic to swerve to miss them.
I strongly recommend that anyone driving that stretch of road sticks to the speed limit, forgets overtaking and keeps their wits about them every single second they are driving.

Baku itself is a huge city with some impressive buildings...

As I said, epic...

The Nostromo under a canopy of grapes in our B&B in Tiblisi

lush Azeri countryside, way before the drive of death...

Strict rationing means we still have nearly four packets of fruit gums left

Baku is like the set from Bladerunner, if only Ridley had had a proper budget.

Batumi, Georgia 25/26th July

It turns out all the Georgians we have met have been charm itself.  Add the fact that you 'disapprove' of Putin and Russia and you have friends for life.  They really hate him/them here.  Ironic given that the biggest monster of all, Stalin, was Georgian, but hey, what's one bad apple...

We eventually found our little hotel, Hotel Leon, down a completely wrecked set of streets that hadn't had a makeover or a lick of paint in fifty years. The hotel, by contrast was perfect. Clean, safe, friendly and cheap.  By this time it was 11.30pm, but they directed us to a great Georgian restaurant a few blocks away where we were an object of much curiosity, and where we came into contact for the first time with every Georgian's favourite food - meat.  Tons of it....

who says we'd lose weight on this trip....

It is now nearly 24 hours since this blow out, and I've only eaten a few precious fruit gums since then....

Georgian legend has it that a Briton will one day rule over them.  Rodge quite fancied this idea when he found out, but there appeared to be little local enthusiasm.

Peter and Rodge fill out the job application.  Note the ginormous cheesy pizza thing that was our starter before 'death by pork' was served up.

Anyway, we slept like logs, although each morning you wake up just a bit more tired than you started the previous day.  We've done well over 3,000 miles by now, nearly 40% of our total mileage (which I find hard to believe), in just six days. Not bad at all. Tonight we are in Tiblisi, the capital of Georgia and tomorrow we cross into the wild west state that is Azerbaijan.  We targeted Baku in a week, and with a bit of the prevailing, we should do it.  Wish us luck.

Turkish/Georgian border Friday 25th July

We arrived at the border with a naive optimism that we could do well to loose before going any further.  The queue to cross was over a mile and wasn't going anywhere fast

and here it is two hours later...

it took us nearly three hours in the end.  All the delays were at the Turkish end, with the same grumpy officiousness we met when we entered.

The Georgians, by contrast, were charm and friendliness itself.  We did of course deploy our secret weapon, the three kilts we have stacked on the luggage shelf, which helpfully fall out every time the boot was opened.  The sight of a heavily armed Georgian border guard put down his FAL rifle and try my kilt on was priceless.  We sailed through after that.

Turkish Black Sea Coast, 24-25th July

We raced across the top of Turkey along the finest motorways I have ever driven on anywhere in the world.  The engineering in these things is truly impressive.  That allowed us to make great time.  We spent the night near the unremarkable city of Samsun, before slowing to a near crawl as we weaved our way through numerous towns and villages in and around the big city of Trabzon.  The major debating point was the low stocks of the all essential fruit gums, which help maintain morale during the long drives.  So, if anyone knows of a supplier in Baku, let me know, otherwise there's liable to be a spot of bother aboard the good ship Nostromo.

Some more images of this astounding place...

My favourite spot in Hagia Sophia, is the tomb of the blind Doge of Venice, Dandalo.

It was he who led the Fourth Crusade, which in turn led to the sack of Constantinople (as it was called then) in 1204 over a dispute about money   He was the first man over the walls, and oversaw (in a manner of speaking) the destruction of the most fabulous city in history. His tomb is a small modest affair on the first floor of the Empress's private chapel.

Istanbul, Wednesday 23rdJuly

Istanbul is a wonderful city and the Turks great people.  There is so much going on here, and the history spoils you. As someone who loves his history, I feel like a kid in a very big sweet shop.

There one place that is very special however, and that is Hagia Sophia (below)

Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in AD532, it took only five years to complete.  It is genuinely, truly, gobsmacking.  All of the history of the west and east collides here.  See it before you die!

Istanbul in three days was the 'stretch' target and we did it. 2,000 miles, eight countries, got lost once, numerous delays at border crossings (Croatia/Serbia anyone?), and a Kafkaesque entry into Turkey that took over two hours.  But we made it. We crossed Tower Bridge at 9.32am on Sunday 20th July and reached our hotel in Istanbul at 11.30pm on Tuesday 22nd.

Our route took us down the eastern border of France, over into Germany, where we stayed with friends in Memmingen for the night (and who through a midnight party and presented us with the great 1/56 model kit of the plane our car design was based on)

Day two saw us sprint for Belgrade, through Austria (which looked like a less well off version of Germany), Slovenia (a less well off version of Austria), into the vast central plains of Croatia (I think its better known for its coast for a reason), and then into Serbia and a night in Belgrade.  Lively place, even on a Monday night.

The Serbs were a very friendly bunch, but their sense of history was never far from their mind

This is a petrol station 'somewhere in Serbia'.  The squeegee girl on the left was very interested in the map on our bonnet.  So, she bends over, takes a good look, particularly at the different coloured map from Serbia that is Kosovo, and gives me a disapproving look, wags her finger and says '..no Kosovo, all Serbia...'.  To be fair, we discussed the various political disputes that our map inevitably falls into, and decided to leave it as was. Might need a colouring pen for the Crimea bit when we hit Russia mind you!

Tuesday was a long trip through Bulgaria, and getting hideously lost due to an over reliance on the sat nav and an under-reliance on common sense ('ignore the road sign to Istanbul, the sat nav says go that way...'), only to be rescued by two likely local lads and relieved of 35 euros and two packs of Malboro for their trouble (a bargain by the way).

The Turkish border was a painful experience with that all-too-often combo of officiousness and rudeness that goes with these things, but eventually, after a long delay we were on the home stretch.

Then came that phenomenon that is the Istanbul ring road.  Imagine the wildest game of Grand Theft Auto you ever played. Hahaha!  Doesn't even come close. I've driven in some of the maddest spots on earth, but this tops the lot. I'm only glad I was at the wheel as my passengers were having, I think the expression is 'kittens'.

Wednesday was a planned rest day, in the wonderful city of Istanbul and its great people.  More on that later.....for we are off along the Black Sea coast this morning.

The official start ramp.  At least six cars got buggered coming down the ramp too quickly, including the suave lad in the red ferrari, who lost his exhaust.....

The merry band of adventurers just before the start.....

The scene at Battersea this evening. 200+ cars all lined up to register and party.  Some of the stuff they've done to their cars is absolutely amazing.  The Ferrari was the most hilarious entry.  Driven by a suave 20 something, and appearing only to travelling with a guitar, you have to tip your hat to his style.

The view from the cockpit.  Sat-nav, Go-Pro3, speed trap camera (central asian police use speed traps for their holiday fund...), and of course our bobble-head, Walter.