Lost in Azerbeidzjan

Replies: 1 - Last Post: 09-Feb-2008 04:05 Last Post By: markbek

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Dann11

07-Feb-2008 20:06
Posts: 6

Lost in Azerbeidzjan

Several questions concerning my trip (march 21th - april 7th)

I'll arrive in Baku on march 21th early morning. As I read in Mark Elliot's guidebook, the main NoRuz celebration is the evening before. Are there still things happening on march 21th somewhere in Baku and related to NoRuz? Should I try to get invited by a family?
I love mountains hikes, but obviously it's winter time. I love hiking in the snow, but I'm not sure how easy it is to find my way without decent maps. Anybody has experience with that or an idea where I can find maps? Would I be able to find a guide at that time of the year? And what about accomodation, I suppose most is closed for the winter or? Is it smarther to go to the south for hiking in the mountains there? Maybe I would love to try both.
I do hitchhike a lot, as a way of getting to know people. Is it costumary in Azerbeidzjan? Am I supposed to pay the driver? I don't speak any of the local languages or Russian. Also, is it realistic/fine in Azerbeidzjan to walk into a mountain village and ask people for accomodation? I always take with me some pictures and drawings of what I need.
The book of Mark Elliot inspired me to plan a side trip into Georgia. But there seems to be a problem. A single entry visa is obviously easy to get upon arrival. But if I go to Georgia and back, I need a double entry visa. The consul wasn't to clear about that, I needed some special invitation, not sure if he meant a LOI. Any experience or help is welcome.

I can't wait really, i'm so excited about this trip.
Thanx for all the information.
Dann

markbek

09-Feb-2008 04:05
Posts: 126

The visa problem does make it much easier to fly into Georgia then visit Azerbaijan from there rather than vice versa (Georgia no longer requires visas at all from most tourists). Doing it the other way you will have to have a double entry visa for Azerbaijan. I found recently that I could get a double entry for the same price as a single entry BUT not on arrival at Baku (maybe someone else managed that??). If you've already got a single entry visa then it's going to be tough/annoying as you'd need to get a second Az visa in Tbilisi which will take about a week.

Re No Ruz a lot of the festival is family based but I'm not sure what there is to see on which night having not been in Az myself at that time. In Iran, I found No Ruz quite an anti climax just as anyone visiting the west at Xmas might feel.

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