Free Walking Tour of the Baku Old City

The back entrance to the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. Or maybe some other really old building.

The afternoon agenda was a guided, free walking tour, you know, one of those walking tours where the guide is paid with tips at the end and you pay what you think is fair. They have them in all the cities. And Baku is one of those "all the cities."

My guide, Azay, did a great job. And I was the only one on his tour.

I'm used to these free walking tours getting cancelled at the last second if not enough people sign up. I can't complain about that. You get what you pay for.

I was the only one on the tour, but Azay, being the consummate professional, did not cancel the tour. He made a scheduling error making a tour available today and when I signed up, he followed through. Yet another example of how amazing the people in Baku have been so far.

This is the Maiden Tower.

Landmark. One of the signature structures of the Old City. UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name comes from a legend about a young lady being imprisoned there -- perhaps so she would not marry an unsuitable suitor -- who threw herself off the top of the tower.

There's plexiglas walls at the top of the tower to prevent wannabe-Juliets from re-enacting that scene when their own love lives go bad.

Let's take a look-see inside the nearby Muhammad Mosque. It's named for a guy named Muhammad. Not "the" Muhammad.

Don't forget to remove your shoes first.

This mosque has some of the girthiest minarets (the towers from which the call to prayer is yelled)

I've ever seen.

I'm used to see extremely slender minarets where major claustrophobia would ensue if I tried to climb the stairs to the top of the tower.  This one is more functional.  The extra girth is recognition of the fact that this is earthquake country as the Arabian plate is in a state of constant war with the Eurasian plate. Hence all those massive earthquakes in Iran and Turkey. And, occasionally, Azerbaijan.

Another view of the Flame Towers.

This better be some foreshadowing for a different day of tourism.

Next up: the Museum of Miniature Books:

The books are really tiny. There is no way these old eyes could read the text printed within. But, hey, people were smaller back then. Maybe being smaller people meant you could read smaller print.

The smallest "book" is basically a micro-dot, you know, the kind they used in all those old spy movies from the 1960s. It comes with a magnifying glass to be able to read it. I think I would need some more powerful magnification to even have a chance.

This is a statue of the head of a man who had people for hair.

This is the Statue of Aliaga Vahid, a renowned Azerbaijani poet. He didn't really have people for hair. Or so they say. It's symbolically metaphorical. He was a poet, after all.

The city walls that survived the Soviets:

A lot of the city walls -- again this not only being earthquake country but earthquake country populated by people who were smart enough to know it and to take proper architectural precautions -- were so solid that the Soviets knocked them down.

Fear that they could be used to protect a population in rebellion. But why would anyone rebel against the glorious workers' paradise that brought heaven to the earth populated by the Soviet people? </sarcasm>

We will end the tour by moseying down to the waterfront.

This is one of the kitschiest examples of tourism kitsch to be found in Baku.

I present to you:  Mini Venice!  "Canals" with gondolas.  But the gondoliers aren't singing "O Solo Mio" -- which you Elvis fans know as "It's Now Or Never" -- so the kitsch is lacking in the faux authenticity that makes the best tourism kitsch so irresistible. This was totally resistible.

But not this!

The Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. In a building shaped like a rolled carpet. This, my friends, is tourism kitsch done right. Form follows function indeed. Like the now-gone "Tail of the Pup" in L.A., a hot dog stand that operated from a building shaped like a hot dog -- this is a carpet museum in a building shaped like a carpet. And it's supposed to be a great museum. Another day.

More Flame Towers.

Tour ended. Guide tipped. Hopefully enough to reflect that this was a solo walking tour. Time to stroll back to the hotel or maybe get some dinner at one of the kebob restaurants everyone is telling me I need to try.

But, first, a walk past the Azerbaijan State Museum of Art. It's not supposed to be just a "modern art" museum filled with ugly trifles that could have been spat our by a four-year-old -- yes I do have an opinion on the subject of "modern art" that I have been known to express a time or two. But the lone sculpture outside screams "modern:"

I've seen worse. And I will probably see much much worse before my time on this planet comes to its end.

We end the tour with this building:

I like it. I guess I should find out what it is.

Postscript: I conked out when I got back to the room and went to sleep earlier than I should because I had zero energy. And what I expected to happen -- if I went to sleep too early -- did in fact happen. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. feeling as wide awake as I have felt in several days.

Walking Tour of Centro Histórico

On the Plaza Mayor de Lima.
You know you are on the Main Square of any Latin American capital when, on one side of the square is
the main government building and another side is the Cathedral.

Every city in Latin America has a  Centro Histórico, the historic center. And every city of any consequence has a free walking tour for which you pay by tipping the guide at the end of the tour. Let's combine these two. Let's take a free walking tour of the Centro Histórico of Lima.

The meeting point for the walk was Iglesia de la Merced, a five-century old church.

The church is old, but I believe that the facade is a recreation. That is a common theme in the Centro Histórico. This is earthquake country, after all.

Across the Plazuela de la Merced is El Monumento a Ramón Castilla, the Monument to Ramón Castilla

Who is he? Why is he here? Why does he spend eternity looking at the beautiful facade of the Iglesia de la Merced? Only so many of my questions got answered on the free walking tour. And this was not one.

We walk down the Jiron de la Union and soon come upon this interesting looking building built in a different style from the rest of the Centro Histórico.

This formerly was the House of Photography, which housed photography or, more specifically, an extensive collection of old photographs of Lima. The photographs may be gone, but the photo opportunity is still there.

The style is art nouveau, which is an architectural style that, in Peru, may be limited to this single building. It reminds me of the Gaudi designed buildings in Barcelona. 

This is our free walking group. The reason for this photo is that it was the first of the "closed balconies" that I saw on a building in Lima, or, specifically, the Centro Histórico. The enclosed balconies are a signature feature of Peruvian architecture. Or at least I thought. I saw far fewer of these than I expected.

We soon reached Plaza Mayor:

This is the historic center of Lima's Historic Center.

That is the Club de la Unión building, significant enough to warrant placement on one side of the Plaza Mayor.

There is a fountain in the center, of course.

And, on the southeast side of the square -- since the sides are southeast, southwest, northwest and northeast rather than north east south and west I guess that makes this more of a "diamond" than a "square" per se -- on the southeast side of this diamond that we will call a square is the main cathedral of Lima. More of that later. In another post.

Walking down from the Plaza Mayor, down Jiron Ica, is the Iglesia de San Agustin.

It is closed for renovation. It was supposed to be renovated in time for the Peruvian bicentennial. But COVID happened and the renovation is moving along much more slowly than anticipated.

Again, the facade is a reproduction. Again, I think it is earthquake. It also could have happened in the war with Chile. Apparently much of the city was destroyed in a war with Chile (more on that later in the walking tour), so all damage is either earthquake or Chilean war.

But nobody blames the Chifa for any destruction in Peru.

"Chifa" is the fusion cuisine of Peru and China. In fact, much of what we consider Peruvian food is "chifa." Lomo saltado, for example, which, once this was mentioned, definitely seems to have a Chinese type preparation method. On the other hand, the unofficial national dish of Peru -- ceviche -- is all Peru. Although not from Lima. It's from Trujillo on the northern coast.

Next door to the Iglesia de San Agustin is the accompanying convent:

Convento Nuestra Señora de Gracia - Orden de San Agustín.

This is Teatro Municipal de Lima.

This is the performing arts center for Lima, fine arts dvision.  This is where you will find your opera and your ballet and the other pinkies-out performing arts.

Casa Fernandini:

If you look real close, you can see an ornate chandelier in the open window in the middle of the second floor.

But the neighborhood soon looks a little beaten-up:

The streets are perfectly safe (at least during the day) (probably into the evening here, too), but they are a little frayed in parts.

We then come to an interesting structure that I intended to visit after the walking tour (but I forgot until just now):

El Museo de los Combatientes de Arica. This is a museum dedicated to war with Chile. In that war, Chile extended its territory northward, taking away Bolivia's sea access (to get saltpeter mines, the important chemical in the manufacture of gun powder). Peru lost Arica. And the Chilean army sacked and destroyed Lima during the war.

One thing I learned today: Peruanos do not like Chilenos. It's like the Irish and the English. Croatians and Serbs. Ukes and Russians. The animosity may run both ways, but is much stronger in one direction than the other. I did not know this until today. But, much as the Peruanos despise the Chilenos, they really hate the Bolivians. The Bolivians switched sides in the war to help Chile and everyone hates a betrayer more than any other enemy.

We have now entered Lima's Centro Histórico's "Blue Period." This is the Case de Osambela.

This is the Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo:

Casa de la Gastronomía peruana:

The House of Peruvian Gastronomy. You would have thought I would have been all over this particular house. But, unfortunately, closed to the public today. No Peruvian gastronomy for me on this day at this house.

Plaza Peru:

It has fountains, but these are not the most famous fountains in Lima. That would be the Circuito Mágico del Agua, south of the Centro Histórico. Those are supposed to be lit up spectacularly at night. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next time in Lima.

And we're back on the Plaza Mayor.

In front of the Cathedral:

And the Government Palace of Peru, El Palacio de Gobierno de la República del Perú, on the northeast side of the diamond that is the Plaza Mayor.

We then walk toward the Museo del Convento de San Francisco:

It too is under renovation.

But it is open for touring. The catacombs underneath this church are a popular tourist tour in Lima.

And soon we reach the end of the free walking tour:

Parque de la Muralla. This is a city park where the city walls of Lima once stood.

The walls are gone.

But Francisco Pizarro is here.

The tour ended on a bridge over the railroad tracks where you can look down on the statue of the conqueror of the Inca Empire Francisco Pizarro. Yes, Lima has train tracks. Freight trains throughout the year, but an ancient steam passenger train runs in July. This is not July. So it is time to tip the guide and wander the Centro Histórico on my own.