Baku 
Gyanja 
Naxcivan 
Baku of beyond? Yes, but Azerbaijan's lively capital has plenty to offer visitors
Limousines cruise up to a new glass and steel nightclub called Chinar. Thundering music booms out. Security men stand with their arms folded, and the paparazzi snap almost everyone going in. It could be just another red carpet bash at a Los Angeles, Paris or West End nightspot.
In fact, it is downtown Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, and until now the Baku of beyond. But that is rapidly changing. The port on the shore of the Caspian Sea is mushrooming with skyscrapers. The girls dress to kill in the evenings.
Downtown, an array of hoardings advertises D&G and Versace. Hilton, and Marriott hotels are said to be on their way and cranes are everywhere. The former Soviet republic is awash with cash. Azerbaijan is experiencing a boom not seen since the 19th century.
In 1886, an oil gusher in Baku burst 224ft into the air, spewing more oil a day than all of the U.S.'s wells combined. The evidence of that first oil bonanza can be seen in the city's grand Art Nouveau architecture and wide boulevards.
Baku today is fed up with being just a giant oil terminal and is looking for a new status as a good-time destination. And why not?
It's an Islamic state, but secularised and it feels very relaxed. And, for visitors, the streets are safe. It's also a nostalgic smoker's paradise — you can light up after dinner in any restaurant.
Culturally, its big claim to fame is the well-preserved old city, a maze of lovely, honey-coloured limestone streets dating back to the Arab conquest, which have been used to stand in for Tehran or Istanbul in countless films.
This ancient quarter is full of mosques, caravanserais (traditional roadside inns) and madrasas (religious schools), all encompassed by 13ft-thick walls.
The old city also has a couple of boutique hotels. I stayed at the Museum Hotel, which has grand pretensions. I was told that the last person to have stayed there was the Queen of Denmark (and if so, she pinched the bath plug).
In Baku, most of the men seem to spend their time drinking tea and playing what looks like backgammon. The rest seem to drive battered Lada taxis for a living.
I shared a ride with a vast sack of walnuts on the back seat, the driver swerving like Jenson Button through lethal traffic.
Mercifully, the city is unlikely to become a stag night destination — it's too far away and has a fivehour time difference. But Baku's residents have demanded an upgrade in their nightlife.
A local construction tycoon, Javad Marandi, is the man behind Chinar, the newest nightclub on the Caspian. A restaurant, club and dance venue, the club is run by Gordon Ramsay's former right-hand man.
The idea is that it competes with anything London has to offer. Gaudy cocktails, DJs shipped in from the South of France, all the women in little black dresses. It's a great place to gawp at the gilded youth of Baku, all shimmying to music so loud it makes your clothes move.
If you want to hear the gentler sound of the city at night, there are numerous live jazz bars. Particularly good is the Jazz Centre, where earnest students listen intently to live bands.
By day, you can nurse the hangover that the abundant local vodka gives you in a hammam or steambath. Then in the evening visit the Karavanserai — a stunning medieval stone restaurant off a leafy courtyard. Centuries ago, travellers along the Silk Road stayed there and parked their camels inside this circular building.
If you are a chap, avoid eye contact with the belly dancers at all costs. Total humiliation is inevitable if you are selected as a gullible tourist and made to shake your belly in time to theirs.
The city's covered markets, piled high with fruits, nuts, saffron and exotic spices, are worth a look. Most of the produce is sold by cheery old crones with gold teeth. One of the local specialities is caviar from the Caspian.
The city's quirky museums reflect Baku's eccentricity. The great cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, was born here — there's a charming museum and a street dedicated to him. There is also a Museum of Carpets. Far odder is the Museum of the Miniature Book in the Old City. There are 4,350 volumes on display, some no bigger than your little fingernail.
A collected set of Shakespeare required a microscope to read. Where did she find it? I asked the curator, a far from a miniature woman. 'I buy zem een Piccadilly Circus,' she replied in a heavy Russian accent.
One of the most moving collections is in the National History Museum, once the palace of a philanthropic oil baron called Taghiyev, regarded as the father of the nation.
When the Bolsheviks took over the city in 1920, they kicked him out and turned it into a museum. The workmanship comes from all over the world. The rooms with crystal ceilings, acres of parquet floors, fabrics and furniture are astonishing.
Baku is a town which, despite its brash retail dreams, is far from brain dead. As for its nightlife, the trick is to knock back a couple of vodkas and enjoy it.
Source: The Daily Mail
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