FLYING TO A COUNTRY YOU DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED
welcome to Azerbaijan a country on the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia Azerbaijan and today we're starting our journey in Baku the capital city on the Caspian Sea we're going to be taking you to the modern sides of the city plus the historical sites in the old city this is our first time stepping out of Southeast Asia and we are so excited to take you with us seeing all the amazing sites and eating all the Sweet Treats in between this is [Applause] Azerbaijan welcome to Azerbaijan a country I never thought I would be visiting and in fact before we came here and we told our friends and family that we were visiting a lot of them didn't even know where aaban was when we did a poll on Instagram so many people had no idea where we were going in fact nobody guest that we would come here which is really surprising and I think today we're going to discover why this is probably one of the most interesting places to visit this city is steeped in history and culture and I am so excited to finally be here and the capital Baku is situated right on the cusp of the Caspian Sea we have just spent over a month in China which is going to be completely different to this because China is in the Far East of Asia and now we're in the far west of Asia on the brink and on the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia and Azerbaijan has a population of about 10 million people and we have also come here for a another very special reason this month it's Devon's birthday and I asked him what he wanted to do he said none other than watching the Formula 1 in an epic destination so we're going to be showing you a few clips of what we got up to at the Formula 1 hell right now I am walking around in the old city of Baku honestly my first impressions are am I in Europe because everything is super peaceful super quiet and I love the atmosphere all we're doing is just walking around there's cobblestones everywhere and what I love in the background is you can kind of see all the houses have little balconies you can see there's a very relaxed atmosphere people love to just chill on their balcony drink some tea and that's exactly what I'm looking forward to immediately it is a complete contrast of where we've spent the last 4 years in Southeast Asia you can immediately feel we're in Europe look at the square we got all of like the cobbles on the ground and then here most of the buildings are all of this like giant Sandstone very European very very quiet I think we're going to be saying this throughout today it is so quiet it is so peaceful and it's not crowded we've just spent a month in China with 1 and half billion people this is very different honestly it looks like you're in a desktop background it is so picturesque and so beautiful it's so beautiful you know what I just had a thought about there are less people in this entire country than a small tiny town in China wow that's crazy right now we're starting in Nazami Street and this is one of the popular touristy streets you're going to find lots of jewelry shops and clothing shops around here so what else can you find the best part about Baku is there are cats scattered throughout the city oh no they just kind of hang out everywhere you go how amazing are these streets it's beautiful so you got really old colonial style architecture you got all the balconies as shev said kind of jutting out so I think people sit outside and have a cup of tea as they look over the town cool I am actor you an actor wow nice to meet you bye-bye hello how are you how are you a are you from you from Baku yes I'm a from Baku from yes my name is m nice to meet you nice to meet you uh do you have Wii oh Wi-Fi we need Wi-Fi on I think there's Wi-Fi on the streets we making friends already Shev and Dev oh very nice I I'm sorry 1 minute one minute one minute just one minute uh you have been to China yes of course yes we've been to China you like China yes where are you from South Africa next time we come my free oh so kind of you so sweet included amazing thank you byebye nice to meet you to meet nice to meet you too nice to meet you have a good day nice nice day yes your English is so good how can we say uh thank you how do we say thank language CH thank you so how do I say ch ch and then hello is Salam nice to meet you thank you thank you next time see you again see you next time wow what a great first impression what a welcome to welcome to Baku we just met a famous actor [Music] apparently when you travel full-time you'd be surprised how often you're in uncomfortable situations not taking into account just how many steps you do a day and feeling exhausted with a tight schedule that's why we wanted to thank via for sponsoring this video come Comfort is very important for us and we want it to travel with a light eco-friendly and stylish shoe that is waterproof and comfortable and Via takes all of those boxes I went with the urban boot in Black that's completely handsfree and stress free a 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description below our plan is to explore some of these streets and even though I said this is the popular touristy streets it's still very quiet look at this I feel like every place that we walk to is like a desktop background and this gives you a true idea of what all the streets look like so all the buildings look very old but well maintained and then you've got the shops on the inside modern shops on the inside I love how simple and straight to the point Market coffee donut kebab no questions no questions these streets are so beautiful and you can see there's all these tiny little cutouts and this is a little restaurant you can see all of the chicken hanging here for a donut kebab and look how delicious all of these meals are and we're going to be trying a few different meals a bit later on but right now we want to head into the old and ancient side of [Music] Baku another interesting thing here in Baku is the Formula 1 grand prix is held in this city and it's a street track so this road that I'm walking on right now is part of the track the cars actually come up this way past this beautiful castle section and we have now entered ishish here which literally means inner city we are now in the downtown of Baku and this is more of the older preserved UNESCO world heritage site of Baku and what's amazing about this is it literally feels like I am surrounded by castles like I am in the 15th century Medieval Times that's what it feels [Music] like hello hello Salam Salam nice to meet you nice music wow very good everything's laid back here I love it super mellow Vibes honestly we have gotten such a warm welcome from the locals they have been so sweet to us they've welcomed us they've told us the greeting they've made a few jokes with us and it's been absolutely [Music] amazing we are actually finding ourselves getting lost in a few Alleyways and these kind of look like residential houses I think over 1,300 residents still stay in the old city which seems like they're still living in castles we can see little balconies and we are actually walking towards shervan Sha's Palace which dates back all the way to the 15th century and they are regarding this the pearls of architecture here in [Music] Baku look how beautiful these streets are honestly like we're walking through artwork but it feels like we've gone into the ancient times look yeah they've got lots of carpets old hat look at this guy another cat hi little guy it's lots of like carpets and teapots and you can already tell the lifestyle is like relax and let's drink tea and have sweet treats together I can't wait for that by the way as we head up these cobbled streets of the old town this is the vibe this is what it's all about here in Baku all of the tables and chairs are outside and all of these are different restaurants and they're selling all kinds of things from different breads lots of lamb chicken bucka treats desserts what are they making in here oh looks like a busy kitchen all these ladies are working inside here look at all the veg the fruit everything is on the street but also hidden and I like [Music] that it's like a Disney Castle crazy yeah it does kind of feel like that and all the way up here they have these little shops with all of the merchandise on the outside but they're actually underground you can take these few steps and go underneath so there's a bit of Life happening underneath this street here and here is a perfect example of what I mean by I feel like I'm surrounded by castles I can't even describe the height to you but I'm sure you can see by this clip how tiny I am at the bottom [Music] we're just walking through all these tiny little Alleyways and there's nobody here it feels like we're walking back in time you've got the olden doors these are some wooden doors this is all made out of sandstone you've got the old lamps and these are people's houses they are living in here and look how small this door is I'm not even show it's in there and a lot of the places are underground as well so you go through the door like right here the this is a door that goes completely underground made out and cut out in the Rock so right behind me we've got our first glimpse of the flame towers and it's absolutely unbelievable because we are still in the old town but we are getting a glimpse of the modern side of Baku and if you didn't know azer means Flame or fire so Azerbaijan means land of fire and the buildings are shaped like Flames this three of them it's about 182 M tall and they're residential buildings some of them are offices and it's so beautiful you can see all of these old buildings around us all the sandstone and a beautiful little Viewpoint that Shev is sitting on and then you can see all the way down here there's these little Crossroads that you can go through some of the ancient town and then to have those flame Towers behind is just spectacular it's like the icon of Baku [Music] as we enter different parts of the city it feels like we're in a different region sometimes it feels very European and now that we're in the old town with the old walls I kind of feel like I'm getting a Persian influence and obviously we are bordering Iran and that's why I think aaban is so unique because it's got so many different influences around it and as you travel through the city you get to explore all of it look at this shop it's completely in the wall here has all the buildings above it it says it's got handmade Art Shop and prints so like a souvenir shop completely hidden and it just goes all the way down there just as we've left the old town this is a train station and probably one of the most aesthetic stations I've ever seen in my life you obviously enter through there and here you can see what daily life is there's more people out here on the hustle and bustle and the entire station is made out of glass and of course there underground [Music] we're actually situated outside the station and this place is called lavas o I have waited for this our first taste of Azerbaijani food of course we had to get a schwarma this is pretty much a staple I think we paid about four Azerbaijani manat our first taste of street food wow that was a big bite Michel can you tell I'm starving the schwarma is packed with loads of chicken there's some french fries in here and a few veggies this is exactly what I was hoping for when we were going to come to Baku is have one of the famous Staples which is a schwarma also while I'm filming this the setting behind you M this is not a green screen this is really how beautiful and clean it is so this is street food I could get used to this this is street food and so cheap so affordable I could have this at least once a day [Music] M we're now making our way to our next destination and I had to point out how many of these bicycles and all of these scooters we've seen along the way we've seen so much eco-friendliness here here in Baku it's so easy to take your bicycle or your scooter around the city and if I just turn this around you can see all the stands for the Formula 1 here and then all along this busy road you can see all the Formula 1 driver's posters along the way so this is actually part of the circuit over here all the way along there and now we're going to make our way towards the prominade to see more of the modern side of Baku but so far my first depressions have been absolutely amazing we found affordable food we have found the most friendly amazing people and I have to say as a woman I feel really really safe exploring just roaming around the town freely I don't really feel worried and I don't really feel like it's very dangerous so let's keep exploring this is like an underpass so now we're going underneath the main road that we were just on and you can see how cool it is wow this is actually quite amazing you can see all sorts of paintings it's very clean very modern and now we're going underneath the main road to the other side so now we have taken a brief little walk to the promenade and this is the Caspian Sea technically it's a lake but it's saltwater so that's why it's called the Caspian Sea but this is the largest inland body of water and it's the most beautiful looking promenade behind me is the Crescent Hotel which is a beautiful circular looking building which has got a giant hole in the middle it's absolutely breathtaking we've got lots of the modern buildings behind me which is like more hotels business area and then if you look on this side M it's the flame Towers which you saw earlier and a beautiful flag pole with Azerbaijani flag and that building over there that looks like the Sydney Opera House is actually a giant shopping mall and right behind it is the carpet Museum because Baku is known for luxury rugs and carpets this is an absolutely beautiful promenade and I think you can just chill and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere from [Music] here this is probably my favorite part of the day when it's time to eat I wanted to point out where we will be eating tonight so this is the restaurant and we are currently in a park I don't know if you can see because the Sun is going down right now but we are in a beautiful park there are lots of people walking down this main walkway it's obviously very quiet and relaxed but this is where we are going to be sitting and having our dinner tonight experiencing some local Azerbaijani food for the first time and we've come to a place called goodup and it actually says that most people who come to Azerbaijan they come for a short time but they always remember the taste of the food and that's very special and that's what I love about the eating culture here in Baku is everything is outside if you're having tea or eating you got to be outside and just enjoy with the people there's so many good things here on the menu I'm a bit lost for choice or should I say spoiled for Choice wow thank you our first introduction to Azerbaijani tea oh I am so excited about this I have waited just to have tea in a little glass like this poured from a Little Teapot while wow look at this what a setting so we don't know a lot but what we do know about Azerbaijani tea is it's always served in the small glass we heard that's to keep it nice and hot so it stays hot in the pot and you just pour a little bit at a time you can add some lemon that they've given us just to make it a little bit sweeter and then in these little packets it's not sweets it's sugar sugar cubes and apparently what you do is you put the entire sugar cube in your mouth and then you add the tea and it dissolves in your mouth so I'm going to have to try that the only problem that I don't know how to solve is how do you hold your tea because it is boiling hot wow I couldn't have asked for a better day in Bon cheers Welcome to our Azerbaijani Feast so we've got a few dishes and what we're going to do is share between the two of us it smells so good I'm like lost for words I think I'm salivating I think we went a little overboard but I'm not complaining we've got our meat Guta which is just minced meat and onion in a little like wrap and then this is the Lamb Goa Goa I don't know if I'm saying that right but it's pretty much Lamb with rice and it's got chestnut apricot and Cherry and then this is the Lamb B I'm so sorry if I'm butchering that but it's basically Lamb with some onion in a bit of a soup with some bell peppers and tomato so I am so ready to tuck into this Feast I think I'll have to start with this I've got to get a bit of apricot in there and then I'm going to take a little bit of extra rice for my bam it looks so good in this clay pot and it actually looks like there's a bit of lamb fat that is just falling off the bone wow the meat is so tender it's honestly just breaking apart and look at that that giant apricot holy moly I did not expect that I did not think an apricot should go with lamb but I was wrong that was unbelievable I've never ever had a combination like that before and I did not expect it to taste like that but I'm pleasantly surprised and now I have to try the other lamb which was in the soup but I'm going to try with a bit of rice it just dissolved in my mouth the meat was so soft and tender the rice was extra bouncy and fluffy I couldn't think of a better meal to have today as we were enjoying our meal our last dish has arrived and that is the lamb kebab looks like a little bit of flatbread at the bottom and then we've got some onion and three giant pieces of lamb it looks juicy and succulent what I read in the book was definitely right I will definitely remember this taste for a long time okay I know you're admiring the most amazing view this is actually the view from our balcony and we wanted to end the video off here we've had the most unbelievable first impressions of Baku the people have been so lovely we've had the warmest welcome we've had the most insane delicious food and I didn't expect Azerbaijan to look like this did you know about Azerbaijan did you ever wanted to come here or have you been here before let us know in the comments and if you enjoyed this video please subscribe subscribe and we will see you in the next one blooper do you want to see something cool okay so I know you're enjoying the view but hold on ta that was a magic trick this is also our balcony for some reason but please enjoy the view and we'll see you next time bye
2024-09-28 18:30
