Day 1 in Baku coming at you LIVE in … 3, 2, 1, ACTION!

Today’s agenda could not have been more varied if we tried. After arriving late in the night on Tuesday, I awoke to this peaceful morning view out my window.

After a quick protein bar breakfast, Janice and I walked to the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, about 12-15 min away from our apartment, and, upon arriving, could not find the entrance and proceeded to walk around the entire rug building… in all its metallic glory, backdropped by the flame buildings of Baku.

Once we finally found the entrance and asked for our contact there, we were whisked away by cab to the İctimai Television station (or iTV as it is known). Starting in 2005, iTV is apparently the first independent public broadcaster in Azerbaijan.

After arriving back at the Carpet Museum, Janice and I began inspecting what we would need to install her piece – a large panel design of handmade wool felted with burlap. There was a bit of difficulty in speaking with the installation team about what exactly was desired but, after a few hours, we got there.

After the earlier excitement of live television, we got some tips from a Hungarian felt artist, Istvan, who was at the TV studio with us. We had our sights set on the Qobustan Petroglyph Reserve and Istvan was the perfect person to speak with about getting there. He gave us insider tips to getting a reasonably priced ride to the reserve. He told us to go to the Icharishahar station and “find the stand with the books and postcards, there will be a man there, in his 50s, you talk to him and he will get you a taxi. Should be about 25AZN.” Sounded simple enough and sure enough, Istvan was right! We did exactly what he said and, armed with our Google translator (and the aid of kind strangers) we were able to get a car ride within about 20 minutes of asking. The car was comfortable but would not have been legal in the US as there were no seatbelts. The driver was a kind, older gentleman who patiently waited as we stayed a bit long at the museum and subsequent Petroglyph park. But just look at this place! How could we not stay longer?

Well, that’s basically all for today, time for some rest 🙂

Peace out ❤