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A late arrival in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, the previous day (described here) meant that our programme became compressed. We had managed to carry out the planned walking tour of Baku the previous evening (described here) but the day described below, the last day of my trip with Golden Eagle, was equally stimulating.
Friday 28th September 2018
Buffet breakfast was available from 06.30 a.m. in the Four Seasons large Zafferano Restaurant. At nine o'clock we all met up in Reception to join our various coaches. We were to visit the Gobustan National Park to see the ancient rock art. Our coaches slowly extricated their way south out of the city and I realised that we were retracing our arrival route the previous afternoon when the double-track electrified main line appeared on our right. Our highway, the E119 remained on the seaward side of the railway. We passed the massive LafargeHolcim Cement Plant to our right and various industrial sites to our left.
Around Baku: LafargeHolcim Cement Plant Garadagh, viewed from E119 highway.
Periodically, we passed modern police stations. Our guide invited us to recall that the transition from Soviet state to independent nation in the last twenty five years has not been without difficulties and Azerbaijan experienced a repressive and lawless phase. He suggested that the large glazed areas in modern police stations were intended to send the message that the modern police have nothing to hide.
Around Baku: Local Police Station on the E119 Highway.
To reach the Gobustan National Park, now a World Heritage Site, our coach crossed over the railway line on a road bridge and climbed into the muddy-looking foothills I'd first seen the previous afternoon as we arrived at Baku by train. We parked in a car park already busy with cars and coaches. We deferred an exploration of the very modern Visitor Centre until later and our guide led us directly into the rocky area where it seemed that almost every near-vertical cliff has been embellished with primitive carvings depicting scenes from the lives of the prehistoric people who once lived there.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park, Azerbaijan: One of the footpaths leading through the rocky landscape.
Despite the simplicity of the artworks, I found them evocative and full of vigour. Most are believed to be between 5,000 and 20,000 years old.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park, Azerbaijan
I found the carvings of animals particularly interesting but I'm afraid my camera couldn't really do justice to what we we saw.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park: animal images.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park: more animal images.
We also saw a 'Gaval Dash' - a naturally-occurring stone which resonates when struck. The example was about three feet long and this type of stone has only been found in the area of Gobustan where I assume the unique geology has produced gaseous inclusions in the stone, giving a strange ringing sound when struck by a smaller stone.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park, 'Gaval Dash' musical stone viewed from above.
I enjoyed the park itself but the modern visitor centre was rather crowded so we shuffled past the interpretations of prehistoric life fairly quickly. Nearby, there was a representation of a prehistoric village, with a number of full-size mannequin and a series of straw-covered huts. I was amused to discover that one of these huts housed a modern tea vending machine.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park: An unexpected tea vending machine!
The elevated site offered good views of the Caspian Sea, and the profusion of offshore oil and gas platforms served as a reminder of Azerbaijan's modern history.
The Caspian Sea viewed from Gobustan National Park, Azerbaijan
Wikipedia has an article about Gobustan National Park here. There's also a rather frantic presentation about the site here which gives some idea of the area. I was rather disappointed that we didn't get to visit one of the mud volcanoes in the area but I suppose it tends to be a rather messy business. The mud is reputed to have medicinal qualities.
We clambered back aboard the buses and drove back to the E119 highway which lead us back towards Baku. In places, we were close to the shore of the Caspian Sea - a rather odd sight with a chain of offshore oil or gas platforms spread across the view, some complete with drilling rigs.
Around Baku, Azerbaijan: The Caspian Sea, with a chain of offshore oil or gas platforms.
We passed the entrance to the ambitious Khazar Islands project - a planned city to be built on around 40 artificial islands which lost funding following a fall in oil price and currently on hold. The artist's impressions on the Design Build Network site here are certainly striking.
By coach to Baku from Gobustan, Azerbaijan: Entrance to Khazar Island (project currently suspended).
As we approached the city, our guide pointed out a large, informal taxi rank adjacent to a roundabout where passengers negotiate with the waiting drivers.
Around Baku, Azerbaijan: Informal 'taxi rank'.
Passing an area called Shikh Beach, we passed the waiting jack-up offshore rigs moored at a long jetty I'd spotted from the train on our arrival the previous day.
Around Baku, Azerbaijan: Moored 'Jack-up' Drilling Rigs at Shikh Beach.
We turned right off the highway into the narrow streets of Bibiheybat, an old part of the city and our coaches gingerly descended the hill towards the shore of the Caspian Sea.
Bibiheybat, Baku, Azerbaijan
We stopped near Nar Sharab hotel and restaurant where we were shown into a large restaurant overlooking the Caspian. The sun shimmering on the water and the outdoor sun terrace looked very attractive and some of the guests commented that they would have liked the opportunity to get closer to the sea but the service in the air-conditioned restaurant was friendly and prompt, the Azeri set menu was good and they served some interesting local wines.
Lunch at Nar Sharab hotel and restaurant, Baku, Azerbaijan
As we finished lunch, we were invited to choose from a revised afternoon programme of free time in Baku, a visit to the Carpet Museum or a trip to the Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple of Fire. I chose to improve my very limited knowledge of the Zoroastrians and was shepherded onto the appropriate coach.
Bibiheybat is on a promontory thrusting into the Caspian. Our restaurant had given us views to the south but, within a few minutes of setting off, we were heading west along the northern shore of the promontory in an area called South Bay which was an active, but rather neglected, area of docks. There were four fishing vessels and four larger vessels of about 5,000 tons DWT (either oil tankers or bulkers) laid-up but looking rather sorry. I counted four floating dry docks, of various sizes, apparently in regular use.
South Bay, Baku, Azerbaijan
Cargo ships laid-up in South Bay, Baku, Azerbaijan
Ocean-going tug undergoing repairs in the Floating Dry Dock 'Yusif Ibrahimov', South Bay, Baku, Azerbaijan
We passed the modern campus building of Baku Higher Oil School and then, as often occurs around Baku, we passed into a rather barren area populated only by a few 'nodding donkey' electrically-driven oil pumps, quietly extracting the source of Azerbaijan's wealth. These pump installations are more correctly called 'Pumpjacks' - there's a useful Wikipedia article here.
Pumpjacks around Baku, Azerbaijan
Equally suddenly, we were back in a modernised area with manicured lawns and the imposing Baki idman Sarayi Aquatic Palace.
Baki idman Sarayi Aquatic Palace, Baku, Azerbaijan
In keeping with any modern, capital city, Baku has equipped itself with a Contemporary Arts Centre. This is housed in one of a group of restored industrial buildings. The Yarat Centre has a website (in English) with more information here. The adjacent buildings appear to offer a variety of dining experiences.
The Yarat Contemporary Arts Centre housed in a restored former industrial building, Baku, Azerbaijan>
A little further on, a disused electricity generating station built in 1921 has been restored and re-purposed as the Heydar Aliyev Foundation's Stone Chronicle Museum (following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Heydar Aliyev was the third President of Independent Azerbaijan, succeeded on his death in 2003 by his son Ilham Aliyev who is the current President). As our coach sped by on the E119 highway, I little realised that behind the Stone Chronicle Museum, a Russian 'L' class 2-10-0 steam locomotive had been plinthed and cosmetically restored.
Former electricity generating station restored as the Stone Chronicle Museum, Baku, Azerbaijan. Note the disused electricity transmission towers.
We were now passing the waterfront Boulevard area with the 60 metre Ferris wheel called the Baku Eye and the not-quite-finished Caspian Waterfront Mall (there's an interesting article on the history of the Caspian Waterfront on the architect's website here).
L: Almost complete Caspian Waterfront, R: Baku Eye. Baku, Azerbaijan
We passed the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, designed to resemble a huge rolled-up carpet, then 'Mini-Venice' and the Yacht Club on our right, leaving our hotel, the Four Seasons, on our left. The coach traversed Neftchilar Avenue before turning away from the shore to continue north-east on Heydar Aliyev Avenue, passing a variety of modern buildings, some still under construction.
Around Baku, Azerbaijan
The coach continued east along the broad Airport Road before turning off into another of the strange, desolate areas around Baku of bare earth with oil derricks, pumpjacks and small capacity pipelines.
More Pumpjacks around Baku, Azerbaijan
Then we were back in a normal, suburban area, crossing a single track railway at a level crossing on the Zigh Highway before turning south-east along Balandin which took us past Surakhani station and into the coach park of the Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple of Fire.
Zoroaster
Zoroaster was a Persian philosopher, prophet and spiritual leader who believed in two spiritual forces of Good and Evil with human free-will able to choose which to follow. Optimistically, he believed in the ultimate triumph of Good. He is generally thought to have lived between 1,000 and 1,500 years before the birth of Christ but this is uncertain. His thinking gave rise to the religion of Zoroastrianism which became the dominant religion in Persia.
See Zoroaster (Wikipedia) and Zoroastrianism (Wikipedia) for more.
The five-sided temple at Ateshgah has the appearance of a stone fortress, with a series of rooms and cells built into the thickness of the walls and a single access gateway, as shown in the plan below.
Plan of Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple, Baku
Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple, Baku: View of inner courtyard with five doors to cells in outer wall and access gateway on right
Fire was an important symbol in Zoroastrianism and the main altar always had an 'eternal flame'. Until recently, the 'eternal flame' on the main altar at Baku was fed by a natural escape of gas but increased gas extraction rates commercially in the area resulted in connection to the gas main!
Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple, Baku: Central altar and 'eternal flame'
Although believed to have been built during the 17th and 18th centuries for Zoroastrians, the site also became a place of worship for Hindus. The Temple of Fire is now arranged as a museum with interesting displays illustrating the life of ascetic pilgrims.
Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple, Baku: Pilgrims' cell.
Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple, Baku: Stable for pilgrims' horses.
See also Fire Temple of Baku (atlas obscura).
After this very worthwhile visit, it was 'back on the bus' and retrace our route to the Four Seasons Hotel in Baku, pausing briefly to admire the flowing architecture of the Zahar Hadid designed Heydar Aliyev Centre. There's more on this building on Wikipedia here.
Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan.
My 'Golden Eagle' trip was almost over - just dinner then bed because I had a very early start the following day. Dinner had been arranged for the whole party in the Mughab Club Restaurant, a few hundred yards walk from the hotel. We ate at two long tables, caravanserai-style with traditional musical entertainment provided. The meal was enjoyable but those of us with early departures the following day were happy enough to make our way over the cobblestones of the lanes leading us back to the main road, the hotel and bed after a packed day of excursions in Baku.
Related posts on this website
This is the last one of a series of posts describing my 'Golden Eagle' Caspian Odyssey trip, starting with Travelling East.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Caspian Odyssey reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Caspian Odyssey reports.
On leaving Baku by air, I flew to Istanbul for a weekend. Clicking on the 'Next report' link below displays my first post describing Istanbul.
Next report.
My pictures
These albums include more pictures of the events described above:-
Four Seasons Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Around Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Rock Carvings of Gobustan National Park, Azerbaijan.
Ateshgah Zoroastrian Temple, Baku.
All my pictures taken in Azerbaijan (except 'technical' railway pictures) are in the collection Azerbaijan.
My previous post here describes our journey across Azerbaijan, arriving in Baku station at 16:34. It was already becoming dusk and I was quite ready to retire to a hotel room but the organisers had decided that our walking tour of the Old City, which had been planned for that morning, would take place before we checked into our hotel.
A little background
The history of the area now forming Azerbaijan is very complex. There's a useful Wikipedia article here but I found a three-minute animation from 'Cartographious' here which shows the various changes informative. Use the 'Back Button' to return here. Imperial Russia, seeing the strategic importance of the area, pursued a series of wars against Persia and eventually managed to wrest control, as shown in another animation, this time from 'EmperorTigerstar', here. Use the 'Back Button' to return here.
The astonishing wealth-creation and growth of Baku in the 19th century resulted from the unique geology of the area. The world's first oil well was drilled at Bibiheybat, Baku in 1846 and the increasing demands for petroleum products both in the Russian Empire and in the West had attracted the attentions of the Nobel Brothers and Rothschilds by 1883.
Thursday 27th September 2018 (Evening)
The coaches drove us on busy streets from Baku railway station to a dropping-off point near the Old City. Although there were large, ambitious modern 'skyscrapers', the more conservative architecture lining the streets was similar to European and American cities developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries featuring Baroque, Gothic and Beaux-Arts styles, together with later Soviet styles. The picture below illustrates this architectural mix, with a medieval Persion palace (foreground), Soviet-style (rear left - although Baku TV Tower, started 1979, was not completed until 1996 after the collapse of the Soviet Union) and ultra-modern (rear right two of the three 'Flame Towers' described on Wikipedia here).
A mix of architectural styles in Baku, Azerbaijan: Persian, Soviet and ultra-modern.
The Baku Executive Authority Building, completed in 1904, was built as a Municipal Duma or town hall in the Baroque building style and now serves the Mayoralty of Baku. There's a Wikipedia article here.
Baku Executive Authority Building
We came across various oddities, like a strange larger than life size bust of the Baku poet Aliaga Vahid (1894-1965) and the Baku Museum of Miniature Books (see Wikipedia article here).
Baku Museum of Miniature Books, Baku, Azerbaijan
The Old City, Icherisheher, was built when Azerbaijan formed part of the Persian Empire, incorporating 12th century (or perhaps earlier) features and defensive walls, with later additions. There's a Wikipedia article here. Our walk took us past the surviving parts of the encircling Old City walls and the Maiden Tower. The Old City has been changed by modern reconstruction but a model on display in the Palace of the Shirvanshahs gave an impression of the 15th century city. The Old City, including the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, is now a World Heritage Site
Model of 15th century Baku, Azerbaijan
Walls of the Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan
Maiden Tower, Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan
The highlight of our walking tour, for me, was a visit to the 15th century Palace of the Shirvanshahs. Considerable reconstruction has been carried out and, although its detailed history is still a matter of some debate, I found it a fascinating and tranquil complex of elegant buildings.
Palace of the Shirvanshahs, Baku, Azerbaijan
Palace of the Shirvanshahs, Baku, Azerbaijan
Below I list Wikipedia and other articles which give more background on the Palace of the Shirvanshahs:-
Palace of the Shirvanshahs (Wikipedia)
PALACE OF THE SHIRVANSHAHS (Alluring World)
Shirvanshah Palace, Baku (Advantur)
Palace of the Shirvanshahs (Azerbaijan International)
We left the Palace and continued our walking tour, past preserved bathhouses and a medieval caravanserai but, by this time, my tiredness was overcoming my concentration and I felt quite relieved when I saw that we were finally headed towards the Four Seasons Hotel.
Preserved bathhouses in Baku, Azerbaijan
I was a little worried that, with a fair number of guests arriving simultaneously, check-in might take a while but, in fact, I was issued with a room key within a few minutes and gratefully headed for the lifts. My room was well-appointed and huge.
Four Seasons Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 'Golden Eagle' Caspian Odyssey trip, starting with Travelling East.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link (where shown) displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Caspian Odyssey reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Caspian Odyssey reports.
My pictures
These albums include more pictures of the events described above:-
Baku walking tour, Azerbaijan.
Four Seasons Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan.
Around Baku, Azerbaijan.
All my pictures taken in Azerbaijan (except 'technical' railway pictures) are in the collection Azerbaijan.
As I mentioned in the last post here, the carefully-choreographed timetable for passing through Georgian border checks, taking dinner in the restaurant car and then passing through Azerbaijan Immigration on the evening of Wednesday, 26th September 2018 didn't quite work.
Thursday 27th September 2018
I awoke to find the train travelling at a leisurely pace through a fairly anonymous-looking plain. There was not much to see except the infrastructure of the double-track electrified railway itself so I had no idea what progress we'd made overnight on our 500 km journey across Azerbaijan to the capital, Baku.
Azerbaijan Railways: Typical railway electricity sub-station.
I took an early breakfast and looked at the passing scene. We had been scheduled to arrive in Baku at eight in the morning and spend the day touring the city. I realised we were going to be late but I didn't expect our arrival to be as late as 4.30 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we seemed to stop at most of the stations we came to and wait for a while before proceeding. When we were moving, speeds were quite modest, too. I hadn't been able to see very much of the railways in Armenia and Georgia so at least I had more chance to study Azerbaijan's electrified main line, although photography from trains is rarely very satisfactory.
Around eight o'clock, we passed through the station at Ganja, with its mixture of old and modern architecture. The station building was clearly recent but other structures, like a splendid water tower and what I took to be a signal box appeared to date from the steam era.
Ganja Station: Azerbaijan Railways.
Water Tower at Ganja, Azerbaijan Railways.
Only later did I discover that Ganja is Azerbaijan's second largest city, with a population around three-quarters of a million and that it is about 150 km from the border where we'd entered Azerbaijan, leaving some 350 km still to go.
Even reading station names presented something of a problem. Although Latin letters are now commonly used to represent words in Azerbaijan, many signs (including station names) continue to use Cyrillic characters which are quite confusing to Westerners.
By ten o'clock, we were running through Leki station, another modern building, this time with a dome as the stationmaster displayed his short, yellow baton vertically as we passed.
Leki Station: Azerbaijan Railways.
Another half hour brought us to Ucar station, with its extensive sidings. It is situated virtually in the centre of Azerbaijan and I learned later that, whilst the city has a population of perhaps less than 20,000, it forms the administrative centre of the Ujar region with a population approaching 80,000. Our luxury, private train in its distinctive blue livery attracted attention everywhere but the railwaymen around Ucar seemed particularly interested in our passage and my waved greetings received enthusiastic acknowledgment.
Azerbaijan Railways: The crew of an unidentified VL10 locomotive waiting west of Ujar acknowledge our passage.
Azerbaijan Railways: 2-section, VL11-464A waiting west of Ujar.
East of Ucar station, there were more sidings with waiting freight trains.
Azerbaijan Railways: Westbound freights waiting east of Ucar: VL11 275 on a train of hoppers and an unidentified VL11 on the main line.
About 20 km further on, we passed the small, unrebuilt station of Mususlu, with the stationmaster and, I supposed, all his staff watching the 'Golden Eagle' from the narrow platform.
Mususlu Station: Azerbaijan Railways
Kurdamir was reached after about 40 km. Like Ucar, this is a small city and administrative centre of the Kurdamir Rayon (administrative region) and is provided with a reasonably modern station building, although a number of brick goods sheds and a water tower appeared to be from the steam era.
Azerbaijan Railways: Kurdamir station
Beyond the city, a major highway crossed over the railway next to a modern shopping centre. Nearby were two large, apparently disused, storage buildings which I took to be grain silos served by a number of railway sidings.
Shopping centre in Kurdamir.
Azerbaijan Railways: Disused grain warehouses at Kurdamir.
Further on, I snatched a picture of another unmodernised but nicely-painted station at Garasu.
Garasu Station, Azerbaijan Railways
We passed what looked like a quarry where a shunting locomotive type TGM23 was parked with a train of bogie hopper wagons.
Azerbaijan Railways: Unidentified shunting locomotive type TGM23 on a train of bogie hopper wagons
The appearance of a number of loops and a waiting westbound electric-hauled freight indicated that we were arriving at yet another small city - Hajiqabul.
Azerbaijan Railways: VL11m 341 waiting with a westbound train west of Hajiqabul.
Major track relaying work was being carried out on the railway here. There was a large tracklaying vehicle at work on the next line and large diesel electric locomotives on various engineer's trains. We were stopped, once again, for about ten minutes and then we crawled slowly past the extensive yards.
Azerbaijan Railways: Track laying machine and 2TE10M-3407 Co-Co diesel electric at Hajiqabul.
Azerbaijan Railways: TEM2 8754 Co-Co diesel electric on Engineer's Spoil Train at Hajiqabul.
Eventually we drew level with the unmodernised station buildings at Hajiqabul, followed by a large double water tower, engineer's sidings and a diesel locomotive maintenance area before finally leaving Hajiqabul behind.
Hajiqabul Station: Azerbaijan Railways
After about 10 km, we passed a tall transmitting antenna on the north of the line and came to a stand in Pirsaat station, with its unmodernised station building almost hidden by mature trees.
Pirsaat station building. Note searchlight and 'Lada' (13:25).
After five minutes, we eased forward, passing a modern diesel electric locomotive waiting on the westbound road and stopped again (near km 117). Five minutes later, we set off slowly, only to halt again after about 1 km. I was frustrated that I couldn't work out exactly what was happening but I concluded that our electric locomotive (which I'd never managed to identify) had been replaced by the modern diesel-electric locomotive I'd seen waiting on the westbound road.
Another 8 km took us to Navahi, where I noted a large cemetery just north of the railway.
Navahi, showing cemetery (13:39)
The station here had substantial, but unmodernised, buildings on the north side of the railway.
Azerbaijan Railways: Navahi station, with the inevitable parked 'Lada' (13:45)
The next station was Atbulaq, about 11 km beyond Navahi. East of the minor station, there was a group of sidings on the north of the main lines in a fenced compound with mainly tank wagons but a few container wagons and a couple of diesel locomotives.
Azerbaijan Railways: Sidings in a fenced compound east of Atbulaq, showing TEM2U 9096 Co-Co diesel electric and unudentified TGK diesel hydraulic shunter, probably both built for industrial use (13:55)
The railway now changed heading: having been running more-or-less south-east, it turned north-east approaching Bash Alat which is around 11 km beyond Atbulaq. On the north of the line, we passed a pre-cast concrete sleeper factory.
Pre-cast concrete sleeper factory, on north side of line, west of Bash Alat (14:03)
We passed what appeared to be a signalling centre on our left just south of the modern station building at Bash Alat on the east of the line and extensive loops on the west. At this point, we were only 2 km from the west shore of the Caspian Sea (although I couldn't yet see it) but still had around 80 km to reach our destination, Baku.
Signalling centre at Bash Alat. Note the two spotlights (14:07)
Bash Alat station bulding on east side of line (14:08)
Bash Alat loops on west of main line. Note the grazing cows (14:09)
Our new heading would enable us to follow the coastline north towards our destination, Baku. After about 14 km, we stopped again at the unmodernised station of Qobustan on the east of the main lines, watched by the young stationmaster and his assistant.
Qobustan Station: Azerbaijan Railways
I was surprised to see a fairly modern electric locomotive type VL11 M6 drawing ahead of us on the platform line and, a few minutes later, a TE33A diesel-electric appeared and stopped in the platform.
Qobustan Station: Azerbaijan Railways: VL11 M6-509 on the platform line. This is a modernised version (built from 1987) of the adaptable multi-section Bo-Bo VL11 (built from 1976) which was developed from the earlier VL10. The Cyrillic 'b' after the running number indicates cab 'b' (14:25)
Qobustan Station: Azerbaijan Railways: TE33A-0292 Co-Co diesel-electric on the platform line (14:25)
After about twenty minutes, our train continued its journey. I decided that the diesel electric which had brought us from Pirsaat had now been replaced by the VL11 M6. About 8 km further north, approaching Sangachal, I could at last see the remarkable Caspian Sea, about 1km distant on our right. A branch line curved away to the shore area with chemical plant, a tank farm and red-painted portal cranes visible.
Approaching Sangachal, showing the non-electrified branch to the dock area visible in the background. Three workmen on the self-propelled Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) maintenance vehicle operated by ATEF Group watch the 'Golden Eagle' pass (14:58)
Our train was diverted to the left-hand track through Sangachal station's single, crumbling platform and we slowly passed a gang of trackworkers working on the other lines.
Sangachal station, showing track maintenance in progress. Four portable hydraulic rail jacks can be seen (15:00)
Continuing beyond the station, we passed Sangachal Power Station on our left - a large, fairly modern electricity generating station which appeared to use multiple diesel generators. The line turned east to keep us within 500 metres of the shoreline.
Sangachal Electricity Generating Station (15:08)
Next, we passed the extensive Sangachal Terminal, also on our left. A useful Wikipedia article here confirms that this oil and natural gas initial processing plant, only started in 1996, is one of the largest in the world. Separators and coalescers separate the incoming product into oil, gas and water before forwarding the oil and gas via pipelines (the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean coast and the Baku–Novorossiysk pipeline to Russia's Black Sea coast).
Sangachal Terminal, Azerbaijan (15:09)
I was fascinated by the multi-coloured but barren hillside which appeared on our left. Only later did I confirm that this resulted from the outpourings of a mud volcano from the Wikipedia article here. Azerbaijan, with over 400, hosts more than half of the world's known mud volcanoes.
Mud Volcano, north of Sangachal, Azerbaijan (15:16)
When I saw a rail yard on our left with lines of bogie tank wagons, I initially assumed that they were oil tankers but the nature of the industrial plant which appeared next (and the dusty landscape) quickly convinced me that they were bulk cement wagons. A large kiln labelled 'Holcim' confirmed that we were passing a cement works. There's an interesting history of the plant on the Holcim Azerbaijan site here. The plant was set up by the Soviet Union in 1949 to support the post-war building programme. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the plant was privatised in 1999 and acquired by Holcim, becoming part of LafargeHolcim in 2015.
Azerbaijan Railways: Passing Holcim Cement Plant, Garadagh, heading for Baku (15:19)
We stopped, yet again, at Garadagh station, on the main line with a platform loop on our right and unmodernised but painted station buildings. After a wait of around five minutes, we quietly set off again.
Garadagh Station, Azerbaijan Railways (15:27)
A developed industrial area appeared on our right. The lines of bogie tank wagons were certainly for oil products this time - in the yellow and black livery of 'SOCAR'. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Repulic ('SOCAR') was set up in 1992, following the demise of the Soviet Union, to manage the oil and natural gas resources of Azerbaijan. There's a website here. Baku Shipyard, in the background of the picture below, was originally set up in 2010 as a joint venture between SOCAR (65%), Azerbaijan Investment Company (25%) and established shipbuilders Keppel from Singapore (10%).
Azerbaijan Railways: Yellow and black 'SOCAR' oil tankers and, in the background, Baku Shipyard (15:41)
Our train then passed the reason for the lines of tank wagons - the Garagdah Methanol Plant which started production in 2013 as the Azerbaijan Methanol Company but is now operated by SOCAR.
Garagdah Methanol Plant (15:42)
To recap our journey, since entering Azerbaijan our train had crossed the country heading roughly south east, to approach the Caspian sea near Bash Alat, then headed north for around 20 km to Sangachal then continuing about 20 km north east. Baku itself is located on a large promontory, shaped a little like a parrott's head, which projects into the Caspian Sea around 50 km. The city of Baku is built on hills around a south-facing bay. The railway does not approach the centre of Baku directly but turned away from the coast, threading its way through the hills around Garagdah and passing through a bleak moonscape populated by small oil drilling rigs with a number of 'nodding donkey' pumps still extracting the product.
Azerbaijan Railways: View approaching Lokbatan, showing oil derricks and 'nodding donkey' pumps (clear example near top left) (15:45)
The line then turned east, running along the shore of a lake with the residential district of Lokbatan spread out across the hills to the north.
Azerbaijan Railways: Lokbatan, viewed from the 'Golden Eagle' (15:48)
Once through Lokbatan station we were about 3km from the shore on our right but I snatched a picture of seven offshore drilling rigs awaiting their next commission as we passed two modern warehouse complexes on our left - Abseron Port and Baku Logistics centre.
Azerbaijan Railways: Offshore drilling platforms awaiting their next commission, L: 6 off 'Jack-up', R: 1 off 'Semi-submersible' (15:51)
Azerbaijan Railways: Crossing Keeper's Hut on access road to Baku Logistics Centre with unidentified TEM3 Co-Co diesel electric moving a train from the sidings at Abseron Port. The bogie timber wagons carry sawn timber planks, carefully loaded to fill the loading gauge (15:53)
Beyond Heybat station, the line headed north through a river valley and past Khojahasan Lake before coming to the major railway junction of Bilacari where the main line from the Russian Federation to the north joins. We headed east for around 5 km, through the extensive marshalling yards of Bilicari, then continued another 5 km south-east through the district of Bakmi with a smaller freight yard and a station with an island platform.
Azerbaijan Railways: Unidentified VL11, bucket excavator on rail wagon and VL10-1031, Bakmi district, near Baku (16:18)
The line turned again so that we were heading due west as we crossed Heydar Aliyev Avenue and, almost at our destination, were halted for six minutes before finally crawling into the main platform at Baku, over eight and a half hours late.
Azerbaijan Railways: View of road junction on Heydar Aliyev Avenue and Babek Avenue, looking south (16:32)
Azerbaijan Railways: The arrival of the Golden Eagle' in Baku watched from the signalling centre (16:33)
Guests lost no time leaving the train after our marathon journey from Tbilisi. I didn't get to see the historic station building because we were shepherded through a side entrance to where a number of modern coaches were waiting to pick us up.
Azerbaijan Railways: Guests disembarking from the 'Golden Eagle' on arrival at Baku (16:38)
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 'Golden Eagle' Caspian Odyssey trip, starting with Travelling East.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Caspian Odyssey reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Caspian Odyssey reports.
My pictures
These albums include pictures of the above events:-
Azerbaijan Railways.
All my pictures taken in Azerbaijan (except 'technical' railway pictures) are in the collection Azerbaijan.
[Links to pictures added 10-Oct-2018: Text amended 31-Oct-2018: Pictures embedded 1/2-Nov-2018: Text and pictures added 8/13-Nov-2018]
