Baku, Azerbaijan

This morning we were up early for our full-day city tour of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. We started by navigating the bustling traffic to the Martyr's Cemetary. Once we finally arrived, we walked along the lane of graves for 137 people killed during a Soviet attack on the city in 1990.

We then had a walking tour of the Old City, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is completely surrounded by old city walls with their medieval gates. We visited a palace and then the Maiden's Tower and then had lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the National History Museum and then a carpet manufacturing center. After that we visited Villa Petrolea, which was where the Nobel brothers lived while they were in Baku. It has now turned into the Nobel Brothers' Museum, which we visited and then had champagne and caviar.

Afterwards, we went to dinner in an old caravanserai which was delicious. We had a person from the ministry of tourism come and talk to us a little bit and thank us for visiting. Afterwards, we were entertained by local folk music and dancing. It was a great first day of touring!