Sightseeing started immediately. Baku can summed up in one word - OIL - and we were some of the few visitors that were not there on oil business. They have vast reserves of undeveloped petroleum resources, and most countries would love a piece of it.

Even though Azerbaijan is a Muslim country, women don't wear concealing clothing.

A 37-mile drive to Gobustan was first. There is a State Art History Preserve where ancient humans left almost 4,000 rock drawings depicting animals and customs of the people in this region.

a bird?

On to lunch...Azeri food is primary Mediterranean - lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, shish kabobs, shashlick, Lavash bread, salads, and wonderful melons. Then. more sights.

Icheri Shere is the oldest part of the city, and dates back to medieval times. There were narrow, curving streets, many shops selling antiques, carpets and jewelry (some interesting old silver and oddly decorated belts, inset with old coins).

The Martyr Cemetery was a sad place. The Red Army rolled into Baku in January, 1990 and massacred more than 100 persons. Years later, the people who died in the Karabakh conflict were also buried alongside them. Each grave has a picture on it and gives information about the person. It is situated on a hilltop with trees and flower beds all around along with beautiful views of Baku and the bay leading to the Caspian Sea.

When I hear the words "Caspian Sea," I think of Caviar but we never saw (or tasted) any. There is a major problem with overfishing Sturgeon which makes Caviar difficult to find in Baku. Disappointing.

The last stop of interest was the State Museun of Carpets. Brilliantly colored and patterned handmade carpets were on display.

Back to our beautiful Hyatt...plopped into bed too tired to even eat dinner...got ready to go on the road the next day...touring is exhausting!