Don Curry is being upgraded

Don Curry would first like to apologize deeply for the terrible German-English word construction in the headline. Such clumsy Germanized anglicisms are not his style at all. But it expresses most clearly in one word what would have to be laboriously described in the German language.

Language problems also became apparent at breakfast at Xan Lankaran, because the young waiter spoke absolutely no English, so another guest first had to translate his question: How would Don Curry like his breakfast eggs? Don Curry responded with an internationally understandable gesture for “scrambled eggs,” which the friendly interpreter additionally couched in an Azerbaijani term. Satisfied, the waiter returned to the kitchen and soon served Don Curry a sumptuous morning meal: scrambled eggs, bread and butter, tomato and cucumber, various types of cheese, honey, the very creamy Qaymaq cream (60% fat content) and a fried dumpling with cheese filling. And he let his smartphone ask: "Do you need anything else?" Don Curry thanked us, also for cleverly dealing with the language barrier.

After checking out, pouring rain greeted him on the way to Kia. Since there were only 3 destinations on the daily program today, Don Curry decided to drive a little further south to find tea plantations, which can be quite photogenic even in wet weather. But the increasing precipitation reduced visibility enormously, so that Don Curry could only see the landscape directly next to the road; There wasn't a single tea bush there. Finally, Don Curry gave up and began the long journey back towards Baku, most of which was on a well-developed highway. Since the fuel gauge was gradually moving towards "zero" and there was no refueling option on the highway, Don Curry pulled off near a small town to refuel briefly, just to be on the safe side. However, the road to the small town consisted entirely of construction work: the old pavement had already been removed, so it was a pretty bumpy ride to get gas and Don Curry decided not to put Kia and himself through the same route back again. Unfortunately, the Azerbaijanis obviously worked extremely thoroughly. The thoroughfare in the city and the further route had also already been cleared of asphalt, so that he finally had to fight his way through the construction site for over 40 km at low speed and only then found an entrance to the motorway.

The Qobustan National Park was soon reached, his first actual destination of the day. In addition to an almost desert-like hilly landscape, the national park is home to two outstanding destinations: a collection of mud volcanoes and - far more important - an area with excellently preserved rock carvings from the early history of humanity. An extensive visitor center was currently under construction near the mud volcanoes, from which a boardwalk will lead conveniently to the volcanoes and back in the future. This time, Don Curry had to laboriously move through this construction site on foot, but was still able to climb the mud volcanoes unhindered. These rare geological phenomena are also due to the natural gas-rich subsoil of eastern Azerbaijan. The gas constantly bubbles through a softened layer of earth and escapes through muddy bubbles to the "volcanic cones", which gradually increase in height over time. However, the highest volcano in this area rose a maximum of 5 m into the sky. As Don Curry left the area, two large tour buses disgorged dozens of Asians who also wanted to marvel at this natural spectacle.

At the second destination, the visitor center is already in place and contains a technically complex museum on the subject of rock carvings worldwide and the life of the early artists of Qobustan. You could then continue for 1 km to a pristine landscape that looked as if giants had stacked huge rocks on top of each other like building blocks. This resulted in numerous natural caves and protective overhangs that once served as an ideal habitat for prehistoric people. In many places they left scratched drawings, some of them large, of the hunted animals and their everyday lives. Don Curry followed the signposted circular path, which introduced the individual representations at the relevant locations, but left it up to the visitor to actually see them in the chaos of rocks. No sooner had Don Curry completed the route than the tour buses full of Asians reached this destination and flooded in.

No matter, Don Curry was already approaching Baku, where an important Islamic shrine was waiting for him on the southern city limits: the Bibi Heybat Mosque with an integrated mausoleum of Ukeyma Khanum, a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. The extensive terrace in front of the mosque offers magnificent views over Baku's harbor, the interior impresses with its discreet, tasteful design, in which the gold-decorated tomb under a shiny green dome is particularly noticeable.

For his last two nights in Baku, Don Curry had saved a real highlight in several senses: he booked a deluxe room in the Landmark Hotel, the just affordable lowest category in this dignified hotel, which has 7 restaurants and a huge indoor room -Pool with wellness oasis. At the reception he had to be told that unfortunately there were no deluxe rooms available anymore; but the hotel staff smiled encouragingly as he delivered this bad news. The hotel therefore had to upgrade Don Curry to a two-room apartment on the 18th floor. Beaming, he handed Don Curry the key card. He started to shine when he entered his temporary quarters. He could easily have held a conference in the main room with its fitted kitchen, sofa and 6 comfortable armchairs. The bedroom offered a huge second TV, the oversized bathroom had a Japanese toilet, a whirlpool bathtub and a control forest shower with a 60cm wide shower head - and most importantly, underfloor heating. But for Don Curry, the ultimate feature of his accommodation was a 10 m wide floor-to-ceiling panoramic window facing Baku's city center. Here the entire city lay at his feet - from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the Old Town and the Flame Towers in the background.

It was almost difficult for him to leave this look and go to the highest restaurant on the 20th floor. Although there was also a terrace area here, the temperature in Baku in the evening was only 13°C. So he sat inside at a huge round table for 12 people and enjoyed an excellent salmon kebab with French fries and tomato and cucumber salad, accompanied by a xirdalan. Curious, he went onto the terrace after the meal to get a good view of The Crescent and the surrounding area. He then moved back to his apartment and simply reveled in this incomparable upgraded view...