Baku, old and new

A 17-hour overnight train from Tbilisi took us quickly over the border and very slowly across the length of Azerbaijan to Baku on the Caspian Sea. We expected to wake up to more beautiful views, but clearly we hadn't done our homework, because the road to Baku is paved with oil. And oil fields are not the prettiest of fields.

However, arriving in Baku was no disappointment. The old city is wonderful, with winding alleys and yellow stone houses, palaces and mosques. The differences from Christian Georgia and Armenia were striking. And Azerbaijan makes no secret of its oil wealth: outside the old city, everything is new, with landscaped parks, fancy malls and flashy high-rises on the hillside.