The different faces of Baku

It's hard to believe that today's photos are taken within a couple of hours of each other - Baku what an eclectric collection of sights you are.

Today's main photo was taken in the streets of the old city of Baku, tourist trap of souvenir stalls and restaurants where we had breakfast - well brunch - having walked from the heights of Robin's apartment block further out of the city, and through the park pictured in extras, bordered by ancient wall. After brunch  we passed the literary museum (extra pic) and along the water's edge where a biting wind prevailed, so the walk out on to the pier was bracing, but the sun shone magnificently, and I could capture part of the shore line showing ultra modern Baku (of which there is a lot) and, as befits all such images,  the interloping but mandatory seagull.  

After our water front walk we took a cab to what was the highlight of my day,  the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre. Overwhelmed by the actual building, we explored inside for a while (extra photo) with a brief look at some exhibits before heading to the main reason for being there - the dolls exhibition. Well, they called it dolls - but that's a misnomer as they are a step inside a world of fantasy - not for play, but rather for absorbed fascination.  Here we were transported for a very long time staring at the most exquisitely crafted collection the like of which I do not think I 've seen before.  All, or nearly all, 'one of a kind' models. I am including just one of the photos of the exhibits as my fifth and last extra for today - an extraordinary day of 12,000 steps, apparently, and several km, according to my phone - so a quiet evening at home with Robin to recover, recuperate, and revisit the day via the many photographs taken. So hard to choose a representative image for the day, so in the end I selected one image, from every stage of our day - though actually, my favourite photo is the dolls..... 

What an extraordinary city.  

More information about the Heydar Aliyev Centre here  and here
Info about Azeri Dolls and Doll Museum here