“Zhiguli” or part of our history...

There are different ways how a person looks at everything…as they say “glass can feel/seem/look half full or half empty…”

Nowadays it is very popular to complain…we often complain about everything starting from weather and continuing with anything…as if better we live more we complain…

As most of you know Soviet times were all about “Zhiguli”s or “Lada cars”…People were happy to have/to be allowed to have a car…nowadays there are no restrictions…cars everywhere…after being happy for awhile that there are no restrictions and there are new opportunities everyone started to complain that cars are too big, streets are too narrow, traffic jams are too irritating…etc etc…

Well…Zhiguli on below pictures belongs to the neighbor of my in-laws…looks like he is not getting depressed that his car is not the fastest and the biggest on this street...but loves the car he has got…his glass must be half full…hopefully…:)

Why “Zhiguli” on this blog? Because it is a part of our history…we might not always like our history but it is what it is with all the good and the bad…hopefully today we (can) create a better history for tomorrow…each of us…

Be well :)

Baku boulevard...100 years old now...

Today I will be writing about Baku Boulevard.

A little bit of history (information taken from http://deyerler.org/ and http://www.azadliq.org/): Baku boulevard’s foundation was laid in 1909 when Mohammad Hasan Hajinski made a speech in Baku Duma (equivalent of Parliament) and suggested to create boulevard for leisure times of Bakuvians…This is when decision was made to start the works and here we are in 2009 celebrating 100 years of our Baku boulevard…

Since 2008 boulevard started to gain a new appearance: pavements became smoother, lawns greener, cafes prettier, fountains bigger and more sophisticated and overall the whole boulevard cleaner. Personally I enjoy this total transformation very much and hope that there will be constancy and continuity in cleanliness and good service. In hot summer days boulevard is very crowded…but then…unless people have other places to have long walks and enjoy sea breeze this is very natural…Works are now continuing, a lot still needs to be done and they say that length of the boulevard will also be extended to 25 km from existing 3 km 750 m…so this should help…

Although it is very popular nowadays to be unhappy with any changes or reconstruction and there are always opinions and rumours how something could have been much better and how less money could have been spent etc etc…personally I am happy to see cleaner, greener and prettier boulevard and hope that it will be even better. There also needs to happen a major transformation in people’s minds to realise that this is actually their city and to keep it clean and pretty is also their duty…I am afraid this will take some time though and would require penalties :)

sorry for so many photos just trying to convey the atmosphere...:)

everything starts with an idea - Mohammad Hasan Hajinski came up with the idea of Baku boulevard...May he rest in peace!...

old boulevard...

new boulevard:

new cafes...

reconstruction is continuing...

the same Caspian better seaside :)

new fountains...

new pavement...

new attractions...

Absheron...

As you might know Baku is situated on Absheron peninsula. Climate of Absheron peninsula is mostly dry...Therefore there are couple of fruits that grow very well here...One of these fruits is fig. Currently we are having fig season in Absheron. This is the photo session we did last Sunday in our dacha in Absheron so that I can reflect the season on my blog...These are white figs. There are also black figs but we do not have this tree in our dacha...

Thank you nature, thank you, land :)