Baku. 16 April. REPORT.AZ/ Baku is living the future of European games, featuring 20 sports starting on June 12.
Report informs, it is stated in the article of Daily Star, dedicated to the capital of Azerbaijan - Baku and the European games. The city’s newest and tallest attraction, the three-skyscraper Flame Towers, dwarfs everything else around.
At night the curvy facades turn into gigantic display screens for a spectacular light show featuring dancing fires, giant men waving the Azeri flag and the national colors of blue, red and green.
The dazzling skyline gave me butterflies and was such a great photo opportunity that by the time I got around to ordering a drink it was almost 10pm.
This radically transforming city with a striking skyline is the new must-see European hotspot.
All eyes will turn here this summer for the first European Games - 17 days of competition featuring 20 sports starting on June 12.
The city is on an adrenalin rush following its success in hosting the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.
F1 comes here next year, followed by the Islamic Games in 2017 and the European football championships in 2020.
At just 23 years old, it’s a former Soviet republic that is making a fresh start.
The nation sits with Russia to the north, the Caspian Sea on the east, Iran to the south and Armenia and Georgia to the west.
Its oil riches have allowed it to embark on an extravagant refurbishment.
But instead of creating monuments to its past it is designing a rock star city for the future with 30 skyscrapers planned every year for the next 15 years.
One that has already been built is the Heydar Aliyev centre with its ski slope roof fashioned to look like the president’s signature.
The Carpet Museum, with a roof shaped like a rolled-up carpet, not only catalogues the country’s heritage of weaving but also houses the largest collection of carpets and rugs in the world.
There are also plans to build the world’s tallest super-skyscraper – with 189 floors – on an artificial island in the Caspian Sea.
But for all its new developments, Baku’s star will always be its barebones beauty best seen in the walled Old City.
A melting pot of old and new, where east meets west, Baku is a fast-paced city with fire in its belly.