Recently, we had the luck to talk to one of the most enthusiastic travelers and find out their experiences, challenges, and curious stories when visiting our neighboring country, Azerbaijan.
Meet the hero, Dago, a 22-year-old passionate traveler who has been to plenty of countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. As Dago emphasizes, they had wanted to visit Armenia for a long time since they were so interested in the Armenian culture, and it ignited their passion to travel to the Caucasus and discover the region by themselves.
Being in Armenia was not just about visiting the famous places; it had an emotional component. Despite the language barrier, Dago immediately found hospitable people. “I am very happy”, mentions Dago. “I had the idea that the people would be welcoming, but I did not know to what extent”.
The first stop, however, was Azerbaijan, which is the main emphasis of the podcast too. Dago stayed in Azerbaijan for a week. Interestingly, they got checked at the Azerbaijani airport to make sure they did not have any connection with Armenia and had never visited the country before. Everything was clear, and Dago visited Baku as planned. While touring the city, they fell in love with every piece of it; however, the suburbs and the regions, as they highlighted, seemed to be neglected. Another point worth noting is that the traveler found many places and goods that somehow were wrongly represented as of Azerbaijani origin. Moreover, everything in Azerbaijan was a reminder of Armenia, as the enemy and the Armenians were mostly portrayed as being killed and dead. The whole peace discourse was, in fact, the contrary, since there was powerful propaganda against Armenia going on in Azerbaijan.
What else did Dago witness in Azerbaijan, and what kind of parallels do they draw between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
Let’s listen to Dago’s full podcast to learn more about their experience and impressions.
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