Baku, Azerbaijan - Day 1

Hello and welcome to my first holiday post! I have 4 in total as I've crammed a couple of days together. 

Oh, I should probably clarify - I was on holiday for a week in Baku, Azerbaijan. You may be wondering.. Hannah, where the bloody hell is Azerbaijan?! Because that's what everyone else asks me! Well, it's bordered around Iran, Armenia (which it's currently at war with), Tbilisi and Russia and on one half of Azerbaijan it is bordered with the Caspian Sea. Why was I there you may now be thinking? Well my Dad actually works there, he's worked abroad all my life so my Mum and I went over to visit him for a week, and we got some sun and relaxation in-between!

Baku is Azerbaijan's capital/largest city, and let me tell you, it is a beautiful city. The architecture there is stunning, all the buildings look absolutely amazing and not from the era, even though they've been built recently!

But anyway, onto the first day..

If you didn't know, Baku is going to be hosting the first ever European Games, ever, in 2015! I'm super excited as hopefully I'm going out there with my Dad to see all the main events, eeeep! But yes, there's only 300 and something days to go..

These are three restaurants on the boulevard, I've only been to one, which you will see in a moment..

They just casually have a carousel in the middle of the boulevard. (I dig it.)

TOSCA. IS. AMAZING. Literally it is one of the best Italian restaurants I have ever been too, and you guys don't know this but I am a serious (so serious I had to underline it) lover of Italian food. Literally, this is on par with my favourite restaurant of all time, which is Di Maggios in Merchant City in Glasgow. But this. Just. MMMMMMM.

The menu, both in Azeri and English!

The inside of the restaurant is beautiful as well, it's so aesthetically pleasing! I'm a huge fan of the massive windows and the kinda rustic, wooden look. It's just lovely.

And the food. THE FOOD. That above may just look like a boring old penne pasta in a tomato sauce. But no. It is heaven in a bowl. I'm not even kidding. No really, I'm not.

Also, dat ice-cream, is just mmmm. You can see the tiny little vanilla beans, which just shows how delicious is.

These were my parents deserts, my Dad had a berry-crumbly-creamy cake thing (don't know the name) and my Mum had an orange panna cotta I think? Who knows, it looks pretty though.

Baku has so many alleyways and back streets it's unreal, but they are just so full of character and, well, life. I mean, people live down all of these backstreets, they are full of little businesses and it's great to drive/walk by and see them all, no street is the same!

We then went into town and into the square (where all the shops are) and I just thought it was too pretty not to take pictures. Fun fact: There is a fountain around every corner. Literally. Fountains everywhere.

They were filming some random wedding commercial in the square, just thought I'd be sneaky and get a photo!

How amazing is this?! Chandeliers outside. Amazing.

We then went into another little cafe just for a smoothie and some water called the Casual Brasserie which you actually see the outside of in the photo a few above with the fountain next to it!

This again was a lovely little cafe, full of character and again had that kinda wooden, rustic theme to it. I also just adore the packaging of the water, it's so cute! The smoothie was nice too, it was filled with berries and general things that are good for my body!

P.s. how cute is the Macaroon tree?!

Finally, this is the view from my Dad's apartment block as you walk in. :)

I also just thought I'd throw in a cheeky little FOTD & OOTD:

Face:

Mac Paint Pot in Painterly

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hr in On and On Bronze

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Bourbon

Lancome Définicils Mascara

Mac Lipstick in Ruby Woo

Outfit:

Top - Boohoo

Skirt - Forever 21

Bag - Fossil

Sandals - Boohoo

And.. That's about it I think for Day 1! Day 2 & 3 are coming soon and in the mean time I'll be back to doing my usual beauty/fashion/whatever it is I blog about. Hope you enjoyed reading this, have you been on holiday recently, or if you haven't, where would you like to go on holiday next?

Have a lovely day, and don't stop smiling. :)

Hannah, xx

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