"The Telegraph" published an article entitled "Baku, Azerbaijan: Dubai of the Caucasus".
The article says that "The oil-rich city of Baku is a suitably surreal venue for this year's Eurovision contest".
The author underlines that "Oil-soaked earth had long been used as a fuel in Azerbaijan, but it was the drilling of the first commercial oil well in 1846 that led to a massive influx of opportunists. A new city, conceived in the grand European style, sprang up around the sleepy, walled old city of Baku - now a UNESCO-listed world heritage site. In 1991, Azerbaijan won its independence from a crumbling Soviet Union and the country's rebirth began. In 1994, Heydar Aliyev, father of the nation announced a contract with a European oil consortium, which he trumpeted as the "deal of the century". This launched Azerbaijan's economy upwards, hauling the country headlong into the 21st century".
"Now, no fewer than five new international hotel brands are opening properties of predictably lofty proportions. Baku aspires to be the Dubai of the Caucasus. Baku is a city like no other. And there is so much more than the brash and glitzy glass towers. There's the grand Boulevard, mazelike Old City, stuffed with cafés and carpet shops. The Modern Art Museum is impressive - more so than the world's tallest flagpole.
It has nine of the world's 11 possible climatic zones. There are significant prehistoric stone carvings; a vast new billion-dollar (reputedly) ski resort; half the world's mud volcanoes, Day-Glo pink salt lakes, burning mountain sides, flaming rivers and springs".

AzerTAc