Baku, Azerbaijan, May 12
By Claude Salhani - Trend:
Expatriates moving to Baku, Azerbaijan, will have no problem finding a place to live in the city.
There are enough apartments and houses available at short notice. But don't jump on the very first thing you see. Take your time and explore to find what you like.
Buildings in Azerbaijan, especially those built in the 1950s through the 1990s are very different from what you may be used to in the West. You will even be a bit confused by the main entrance to such buildings being usually very simple and not flashy.
Maybe it has remained since the days of the Soviet Union, where a display of anything out of the very ordinary was considered bourgeois and counter-revolutionary.
So, even if at first glance the building, especially the entrance to it, has nothing to impress you with, take the time and go inside - you'll be pleasantly surprised.
More recent buildings, those constructed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have more attractive appearance both outside and inside. Such buildings will impress a westerner.
Once you find a real estate in Baku you will have to get everything notarized by a notary public. Those are easy to find. Just follow the signs that say "notariat," and they will confirm all the documents you present to them.
The results given here are purely based on this author's assumptions. They do not reflect an official report or statistical finding.
Ten is the maximum positive number and zero is the minimum. The author compared the ten criteria based on his experience living in other major cities, including Paris, London, Brussels and New York.
Thus, Baku gets 10 out of 10 for safety, cost of living and entertainment. The rest of the services, such as transportation, housing, communication, health services, ecology and state of roads are also at a very high level.
This is the third of 10 articles and each one will be looking at one of the topics mentioned here and reflect on the positive and negative aspects.
The first article can be found here.
The second article can be found here.
---
Claude Salhani is senior editor at Trend Agency and a political analyst. You can follow Claude on Twitter @ClaudeSalhani