WHEN I LANDED IN BAKU, the capital of Azerbaijan, a former Soviet country, an Islamic nation positioned right above Iran, I thought it would be riddled with Ladas (the Russian car once symbolic of its self-reliance), decrepit old buildings, grey skies, and subpar infrastructure. It’s the quintessential cliched tourist perspective—one that I found to be completely untrue during my week-long stay.
A modern metropolis greeted me; instead of the , there were shining German sedans, sparkly Lamborghinis and Ferraris on the wide modern roads of the city, against the backdrop of gleaming new skyscrapers and public infrastructure that could compete with the likes of London and Vienna. How this budding capital on the banks of the Caspian
