Baku: The City of Ali & Nino

At turn of the 20th Century Baku was an astonishing place. An outpost of the Russian Empire on the Caspian Sea, its newly-minted local and foreign oil tycoons had transformed the city from a sleepy oriental trading-post in the desert into a throbbing international city. A bloody revolution resulted in a brief shining period of democracy before it was crushed by the Bolsheviks. Baku's history has imprinted a colourful tapestry on this city.