GOURMET IN OLD CITY.

Gastro Excursion + cooking master class

ФОТО

Duaration / type: 3 hours

Pick-up time: 11:00 (or upon guest’s request)
Pick-up / drop-off point: Gosha Gala gates
Places to visit: Several local restaurants in Old City, Icherisheher (Old City), Shirvanshahs’ Palace,
Maiden Tower, Ancient caravanserais Multani & Bukhara, Souvenir shops in the Old City.

Our walking Yummy Excursion will start at Gosha Gala gates – the entrance in the fortress walls of Icherisheher (Old
City), a portal which will take us from Baku of the 21 th century to Baku of the 12th century.

There is a saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so our gastronomic journey will begin with
delicious late-breakfast in one of the local restaurants of Icherisheher (“Old City”). Traditional Azerbaijani
breakfast consists of sweet butter, various types of homemade white cheese, cream, butter, honey, ‘tandir’ bread
and tomatoes fried with eggs.

You will continue getting acquainted with the original culture of Azerbaijan through its national cuisine and in the
next restaurant chef will show how to shape ‘dushbara’.  According to tradition, dushbara dumplings should be small
enough to fit ten of them in one tablespoon! Making these tiny meat dumplings boiled in a broth with a touch of
vinegar and garlic sauce may be time-consuming, but it’s a great winter warmer.  You will have a chance to
participate in the process before you taste it.

Then we will move further and learn how to choose right ingredients for ‘dolma’. It is the pearl of Azerbaijani cuisine
traditionally made of grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice, enriched with herbs or nuts. Its name comes from the
verb ‘dolmaq’, meaning ‘to stuff’ in Azerbaijani. Traditionally, dolma is served with ‘qatiq’ (sour yoghurt).

In the end you will participate in the traditional tea ceremony. In Azerbaijan tea is the most popular drink. It is
served to guests before a meal, it helps to pass the time in the numerous teahouses, and every feast also finishes
with tea. Azerbaijanis prefer black long leaf tea and the drink itself must be very strong. Tea leaves are brewed in
large teapots, and then the drink is poured into `armudu` (pear-shaped glasses). To make the tea even more
aromatic, oriental spices like cloves, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom are being added during the brewing.

After you are done with food you will have a walk around Icherisheher, known as a “Fortress” or “Old City”, a unique
historical and architectural conservation area in the center of Baku. This is one of the most ancient places of the
country where archaeological excavations revealed burial vaults of the Bronze Age. Maiden Tower (12th century)
and The Palace of Shirvanshahs (13th-16th centuries) are the best known historical monuments located in the Old
City. Besides, there are a lot of other unique monuments such as mosques, minarets, the remnants of caravanserais
“Multani” and “Bukhara“, ancient baths, etc. Stroll down the paved streets of this ancient city and drop to some of
the numerous souvenir shops where you can buy national clothes, kerchiefs, scarves and caps, dishes and handmade
carpets.

Inclusions / Exclusions:
 Professional guide (English, Russian)

 Visiting several local restaurants in Old City to try local cuisine

 1 Breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 tea ceremony with local sweets

 Cooking master class from chef

 Tickets to the museums in Old City (optional)

 Any tips at the sites