We learned this week that there are seventeen five star hotels in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. There’s another one due to open imminently. That’s a lot of posh hotels for a city with two million inhabitants.

Even so we were shocked to discover that these rooms – in major brand hotels, not the local equivalent, with all amenities including fabulous views – start at £80 per night.

This is in sharp contrast to other cities in Eastern Europe where major hotel room rates are almost the same as their western European counterparts.

The next three years are likely to be tough for the city as the local economy switches from oil and construction – Baku has been almost completely rebuilt – to the leisure market. Even these prices could go down.

We were quoted £80 per night for a sea view room – and £140 for a twin balcony junior suite – at the Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel next April. The city centre Four Seasons (below) was £240 per night (compared to £460 in Geneva).

An ancient stop over on the Old Silk Road, linking Europe and the Far East – less than 200 miles from Tehran – Baku is 2,468 miles from London as the crow flies, via Ukraine or Turkey.

Neighbouring Georgia, along with Armenia, occupies the other half of this 400 mile wide strip of land, at the very edge of Europe, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Georgia’s remarkable Customs Building at Sarpi, on the border with Turkey, right on the beach, has won numerous awards. The same architect is also building a chain of similarly wacky service stations along the country’s new motorways. Twenty are planned, three have been completed so far.

About 160 miles up the coast from Sarpi, in Russia, is Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics and, the same year, the first Russian Formula One Grand Prix. We can feel an itinerary coming on.