Rewind 36 days to the draw for the league phase of the Conference League. The options were bountiful for Heart of Midlothian. Some possibilities were more enticing than others, especially regarding away trips. For example, few would have been excited about a return to Istanbul to face Basaksehir for the second time while Real Betis and Chelsea stood out.

In the end, Copenhagen and Cercle Brugge would become welcome opponents for the away games. Short trips, several routes and generally popular cities.

The club couldn’t, however, have landed a worst third away opponent in Dinamo Minsk. Not only have the Belarusian champions played their European games behind closed doors since 2022 but their ‘home’ for the tournament in Azerbaijan is more than 4,000km away from Tynecastle Park.

It would have made for a great adventure if fans were allowed to attend. After all, Hearts have never played a competitive game further from home. It was further east than Baghdad and Moscow, Damascus and Dnipro, who Hearts played in the UEFA Cup in 1990. Plus, on the flight to Baku the map displayed Tehran as being a short jaunt away. When you landed you knew you were a long way from home.

Even when fans would get to Baku it would have proved interesting navigating the 40km to Sumqayit where the game took place - and then trying to find a taxi to take them back. The first such journey for the press conference early on Wednesday evening brought a flock of sheep being herded on the side of the motorway, locals nonchalantly crossing said motorway, including kids, and the taxi driver, at one point, gunning it 100mph while seemingly berating a number of people on various WhatsApp voice messages.

Type the journey into Google Maps and it, bizarrely, gave little indication that there was much traffic on the route. And it was a journey that took some members of the Hearts travelling party two hours to get to the ground on game day - just making kick-off - such was the traffic coming out of Baku.

The best way to describe the traffic would be by imagining the very worst of the Edinburgh City Bypass, adding in the worst roadworks ever in the city centre while the Fringe is on and multiplying it by 10. Lanes a mere suggestion, indicators a demand and horns a way of communicating. And, boy, do drivers like to communicate. 

Yet, supporters were of course not allowed due to UEFA sanctions on Belarusian clubs. Were the game in Hungary, for example, where Dinamo played their qualifying games there is every chance Hearts fans would have made the journey to take in the city, soak up the atmosphere while still getting a third European trip, just without the football.

Azerbaijan proved a deterrent. Flights and timings were not straightforward and far from cheap, especially when there was no football attendance on the other end. Those who made the journey did so after a long day, or days of travelling, via London, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Prague, arriving on different days and at different times.

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The presence of Hearts in Baku was minimal aside from a sighting of a scarf on a gondola ride on game day and a karaoke bar that had the Hearts song blasting on the evening before the match. 

For the Hearts team, it was a less convoluted process of travelling. The club flew out on Tuesday afternoon via a plane understood to have been used by Manchester City to take the English champions to Slovakia for their Champions League clash with Slovan Bratislava. On arrival in Baku an Armenia stamp on Craig Gordon’s passport prompted a query at passport control, owing to a Champions League qualifier against Alashkert for Celtic in 2018.  

It was a different experience for the players who have been used to flying out on the Wednesday ahead of a Thursday game. Unlike in previous trips, they trained at the stadium on the evening before the game, getting a feel for a surface which was far from ideal. It was hard but also cut up easily. It was watered heavily right up until kick-off and then again at half-time.

Away from the game, the team remained on UK time with the view of helping with recovery ahead of Sunday's match with Aberdeen. It was a decision that was put in place prior to Liam Fox stepping into the interim head coach role. It was something new sporting director Graeme Jones did with Scotland when they travelled to Kazakhstan for a Euro 2020 qualifier in 2019. It meant late dinners and late wake-up times for the players while they also had plenty of time to kill on Wednesday and Thursday allowing them to explore Baku. 

The city is a fascinating place. Both sprawling and condensed. Plenty of hustle and bustle, on the streets and the roads, but at the same time laid back with no one appearing to be in a rush to get anywhere. Supporters wouldn't have struggled to find places to enjoy Xirdalan, the local beer, including one spot in the Old City which is, unhelpfully it turns out, open 24 hours.

It is a city which has had a lot of money pumped into it over the last 20 years but it maintains striking elements of a long history, notably the walled Old City, dating back to the 12th century, and its roads, paths and avenues that Google Maps hasn’t quite grasped while making you feel as if you were in the Cairo chase scene from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. The less said about certain hotels the better.

There are cats everywhere you look, including one which took a front row seat at the Dinamo Minsk press conference, and even monkeys used as a form of entertainment in the city centre by locals.

Then there is the presence of F1 throughout downtown. On the very roads you cross, narrowly avoiding cars, the same roads where traffic comes to a standstill and horns utilised to their fullest, there is a clear indication of the Baku Grand Prix. The red and white road markings on corners, barriers and the pit stop. 

The game may well have taken place in Baku if it wasn't for Qarabag reaching the league phase of the Europa League. They would be defeated by Malmo in front of more than 28,000 fans on the same evening as Hearts would beat Dinamo in front of none. A smattering of Malmo fans were seen during the day in the Azerbaijani capital.

Therefore it was to Sumqayit, a city that appeared to be the capital of car garages.

The Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium was an impressive-looking 10,000-seater stadium. A newly built stadium of a type you don't see enough of in Scotland. Scratch away on the surface and in parts it still looked like it needed to be finished.

With Dinamo Minsk the home side it was their operation but with assistance from staff from the local team Sumqayit FK. There was no Belarusian press in attendance because, according to a member of staff, they are unable to get UEFA accreditation. There was an official programme but not nearly enough copies to bring home.

It all made for a surreal experience. From the police presence to the lack of people to hearing so much of what was going on the pitch, namely Frankie Kent, and then to the winning celebrations. There was an element of confusion as to how best to celebrate when the win did come with no away following. It led the team to congregate on the side of the pitch by the away bench before they returned to the changing room.

It simply all added to that surreal experience. One no one thought would happen ahead of the Conference League draw 36 days ago. 

The experience has not quite finished for the team. They travelled back on Friday afternoon but went straight to Aberdeen where they will train at Formartine United ahead of their Scottish Premiership clash with Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday.

The next task is to deliver the first win in front of Hearts fans. And hopefully Thursday is the last time the team play without a support there to cheer them on.