Sheki

  Sheki, Azerbaijan
Friday, June 23, 2006

Once again we've made it across a border only this time by all accounts quite a few dollars had to chance hands before we were considered 'desirable' - like the $10 for our medical check-ups which were - rather uniquely I thought - conducted solely by examining our passport photographs while we were all sat in the truck outside!

This aside, Azerbaijan is another great country. Zaza, our Georgian guide we had to leave on the other side of the border, didn't agree though: "Azerbaijan is desert, it is Asia, they drink tea (ie. not Georgian wine) - why would I want to go there???"

Our first stop in this new country is the town of Sheki - it was, and still is to a lesser extent, the country's capital of silk production.

Sheki

Up until the 1990s over 7,000 people were employed in the silk factory and their carpets are famed throughout the region. The town is beautifully set in the southern Caucasus mountains and still proves popular with tourists from the Eastern bloc and increasingly more westerners too.

Caravanserai - old trading post where we stayed

We stayed in a restored Caravanserai - a type of medieval hotel that used to cater for traders on the Silk Route. The building is arranged around a courtyard with rooms for trading on the ground floor and bedrooms for hire on the first floor - in case of attack the main gate could be shut quickly and the inhabitants could sit it out safely inside. Needless to say, after two nights bush camping in Georgia a proper bed and shower were bliss - should you ever find yourself in town - do check in here the staff are very friendly and the food is fantastic!

Khan's Palace 2

Our time in Sheki was spent enjoying the atmosphere and visiting a few of the attractions, which included Kahn's Palace - built in 1761-2 it is a beautifully preserved administrative building used by the local Kahn for meeting dignatories. It fell into disuse in the early 1800s and was shut up - the local people managed to keep the Soviets from destroying it during the occupation, and in 2003 it underwent restoration work - the painted walls and stained glass windows are beautifully ornate and 90 per cent of the work is original. The brightly coloured glass for the jewel-like windows was obtained from Venetian merchants in exchange for silk and all the floors used to be covered by silk carpets to match the ceiling decorations - only one of them survived and our guide told us it's currently in the Hermitage museum in St Petersburg.

New friends 2

From the Palace we made it down the hill into town - drank tea with the locals - man we need to learn to play backgammon - we'd make so many more friends! Then we got a car to the local bazaar. I say car, because I don't think it was a taxi. The man seemed to take pity on us and decided to drive / free-wheel us there at terrifying speed. Browsing the market was fun and we took our life in our hands by eating kebabs at a local stall - our host's serving technique (grabbing the skewered meat with his fist) left us thinking we'd need the Immodium, but so far so good. One night bush camping tonight and then off to Baku... When we get a faster internet connection we'll upload some photo's so come back and check out pictures of our new friends (although I think they did that thing of not smiling so we may not have captured the full rows of gold teeth...)