June 11: Baku to Sheki, Azerbaijan
This morning we headed out of Baku to the northern Azerbaijan town of Sheki, our destination for the night.
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| Some modern architecture in Baku |
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| On the highway, heading out of Baku |
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| A house on the outskirts of Baku |
After we left Baku, the terrain quickly turned to desert.
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| A refugee settlement outside of Baku |
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| I don't know what it says, but I'm probably in danger |
Our first stop was for a look at some mud volcanoes outside of Baku. I was expecting something like a real volcano, but these were about 6 feet high, and bubbled mud occasionally.
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| Not nearly as big as they look |
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| Bubbling mud--the "volcano" is about 2 feet across |
We made a rest stop at a roadside gas station. Azerbaijan seemed to have one gas station for every car on the road, as did Georgia and Armenia.
Next, we stopped at the
Diri Baba Mausoleum, near the town of Maraza. The mausoleum dates from the 15th century. We didn't go in.
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| Diri Baba Mausoleum. Note cow on left. |
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| Cemetery next to the mausoleum |
We then headed for Shamakhi (Şamaxı), a town of about 30,000. Our first stop there was the
Juma Mosque, which was originally constructed in the 8th century, but has since been rebuilt several times.
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| Tourist in front of the Juma Mosque |
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| Inside the Juma Mosque |
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| Looking up at the dome of the mosque |
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| Another view inside the mosque |
From the mosque we went to the
Yeddi Gumbaz mausoleum, about a mile outside of Shamakhi. The mausoleum and cemetery date from the 1700's.
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| Yeddi Gumbaz Mausoleum |
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| Inside the mausoleum |
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| Yeddi Gumbaz cemetery |
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| Soviet-era tombstone in the cemetery |
Most of the rest of the day was taken up by driving to Sheki. Once we got out of Baku, the standard of living appeared to be much lower. In Baku, almost all of the cars were modern Mercedes, Toyotas, and Hyundais. Outside Baku, we saw a lot of old Russian Ladas. We also encountered a few horse carts.
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| A classic Lada |
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| A roadside stand--the round things are dried fruit rolls |
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| Countryside on the way to Sheki |
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| The ever-present Heydar Aliyev |
Along the way we had our first encounter with rural toilets. In the countryside, most toilets are of the squat variety, in various states of cleanliness. In some of the more developed areas we encountered modern, spotless, tiled squat toilets. Fortunately (especially for the women in the group), most of the places we stopped had western toilets.
We arrived in Sheki late in the afternoon. After checking into our (excellent) hotel, I went for a stroll around the center of town.
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| Our hotel in Sheki |
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| View from the window in my hotel room |
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| Looking down the street from the front of the hotel |
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| A market in central Sheki |
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| The Qerkules Bodibildinq Fitnes Klubu |
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| A new Lada--I didn't know they still made them |
Very few of the Soviet-era buildings in Sheki had been renovated, as had been the case in Baku.
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| An older building in central Sheki |
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| Even if they were dumps, they still had satellite |
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| Some local residents outside the Saki Ipak |
June 13: Sheki, Azerbaijan to Telavi, Georgia
Before leaving
Sheki, we visited a few sights in the area. The first was the
Palace of Shaki Khans (not to be confused with Chaka Khan), where the local leaders lived.
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| Church of Kish, near the Palace. It was built in the 12th or 13th century |
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| Exterior of the Palace of Shaki Khans |
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| One of the palace entrances--the windows are stained glass |
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| Museum inside the palace |
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| Another shot of the museum |
Next to the palace was a stained glass workshop that had some amazing works.
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| Interior of stained glass workshop |
Our next stop was the Sheki bazaar (marketplace). This was more like the Azerbaijan that I had been expecting. Below are a few shots from the bazaar.
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| Azerbaijani bread--not like the bread in Georgia or Armenia |
After visiting the bazaar, we headed out of town, towards the Georgia border.
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| A hilltop church, the first of many that we would encounter |
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| Some rural transportation |
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| Lunch at an outdoor restaurant. |
The border crossing went without incident. After having our passports stamped, we said goodbye to our Azerbaijani guide and driver, walked a few hundred yards across the border (with our luggage), had our passports stamped on the Georgian side, and met our Georgian guide and driver. We then headed for Telavi.
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| Georgian countryside |
As the sign on the gas station below indicates, the Georgian alphabet has its own set of characters, which are completely unintelligible. However, our guide proudly informed us that the Georgian alphabet had been voted the 3rd most beautiful in the world. I think Thai may have been #1.
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| In case you were wondering where all the Gulf stations went |
Our first stop in Georgia was a bread-making demonstration in a small town. Unlike the bread in Azerbaijan, which was round, thick, and golden in color, Georgian bread is stretched out, thinner, and pale in color.
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| The "building" where the demonstration was held |
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| Large dough balls are flattened into strips |
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| Strips are placed on the side of the oven |
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| The finished product |
The Georgian countryside looked much poorer than Azerbaijan (and it is). Most of the buildings are made out of gray stone and are not painted, so things look very gray. The buildings seemed to be in a poorer state of repair than in Azerbaijan.
In both countries, the gas lines were above ground. Most of the time they ran about a foot above the ground, but where there was a driveway, the line was raised to a height of about 10 feet, and then dropped back down.
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| One of the nicer Georgian houses. Note the raised gas line at the top. |
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| An old Soviet building |
We then went to another house, where we had some Georgian wine and cheese with the owner.
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| The wine and cheese house |
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| In the back yard |
Our next, and last stop of the day, was at
Gremi, where we visited the Church of the Archangels, which was built in 1575. A few shots outside and inside the church are below.
Finally, we arrived at Chateau Mere, our hotel in Telavi. It was by far the most interesting hotel on the trip, if not the best. The main building appears to be an old estate house, and there were also two very unusual towers containing guest rooms. My room was in one of the towers, and I had to take a narrow circular staircase in a turret to my room (no elevator). The property also contains a winery. If you happen to be in Telavi, I recommend it highly.
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| Chateau Mere--the main building |
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| One of the towers--my room is at the top |
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| The other room tower |
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| Hotel swimming pool |
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| Hotel reception area |
We had an excellent dinner at the hotel, including free wine, compliments of the owner. The food in Georgia was pretty similar to what we had in Azerbaijan, including the ever-present tomatoes and cucumbers. One difference was that in Georgia we often were served the national dish,
Khachapuri, which was a type of cheese pie.
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| Dinner at the hotel |
After dinner I climbed up the turret to my room.
Next: Days 6 and 7--
Telavi to Tblisi to Gudauri
