The day broke nice and bright and the green mountain view from the room's balcony looked superb. Breakfast at Viva Hotel would begin at 9 am, we were told at the time of check-in. When we got ready, packed the bags and went downstairs to load them into the car, the breakfast tables had already been set. The morning repast was quite sumptuous with bread, cheese, butter, jam, honey, veggies and omlette. Slowly the tables filled up. It looked as if the rooms were fully occupied. The caretaker told me that they had three villas with eleven rooms that were all full. The hotel has a swimming pool and sauna, which are added draws. The stay had been comfortable.
Ajay took the wheel, and we had under 90 km to cover to Sheki. The roads were good and the views of the Caucuses group of mountains were indeed awesome. Many parts of the range still had vestiges of snow, some quite a lot. Sheki is located in the southern part of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range with a population of about 70,000. The name of the town apparently goes back to the days of the Sakas, who reached the territory of modern-day Azerbaijan in the 7th century B.C. and populated it for several centuries. The center of the city and the Palace of Sheki Khans were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019 because of their unique architecture and history as an important trading center along the Silk Road.
We were booked to stay in the Old Town Sheki, a beauty of a place in the city itself, not far from the attractions. After checking in we decided to explore what was on our list by driving to them instead of walking around. It was quite hot, and the cobblestone roads were not very easy to negotiate, if one is not used to it. The pavements are large enough too, but the steep roads sealed the decision in favor of the car.
Just over a km from the hotel is the main attraction of the city, the Sheki Khans Palace. The complex has the Sheki State Art Gallery, immediately as we enter the complex. The building in which gallery has been functioning since 1982 was originally a military dormitory. An entrance fee of 5 AZN is applicable to view the state gallery, where the works of well-known Azerbaijani masters are on view. The art pieces displayed outside were impressive, to say the least, with a few portraits of celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made with human hair taking my breath away.
The House of Craftsmen of Sheki is a place where local crafts are on display. They range from honey to jam to woolen items to wooden masterpieces to Azerbaijani stained glass. The Khans Mosque is another attraction on the grounds. Entrance to the Sheki Khans Palace is 9 AZN, the equivalent of Rs. 450.
The palace has quite a simple layout, with six rooms arranged over two levels. It was not a place of residence, but if work and hence, the simple arrangement. A lady usher conducts visitors around. The number is limited to just a few at a time so as to ensure that the delicate painted wooden panes and walls are not vandalized or inadvertently defaced. Photography is prohibited inside the Palace. Despite the simple arrangement of the Palace, it took almost a decade to finish in 1797, with most of that time dedicated to decorating the interior. It fell into disuse from early 19th century when the territory was annexed as part of the Russian Empire.
The Palace has since been painstakingly restored several times, the most recent being in 2004. The art in the Palace exemplifies the skilled craftsmanship for which Sheki is famous for - miniature paintings, mirror work, Shebeke stained glass and wood inlay ceilings. The paintings are reportedly the work of a single artist who left his signature on one of the ceilings. Incredibly, 85% of what we saw today is original and has only been slightly touched up.
On the grounds is ABAD, the Sheki Ceramics and Applied Arts Centre. The purpose of the centre is to restore the historical pottery traditions of Sheki and preserve them for future generations. What we saw there made the eyeballs protrude! We wished we could carry some of them back for keeps - terracota, glazed pottery and tiles. We saw the artists at work and that added to the treasured moments.
Caravanserais were roadside inns built for travelers and their animals to rest and recover from a day's journey. The network of caravanserais was an essential support base for the flow of commerce, communication and people across the trade routes covering Asia, Africa and Europe, mostly along the ancient Silk Route, which itself had multiple branches and trunk routes. The caravanserais were sometimes in form of fortified structures with a single gate, that could be closed in times of external threats to keep those inside safe.
The “Karavanserai” of Sheki is a historical complex consisting of the Upper and Lower caravanserais. These caravanserais are said to have been built in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Upper Caravanserai is a large 86,000 sft complex in rectangular shape with a large inner courtyard, at the centre of which is a pool. There are four entrances to the yard from the four corners of the building. The building reportedly has 242 rooms. Since 1988 the complex houses a hotel and rooms that are let out to foreign and local visitors and restaurants that serve traditional Azerbaijani cuisine.
Ajay and I went to the Old Sheki Tea House for the experience of a traditional tea set, with a pot of tea, the famed Sheki Halva, mindal, apricot murabba and rose water, Gul soyu and lemon for flavouring the tea. Seating itself is traditional with individual niches on either side of the access from the kitchen to the courtyard. The sweet overload had to be tempered with many glasses of flavoured tea, a unique and wonderful experience.
The Lower caravanserai had merchant shops and storage rooms in the coaching inn. The first floor was intended for travelers to whom the rooms were leased. Each room had a hole which was connected to the ground floor with a stepladder, which made it easier for merchants the monitor the security of their goods. There are about 300 rooms and storerooms in the lower caravanserai, which is now closed off to visitors and is undergoing renovations.
Outside the Albanian temple in Kish, about 5 km from Sheki, is a bust honoring Thor Heyerdahl. He is reported to have concluded from his research that the Scandinavian mythology that describes a God called Odin that came from a place called Azer is history and not myth. The village of Kish was a historical settlement in Caucasian Albania where one of the emissaries of St Thaddeus was sent to spread the word of Jesus.
The Albanian Temple is considered to be the most important architectural monument in Azerbaijan as it is considered to be the mother of Christian temples in Eastern countries. The Temple is now a museum that serves to educate visitors about the history of early church in Caucasian Albania. The premise also has a couple of sarcophagi that were unearthed in 2011. They along with the many crypts in the Temple brought to light the burial practices in times past.
The Sheki Bazaar is spread over a large area in the city. The presence of the Bazaar Store almost opposite the traditional Sheki Bazaar is a study in contrast. At the time of our visit the Bazaar was not busy; there were few visitors and fewer shops were open. But we could make out that it was a place to not only buy fresh farm produce but also to bargain for footwear, garments and even bridal dresses.
After a light rest from the sweltering heat, we went for a short walk to the city centre. Close to the hotel was a sweet shop, Halvaçi Oglu Kamran, from where we bought Sheki Halva, churos and walnut cake.
The Jumah Masjid of Sheki, built in 1900-1914, is bang in the city centre. We walked in to be greeted by two persons, one of how turned out to be the Imam of the mosque. The mosque was built as a complex together with the madrasa and underground bath next to it. During Soviet rule the mosque was destroyed and later turned down. The entire complex was rebuilt after independence.
Restaurants were doing brisk business with loud music and a welcoming atmosphere. The parks were busy too with youngsters and old people meeting and sitting around for a leisurely chat. From the Bazar Store we had picked up a Belgian Lager Beer in a plastic bottle. That was the first time that I had seen beer being sold in plastic bottles. After polishing off that we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner.
We ordered dolma and dushbara, Azerbaijani dumplings in soup. The dolma wasn't as good as the one we had in Baku, but the dumpling soup was excellent. Back in the room we had cherries - we have been having cherries every day since we landed in Azerbaijan! The honey and jam we had had in Viva Hotel this morning at breakfast was also different from what we normally have. The honey was not too sweet but had a very distinct flavour. In fact, Gabala is known for its honey and jam.
There was drama at night when I got a WhatsApp message from the Viva Hotel in Gabala that they had found my driving license in the room. I fretted because going to get that would mean about 150 km of extra travel. I made plans and more plans about how to fetch it. After dinner I looked in the pouch I normally carry the DL in and found it in there. Then I realised that I had misplaced the Zerox copy of the DL in the hotel, and they had found it. That put an end to the palpitations! I informed the hotel that I would not be going there to fetch it as I had the original with me and thanked them for their alacrity.
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