We’ve been to Baku before, so we didn’t really intend to spend a lot of time here. But the actual amount of time we have is not within our control. Because we’re waiting on the delivery of the Giraffe, and it’s taking a while….
So after enjoying a couple of days at the Marriott – with good wifi so we could finally start populating the web page and a fantastic gym so we could also finally start working on our fitness again – we were getting restless. We move into a small (and lovely) hotel in the heart of Baku’s historic old city, the Icherisheher and spend a very hot and sweaty afternoon wandering through the key sights. If you’re looking for a great place to stay in Baku, we would recommend the Sultan Inn!
And as two time-worn insomniacs, a night of interrupted sleep follows – which results in reading up on all things Azerbaijan and leads to the discovery that there is a town called Sheki with an ancient Caravanserei where you can spend the night! As we are on a Silk Road journey, how exactly did we miss that!? Rapid research, whatsapp messages, phone calls and then – boom! We've organized a transfer for the following morning. (And if you’d like to set up such a visit, we absolutely recommend https://www.instagram.com/explore/ as we were quite happy with their service and price!)
Directly following our breakfast with an amazing view over the Maiden tower, we hike down to meet the hired car (and driver/guide). He’s late – which is always difficult to deal with as two sequentially-driven, German-influenced people – but very friendly and helpful upon arrival. And a fast driver, so that’s good. He also speaks good English and provides lots of great background information as we travel. It’s about a 6 hour drive to Sheki, and we make a stop on the way to visit the important Juma Mosque of Shamakhi, built in 743 AD and the first mosque in Azerbaijan, the second oldest in the Caucasus region.
When we get to Sheki, we are super excited to check into the Caravanserei hotel. Which for some reason takes a very long time. There’s confusion about a booking for us, then they have two rooms assigned, then they change everything to put us into one room which is mysteriously occupied by some woman (I first think it must be the cleaning woman, getting it ready. But after repeated pounding on the door by the receptionist, eventually she comes meandering out with empty hands and looking annoyed. There are water puddles in the room, so was she showering in there? We’ll never know what exactly was going on or why…). As we enter the room, our excitement wanes considerably. I mean, it’s cool – there is front room (where the traders shared their products for sell?) and a back room with beds for sleeping. And in between, a small toilet/sink on one side and shower on the other. BUT…everything is falling apart. There is no window in the front room, only one in the sleeping room (that opens onto the street, so dreadfully noisy). There is no aircon, so it’s open window and desperately hoping for a breeze. The bathroom areas are dark with broken and missing tiles, moldy and damp. The flooring is bubbling up, the bed linens feel moist and clammy to the touch and I swear I feel the bite of a bug when I lie down. But no matter! We’re in a Caravanserei and still have places to go and things to see! So we drop our bags and head back out.
The first stop is one of my favorite sites thus far on our trip – the Albanian Church. And by the way, this has nothing to do with the country of people of Albania! The word Albanian means ‘brave person’, ‘high mountains’ and ‘white skin’ in different languages, and it’s pure coincidence that they share this common name.
The Church of Kish is said to have been built in the 1st century AD - which makes it possibly the oldest Christian church in the world. A disciple of Thaddeus of Edessa, St Elishe, built it in the 1st century where he was later martyred by some local people.
Built on top of a pagan spiritual site, the church was used as a place to preach the gospel and convert people to Christianity. Very scheming – or one might say strategic (and very often done by many different religions around the world), using a traditional worship place and simply changing the type of worship practiced. Inside the church is a display of coins, weapons, stone engravings and other artefacts uncovered in the area. Outside, there are several excavated gravesites where you can see the skeletons of prominent worshippers who were buried on the church’s periphery. Some of these individuals were over two meters tall, which has spurred a theory that the Caucasian Albanians came to these lands from the Nordic countries. This aligns with the discovery that some of the petroglyphs found in Azerbaijan represent boats that mirror the images of boats found from ancient times in the Nordic regions.
Why I loved this site? It is a very simple, non-adorned church that invites spirituality without all the entrapments of modern religion. It has a quiet, peaceful presence that encourages introspection – rather than dogma. And of course, the fact that it dates back to many centuries ago and actually combines one place with multiple forms of worship: what’s not to like? Amazing to think that a disciple of one of Jesus’ original disciples came here and built the first Christian church in this part of the world – and maybe the first anywhere
We then headed back to Sheki for a visit to the Khan’s summer palace – which was stunning. Built in built in 1752-1762, it features amazing stained-glass windows (with up to 5000 glass pieces per window, intricately put together into beautiful pictures and mosaics), beautiful paintings that depict stories, legends and morals in life, and lovely embellishments on the walls and ceilings. The palace is the only remaining building within the Sheki fortress, overlooking a beautiful forested corner of the countryside. It was a working palace, so had office and entertaining rooms (separated by gender, of course. The women had a separate entry and stairway that did not connect to the rest of the house, so there could be no accidental mixing of the sexes.)
The palace is almost entirely empty – all the furniture and decorations were looted during multiple Russian invasions in the 19 and 20th century. Likewise, the winter palace and residential palace unfortunately no longer exist, thoroughly destroyed by conquering armies. Taking photos inside is not permitted (sorry I can’t share any) but there is a nice overview of the palace written by a local from Sheki at https://mainlymuseums.com/post/777/sheki-khan-s-palace/ if you’d like to see and know more. The Khan’s Palace was Achim’s favorite site of the day and a close second for me after the historical Albanian Church.
We rounded out our day tour with a wine tasting at Khan Wine House, which is located just under the Palace Hotel, across the street from the Karavanserei. Run by an incredibly knowledge and amiable sommelier, Vusal, it was easy to spend the evening here. We tried about 8 different wines (from Azerbaijani Rieslings to Saperavi and Pomegranate wine, plus a delicious port-like after-dinner wine). We actually even bought a couple bottles of a gorgeous semi-dry Saperavi – basically unheard of for us to elect a semi-dry wine, but this one is simply amazing! It’s good enough to pair with food and stands perfectly well on it’s own as dessert. 😊 If we ever have a chance to visit Sheki again, Vusal will be the first person we visit – it truly was one of the very best wine-tasting experiences I’ve ever had (and I do a LOT of wine tasting!). You can see more at:
Following our extensive wine-tasting, it was at least a little easier to drop into our clammy Caravanserei beds and try to sleep in the suffocating warmth while listening to the traffic drive by outside. The next morning, we grabbed a coffee at a (still kind-of closed) bar down the street, then headed back to Baku to collect our Giraffe from customs!
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