Sheki Archives - Wandering North

Asia Azerbaijan Azerbaijan trip 2019

Back to Baku

While I took the train from Baku to Sheki and loved it, I didn’t want to do the same on the return journey. I could have taken a minibus, but I really wanted to take a private car so I could have a more comfortable drive and also stop and see some things on the way. Fortunately, Misha, one of my Air bnb hosts, was driving back to Baku and agreed to take me. This turned out to be a great option. He was excited to show me some sights of his country and I had no particular agenda and was just happy to go along with whatever he chose.

But first, the family I was staying with made breakfast and wanted a final picture.

The first stop was in Kiş (Kish), which is just next door to Sheki. It is notable for a church, the Albanian Church, built in the 10th century and may also be the site of much older churches. It is very pretty, set in a rose garden, and gives a view of the hills in the background. I said that it looked like an Armenian church, which, as is turns out, was not the right thing to say. I had forgotten that there had been fairly recent war and hostility between the country.

From there we stopped at a waterfall picnic site popular with locals. There were a couple of small lakes filled with yellow fish, a waterfall, restaurant, and shisha smoking area. Oddly, there were also fiberglass creatures placed around the lake like deer and alligators.

We went for a quick and very expensive coffee in a town with an impressive gondola going up the mountains for views and hiking.

We stopped at a roadside stand and bought a freshly made, buttery flatbread rolled up with 7 fresh green herbs inside.

We stopped at another spot – a roadside cluster of camps for refugees from the war with Armenia – and bought delicious, hot bread fresh from the outdoor clay (?) oven.

We stopped at a lake area where locals picnicked, went out on paddle boats, rode horses, and smoked shisha in little tea houses.

Everywhere we drove we went past roadside stands selling fruit, honey, nuts, and jam.

We stopped for a traditional tea in the forest with all the accompaniments: lemon, sugar, rosewater, cherry jam, and candies. The idea, I discovered, was not to stir the jam into the coffee but to take a spoonful of it as you drink your tea.

*The assortment of jams for tea available at a restaurant in Baku*

The ride was great. I learned a bit about history and culture and saw things I would not have sought out in my own, but I enjoyed seeing.

We arrived back in Baku where I snapped pictures of more random Azerbaijan architecture from the car window.

The next day was my final day in Baku and I really didn’t have anything I was excited to do, so I decided to just go for a meandering walk on the way to the bazaar. As it turned out there are a cluster of cafes with book themes or bookstores with cafes just above Fountain Square (on and around Tolstoy and Gogol streets). I decided to visit as many of them as I could find. I think I had about 5 coffees in about two hours. It was great. I liked the neighbourhood and the cafes, which ranged from cute to divey.

I especially liked the Old School Cafe, which is not book themed, but has a delightful and eclectic atmosphere. And of course, you can smoke inside all of these cafes, which made the even better.

I had a great time wandering the streets.

I make my way up to the bazaar, which I enjoyed, but I felt a bit rushed because people could tell I was a tourist as soon as I took out my camera to take pictures of food, at which point everyone tried to sell me caviar. I had heard this was the place to buy inexpensive caviar, but I wasn’t having any.

The rest of the day was pleasant, but a bit aimless. I walked, I smoked shisha, I ate at a Georgian restaurant, but eventually I was just killing time until my very late flight.

A lot of people who had never been to Azerbaijan said my trip sounded too short, and I had wondered that myself ahead of time. As it turned out, it was just right. A few days in Baku, a day and a night in Sheki, an overnight train trip, and a day driving was exactly the right amount of time. I saw everything I wanted to and left satisfied – and ready for a final night in London.

Asia Azerbaijan Azerbaijan trip 2019

Sheki, Azerbaijan

I arrived in Sheki (aka Shaki, but really Şəki) by train and took a taxi to the town centre. I intended to take a taxi to a cafe called Gafgaz and the driver dropped me off on a corner saying the cafe was “right there.” It wasn’t. It was 7:30 in the morning and everything was closed. There were a few people out and about, but I wasn’t at the asking for help stage. So I walked around the town square and then down the streets off it. No cafe. I finally gave in and asked and it turns out the cafe was a bit of a walk, but I found it.

The reason I was looking for the cafe is because I had booked an Air bnb and it was allegedly just across from the cafe. I had the address, but that turned out to be of no assistance. Across from the cafe I did see a woman leaning on a fence, looking at the street. I thought for sure that was the person I was to meet. I walked up to her with a smile and a Zdravstvuyte, but got only scowls. Ok….so i walked up to a man skinning a goat hanging under a tree. I showed him the address and he pointed to a house. I walked up to the house and a man who did not speak English woke up someone who did. It turned out this was not where I was staying. Thankfully the sleepy English speaker called the cell phone of the Air bnb host, who was not in Sheki, but he then called his mother, who was, and the English speaking man walked me to the street and waited with me until the mother walked out to meet me. She was probably in her late 60s, had dyed red hair, and was wearing a patterned house dress, socks and sandals. She showed me a piece of paper that said in English “I do not speak English. Follow me.” And I did.

The house, I learned later, was about 100 years old and built by the family. It was taken by the government during Societ times, during which the family continued to live there, but other families were moved in. After the Soviet Union fell, they eventually got title to the house back and are now working to restore it. Many of the rooms have hand-painted patterns on the walls. My room was brightly coloured.

The mother set me up with tea, fruit, biscuits, and candies. I soon met her son, daughters, and grand daughters, two of whom spoke English. They were very hospitable.

I picked Sheki as it was supposed to be one the prettiest villages in Azerbaijan with a few sites of note. It is pretty set in a basket of green hills and colorful flowers, with distinctive brick patterned houses with tiled roofs. The centre of the town is compact with a nice leafy square and not at all touristy.

After getting settled in my room, I walked to see the sites. I walked up a long hill populated with food merchants, but increasing many many baklava shops. Sheki is famous for a kind of baklava (confusingly called halva). I tried it and didn’t like it nearly as much as non-Sheki halva.

There were various tourist-focussed shops and a few coffee shops. And there were more tourists in that area.

I visited the caravanserai, built in the 18th-19th century.

Form there I was excited to visit the Summer Palace of the Shaki Khans, built in the late 1700s for the royal family. It, along with the centre of Sheki, was added to the list of UNESCO sites just last month. I reached the palace complex, but when I arrived at the palace, the sites was closed, with no explanation. So I took a picture looking over the wall. I found out later that the day before a wind had blown a tree on one part of the palace and someone died.

I walked round the grounds of the palace, which were interesting as a whole, if not so much the individual pieces.

Fortunately, I was able to visit the smaller Winter Palace, which was less lovely from the outside, but beautifully ornate inside. Finding it was a bit of a challenge, but there were some signs in Azeri leading through residential neighbourhoods.

Those were basically the sites. After that I walked around, looking for the bazaar, but found instead a supermarket, which was interesting in it’s own right. And I just wandered around.

In the evening I had dinner on the square and a cigar before returning to my room, where the family invited me to tea and cake on the balcony.

Restaurant in Sheki square where I had dinner

One day in Sheki seemed short, but was enough and I was glad I went.

Asia Azerbaijan Azerbaijan trip 2019

Night Train to Sheki

I awoke on the third day in Baku, Azerbaijan feeling leisurely. There was one area I wanted to check out, but beyond that there wasn’t much on my agenda. I had breakfast at Manipura, a vegan café I had found the day before and then walked in a different direction, along the water, past an area with a bunch of pretty man-made canals winding past fancy looking restaurants.

I wanted to check out the carpet museum – not the inside, but the building itself. A notable entry into Baku’s crazy architecture collage, the carpet museum is shaped like a giant rolled up carpet. It did not disappoint.

Across the street from that is a funicular that takes you up to the base of the flame towers. There are also stairs, but it is quite far and the funicular is only one manat. There really is no reason to get up close to the flame towers but you get great views over the city.

After that I just wandered around, drank coffee, smoked – all very relaxing.

At some point I packed up my backpack and took the metro to 28 May station, which is where the main train station is in Baku. I was taking the night train to Sheki.

I had bought my ticket ahead of time online, which was a good idea, as the train seemed full. Buying the tickets online was easy enough. They went on sale about 10 days before and the site had an English option. I picked up my ticket at the modern train station. The ticket for the approximately 8 hour ride was $5.60 CDN.

There are different classes of cars. You can book sleeping cars with two beds (SV/lyux) or four (kupe), or you can book tha platzkart, which is an open car with loads of beds. There are also cars with regular seats. I decided to go with the platzkart. Having a sleeping car with only two or four beds can be weird if you are traveling alone. I figured more beds would be safer and more…interesting.

The car is set up so that on one side of the aisle are beds stacked two high running the length of the car. On the other side of the aisle are alcoves with four beds, stacked two high. I booked myself bed 17 because it was in the centre of the car (away from the toilets) and because it was on the lower level, meaning I could store my backpack under the bed. Had I booked bed 19, I would have also had an electrical outlet. Now you know.

When I got on the car, I found there were already three guys in my four bed alcove. They were playing cards and drinking home made beer from repurposed two-litre soda bottles. They looked alike. Sort of like crosses between Al Pacino and Charles Bronson, all with moustaches. The spoke no English. I was friendly enough, but I thought, “It’s nearly midnight. When are they going to wrap up the cards so I can lie down and sleep?” I chatted with a young man sleeping across the aisle who spoke good English and could answer all my train questions.

At about 12:30am they put the cards away and took out plastic bags from which they produced: a whole roast chicken, a kitchen knife and cutting board, a container of raw onions, about a dozen or more tomatoes, two loaves of bread, a whole fish (smoked?) wrapped in newspaper, and bags of sunflower seeds. They proceeded to prepare supper. The young man told me this is typical, though he clearly did not approve. They kept offering me food and beer, which I politely declined.

Other people went to bed right away, or stayed up drinking tea or chatting.

Finally my seat mates they wrapped up their meal and I could get to bed.

Each train car has a woman called a Provodnitsa who oversees things. She sternly walked down the aisle at the beginning of the trip, handing out plastic bags containing two sheets and a pillow case. Each bunk already had a pillow and mattress rolled up. I made my bed and went to sleep.

I slept pretty well actually and woke up about an hour before reaching Sheki, which allowed me to get a few creepy photos of the train car in sleep mode and to get a look at the dry and desserty landscape.

I had no idea we had arrived in Sheki when we did, as we arrived a little early, and I might have missed my stop, had the Provodnitsa not come and barked “Sheki” at me when she did.

The Sheki train station is a bit out of town, but there were lots of taxis on arrival. For 10 Manat, I secured a ride to the centre.

I am so glad I took the train. It was hassle free, comfortable, and gave me a non-touristy view of Azerbaijan. Ok, I didn’t love the fish and chicken smells, but It was worth it. With my arrival I would spend a day and a night in Sheki.

Tag: Sheki