Azerbaijan: Sheki

This morning we first visited the market which was filled with the usual market suspects. Afterwards we visited a palace. The palace was small, but was beautifully painted inside.

After the palace, we visited a small ethnographic museum and then walked to a local school. Along the way we stopped to visit a caravanserai and a few handicraft shops. At the school we saw the kids and generally just disrupted their day. I felt sorry for the teacher because we got the kids all riled up and then left!

After the school we had lunch, and then boarded smaller vehicles to take us to the village of Kish. In Kish we visited a church from the 6th century and then walked through the town's cobblestone streets. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel for a little downtime before dinner at the caravanserai we had visited earlier in the day.

Azerbaijan: From Baku to Sheki

After an early morning departure from our Baku hotel, we left for Gobustan and the UNESCO-protected petroglyphs found there. Along the way, we stopped briefly at the Bibi-Heybat Mosque. 

We drove to Shemakha, the former capital of Azerbaijan and visited the 10th century Djuma Mosque. Then we visited the royal mausoleum and cemetary. Afterwards we drove to Sheki and checked into our hotel for the next two nights.

Baku, Azerbaijan

This morning we were up early for our full-day city tour of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. We started by navigating the bustling traffic to the Martyr's Cemetary. Once we finally arrived, we walked along the lane of graves for 137 people killed during a Soviet attack on the city in 1990.

We then had a walking tour of the Old City, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is completely surrounded by old city walls with their medieval gates. We visited a palace and then the Maiden's Tower and then had lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the National History Museum and then a carpet manufacturing center. After that we visited Villa Petrolea, which was where the Nobel brothers lived while they were in Baku. It has now turned into the Nobel Brothers' Museum, which we visited and then had champagne and caviar.

Afterwards, we went to dinner in an old caravanserai which was delicious. We had a person from the ministry of tourism come and talk to us a little bit and thank us for visiting. Afterwards, we were entertained by local folk music and dancing. It was a great first day of touring!