Azerbaijan

April 2025

Not sure if I have previously mentioned some of Azerbaijan’s more recent history.  The country gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918, but it was short lived as the Red Army invaded in 1920 declaring Azerbaijan as part of the USSR.  The country finally regained independence again in 1991 (after the collapse of the USSR in 1989) and the first president of independent Azerbaijan was Heydar Aliyev.  As we headed out of the city, we not only passed many more photos of fallen soliders, we also saw many large billboards of Heydar Aliyev.

Ilham Aliyev, Heydar’s son, took power in 2003 and has been President ever since. In this time he has increased the president term from 5 to 7 years, and removed the limit of times he can be reelected. So far, he has been President for 22 years and his wife is actually vice-president! Take from that what you will.

The long drive today gave me time to make some more observations about driving here.  Smoking and using phones whilst driving seem to be a national pastime – thankfully our driver did not smoke in the car but close enough to make it smell pretty bad.  Driving inside one lane and the use of seat belts appear optional (I think I have mentioned the lane driving part before!). The driver would put on his belt when passing police stations then take it off again.

The roads were actually way better than expected, except for a section were we travelled on a new road which was not finished yet.  Apparently, the new route cut over an hour off the trip and for some reason meant the driver had to go even faster.  In this case we were actually told this. At some points I had to close my eyes with some of the manoeuvres that the driver was doing.   I was thankful to arrive at our destination in one piece!

We were driving on the North West route, and the further we got out of the city the higher we climbed and the greener everything became.  Another observation was that the further we drove, the number of high end cars dwindled, and the number of Soviet era Ladas increased – (I love those things 😂).

We had a toilet stop at a roadside supermarket.  The supermarket was lovely, full of fresh produce, bu the toilet was smelly and squat so we did not bother with those!  Instead I decided to sample one of the popular Tarragon Lemonade drinks which seem to be very popular.  It tasted a little more like aniseed to me but it was ok, I definitely prefer the pear version.

We started passing people selling fruit and vegetables on the roadside out of the back of their Ladas.  I wish I could have taken photos but at the speed we were going there was not much chance.  We did manage to stop at one to purchase a dried fruit thing, so at least there is one photo!  There were lots of Strawberries on offer, which looked lovely (from a distance) but apparently grown in greenhouses.

There are often times on my travel where landscapes are so like New Zealand, I could be at home and this was one of them.  The rolling green hills were so familiar and at one point we were stuck behind a truck full of sheep, making me feel right at home. The small quiet towns and cows grazing on the roadsides was like a different country to Baku.

We stopped in the small town of Nij to visit Jotaari Church.  Initially an Armenian church, built in the 1820’s, it is now used by the Albanian-Udi population.  The Udi people were the native people of the Caucasus area and converted to Christianity in the 4^th century.  There are only 10,000 Udi people today and around 4,000 live in this small village and still speak their own language.  Their Orthodox Christian church is open to the public, but as with many churches, no photos are allowed inside. 

In the church grounds there are a number of large Hazelnut trees, Hazelnuts being one of the main crops for the area.  We had a cute little wildlife encounter with a cute little squirrel foraging around under the trees which was an opportunity to bring out the camera – these days most of my photos are taken on my phone.

Now in the countryside, Ladas are definitely more prevelant and are often loaded down with stuff – sometimes it appears to be everything except the kitchen sink or perhaps including it!  Actually horse power also seems to work fine in this part of the country with people riding horses down the road, along with horses pulling carts. 

We had passed many police checks but were not stopped until we were just entering Sheki, our destination for the day.  Not really sure what they were checking but it seems very common. 

Sheki (also known as Shaki or Şeki) sits in the shadow of the snow capped Caucasus mountains, in the north west of Azerbaijan, was once a stop on the Silk Road, connecting east and west. 

Our first stop was the small nearby village of Kish and the Church of Saint Elishe, what was a Georgian Orthodox Church dating back to the 12^th century. It subsequently became a Caucasus Albanian church.  The Sheki region was once one of the biggest Caucasian Albanian states in the region. 

To get to the church, we abandoned our car and jumped into a bright blue Lada driven by a lovely lady.  We zipped up the narrow cobbled streets with Azerbaijani music pumping – I loved it!  When we got to the top she kindly offered us samples of her homemade pomegranate wine and cognac from her shop before we went in to visit the church.  It was a beautiful spot and very peaceful.

Back down in Sheki old town, we visited the Khan’s Palace.  After it’s Caucasus Albanian era, the town became the capital for the powerful Sheki Khanate.

The palace was built at the end of the 18^th century by master craftsmen (many from Iran) and there are intricate designs and details both inside and out.  Unfortunately, we could not take photos inside so you will have to believe me when I tell you of the wonders of the detail inside.  (I should note we were constantly watched by guards to ensure we did not take photos 😄.)

Each of the rooms are beautifully painted with murals including pomegrantes (the tree of life), Iris’s (apparently bacteria can’t survive in a room if it has Iris’s in it, or silk for that matter, one of the reasons they often had silk wall hangings).  Images of battles filled the throne room along with images that indicated the kind king that he was e.g. dragons breathing flowers rather than fire and goats playing with wolves.

 

One of the key features of the palace are some of the best examples of ‘shebeke’, the Azerbaijani stained-glass windows that are made without the use of glue or nails.  It was initially made with very fine glass imported from Venice, but today the glass is more than 3mm thick. They use small pieces of glass which slot into the wooden frames and some of the panes contain 1,800 pieces of wood and glass and weigh up to 40 kg.

After our palace visit, we went to the Shebeke workshop to see the master at work. He insisted we tried to put one together and then I felt obiliged to buy the one I made 😝 .  No, of course I was not obliged, I wanted it, I just wish I could have afforded a bigger one as they really are so beautiful and such an incredible skill. 

 

 Sheki was an important stop on the Silk Road and the most obvious reminder of this is the two great caravanserais that dominate this part of the city.  Unfortunately, when dropping us off, Rugiya neglected to tell us the importance of these buildings so when we were wandering around the souvenir shops that occupy the bottom part of the Upper Caravanserai, we had no idea of the importance of the building itself!  And by the time we did realise, it was too late to go inside. I get very lazy when I have a guide and don’t really do much of my own research on places – lesson learnt!