Sweet Şəki and holy Kiş

Sweet Şəki

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All the pictures first, so the reading of the long tale is not per se needed. Enough imagery! The lady in pink is our new friend, the lovely Janet!

Holy Kiş and the gang!

Hoera! Another weekend, and yet again, another trip out of Baku was planned. Five of us would catch the train to Şəki on Friday night, arrive early morning Saturday, and spend the weekend there. If return tickets could be obtained, we would travel back overnight Sunday- Monday, if not, Sunday with machutka.
So said, so done, Thursday afternoon 5 plaskart tickets were bought, the cheapest benches you can get. The train would take around 9 hours, but you could sleep, and blankets were included.

Friday evening Agata, Krzysiek and I set of as excited little children to the train station. There were some worries that 2 would be late (Agnieska and Maciek), but they make it in time, and we even got 5 more travel companions, the lovely Janets. In Şəki Guillome was to join us, who traveled by bus as he could not get hold of a train tickets.

A short but comfortable night was spent in the train. Much warmer than my room, it was lovely to be fully warm at night again, though waking up with neon light and a stern looking coupé lady was less fun. This same lady shouted at us to hurry up and jump out of the train, as we were holding it up.

The only people getting off at Şəki were the crazy tourist: a group of 5 Germans, and us. We were lucky in terms of sleeping location, having a Peace Corps volunteer hosting us (Daniela); the others were staying at the Caravan Saray. Though we ‘know’ the Germans, their trip to Şəki coinciding with ours was no set arrangement but by chance.

For some really logical reason, most train stations are not in the towns themselves, but often quite a distance away. In Şəki’s case, the train station is some 17 km from the city centre, and at 7 no bus is running. The others negotiated the taxi, while I started taking pictures, and did not to stop until we got back on the road to Baku.

Our cab driver was the stereotype Azeri man – nice rounded face with a good mustache, good belly and a big smile as well. Sparkling eyes, and always curious what you are up to. In our best Azeri, we managed to find out he is not from Şəki, but from a place far more beautiful but now under occupation, he is married, has a son and daughter, his daughter is married and he has a grand child. We also found out we would not have rain, but nice weather, at least Saturday! Than he wanted to know what we think of Obama… Babat (so so) we said, as we haven’t seen him in a lot of action yet… he did agree, laughing. At this point we pass a Heyder billboard, so the next question is what he things of Heyder Aliyev. ‘Super!’ And his son? Laughter, ‘babat’. Meanwhile the sun is slowly coloring the sky in oranges and pinks, set against slight mountains (over 2000 meters) and open country side.

Not long after we enter Şəki. First to the Autovaxal (bus station), then to the main centre. We get out, pay and call our host. She’s still asleep, so tea is the better option, and we find a nice, smoke filled, already quite full, male only tea house. Dominoes are already on the tables, most men in the classical outfit, some still wearing their hats. The people are smaller here, and look more alike than in Baku.
We take a table and wake up with strong, Azeri tea. In front of us are two pots of sugar: white cubes and more brownish cubes, slightly damp. Are they wet on purpose, or did they just get damp- we saw the same in another tea house later on, and are baffled. Though we thought of ordering a third pot of tea, it was time to walk back to the autovaxal and meet Daniela, accompanied by her friends dog who was overjoyed to see us.
Daniela is a really friendly Californian, working with business development in Şəki. She has a mansion as home, and always hosts people passing by. She did not want our cooked breakfast, though her friend – another Peace Corps volunteer named Lucy- did join. Meanwhile Daniela drew us a map of Şəki, with all the places to see: the Caravan Saray, the Xan Saray (summer palace), part of the silk route en the village of Kiş, with the old Albanian church.

Naturally, us stubborn lot did not follow the suggested direction of the route, but did go and see all those places. We opted to go to Kiş first, as it was lovely weather. There we found our way to the old church, renovated on basis of its 5-6th century looks, but with fundaments from the 1st century and traces of a temple from before that. In the background snow covered mountain peaks, down below a river now tame, but judging by the river bed and the walls build surrounding it, with considerable force.

Our route continued through the village, with lots of photo’s being taking, short chats with typical looking men, playing nerd (backgammon) at really high speed. Up to the mosque, through the graveyard, back to the centre. There we bought some instant coffee and sat in the –once again, male dominoes playing tea house, for tea and hot water for the coffee. Revived, the trip went on to the river, where we planned to take the bus back that had passed us already 12 times… unfortunately, no bus came, and we hiked a long way back direction the city. The landscape is really beautiful. Apart from the snow topped mountain in the distance, we were surrounded by mountain flanks full of ‘autumny’ oak trees, lots of brown, but enough yellow, red and still some green to be beautiful. Not too many houses, but some building, not too many cars passing by or people on the streets. The weather furthermore was good, not too cold, fresh and crispy, with some sunshine!

Nearly reaching the outskirts of Şəki, finally a bus passed by and we hopped on. In Şəki itself we walked up the old silk route, passing the 1001 sweet shops Şəki is famed for. Especially its Baklava and Halva are praised. The former is nice, with many spices and I believe walnuts instead of pastiche nuts, better when they do not soak it in the sugar water. The Halva is not quite my thing, even sweater than the baklava, it is moist, red and white on top, and not at all like the halva I know. Either way, the sugar dose was nice and helped us walk up to the other church and the summer palace, Xan Saray, with two oak trees from 1530, tall, wide and absolutely impressive. The Palace itself is also a piece of art, with the front façade made of glass-in-wood, each piece hand made and each meter consisting of at least a thousand pieces. The interior is finely decorated with wood, and egg yolk paintings, depicting animals, flowers and a battle scene, despite being Muslim in origin.

Tired of the walk and all the sight seeing, we head back to meet our hosts, for a Turkish meal of lentil soup and pida or lavash/doner. Than back to the house, were we have a drink and find out about the girls’ lives in Şəki, prepare our beds and off to sleep we go. Daniela is to get up at 6:30 the next morning, but gives us her key and if we can throw it into the garden when we leave: she is off for a week. Lucy- her friend- will come and collect it.

In Şəki, tanks also have to be filled, and the water was off the previous night. Daniela left a note saying it never came back on, so I turned it on while the others were still slumbering. When they got off, I got a shout: a tap had exploded with water pressure and water was pouring out. We closed the city line, and then I got onto the roof to turn off the tap from the tank. Then the hard task to repair this tab, which we managed to do- or we hope we did. Back on the roof to open the tank, no explosion but the tap still leaks. Our final solution was to close the line to the bathtub, call Lucy, tell her and leave a note to Daniela. Then we set off to do the last bit of exploring, having decided we would leave by bus to Baku around 5-6 p.m. Route: Bazar (talking to a man who did his military service in Belarus, studied geography at the Lenin academy during Stalin’s reign, and was some big man locally after that. He regrets the fall of the USSR, but hates Russia, who is to blame for the atrocities of 20 January, and the lost war against Armenia. Especially Gorbachov is an idiot, and have a safe trip.
Lunch, supplies for the road, and crossing the river to see that side of Şəki… here we found an amazing hat-making shop. Not only was the man working there a real beauty, his hats were fantastic and 2 were bought. I am now the proud owner of a sheep smelling hat, absolutely a fantastic model!
The last round, back to the house for some tea, and off we set to the bus station. Exactly 6 seats were free, 3 in one bus and 3 in another, but than 6 in the same one, though they were only 5 but one woman squeezed in with her 3 children and used a seat less (got some cash back) and off we set. Some five hours later we were back in Baku, happy to get off the bus, tired and nearly, nearly home!