Last post from Azerbaijan

Well we never did see the European Games torch Relay through Sheki, but we had a box seat on the balcony of our room for the free concert and fireworks.

In themorning we went to the market. Aida, the guide did more shopping than us as she bought village eggs (which I guess equates to free range). 

We went to Kish  to see the building reputed to be the oldest church in the Caucasus, founded in the 1st century by the Apostle Eliseus. It was used by the Albanian Apostolic Christians.

Is it Bakhlava or Halva Azeri style in the market in Sheki?

Liver or Pig's trotters for anyone?

 A beautiful silk carpet in Sheki, but at $5000 it would have blown my budget.

This was originally built in the 1st C although the existing walls date from the 5th C and were restored by Thor Heyerdahl and other Norwegians in 2000.

A hard working donkey in Kish

A shepherd and his flock by the side of a 4 lane highway.

Ganja, Azerbaijan's second city has an attractive mall.

I guess this is an underwear shop in Ganja. Ganja was briefly the capital of the first Azerbaijan republic. After the Russian revolution Azerbaijan was independent for two years until the Bosheviks arrived.

The quirky bottle house in Ganja. reminded me a bit of the Old Curiosity cottage in Ballarat.

It is about 350 kms from Ganja to Baku and so Balash, our driver and Aida, our guide and ourselves needed a tea stop.

Back in Baku and the LED display on the Flame Towers.

Heydan Aliyev Cultural Centre in Baku was designed by a female architect.

Another view

Leaving Baku and Azerbaijan

Baku again May 26

On Friday morning we walked down to the waterfront. It was surprisingly quiet but we found a tea shop and watched the passing parade while we drank tea and ate Turkish Bakhlava. There are underpasses at major roads with escalators. Aida our guide came at 3 and we went first to the Avenue of Martyrs and the lookout near the Flame Towers. After surprisingly good coffee at gloria Jeans we entered the old city through the twin gates and climbed the Maiden Tower. That was O.K.but the Palace of the shirvan Shahs was more difficult. The Shah who built it was 2m10 and the steps were to suit him.

On Saturday we went to Gobustan and its huge collection of petroglyphs and even a Roman legionary's graffiti. The museum on site is state of the Art although very noisy with all the school children.

Sunday morning we set off for Sheki about 300 km North West. The roads are mostly very good, but everyone was leaving Baku maybe heading to the hills.When we got there we could see why. They are green and there are crops and forest.

The Flame towers. At night they are lit with a changing LED display

Flame statue

Panorama showing the walled old city surrounded by modern high rise

Restored caravanserai in the old city

I thought this an elegant ewer

Must have been substantial moustaches,

The desolate landscape of Golbustan. The petroglyphs date back thousands of years.

A boat although now there is no water nearby.

Goat

Teacher and child and Aida at Golbustan

Fire temple originally dating from 7thC B.C. but destroyed in earthquakes and the Zoroastrians moved on and it was forgotten.Then in the 18thC rebuilt by Indians, but when the oil industry started the fire went out and the temple was again abandoned.

The oil for the flame is now piped in

Drinking tea is a frequent pastime and the supermarket had shelves and shelves of it. it is sweetened with jam rather than sugar.

The rebuilt mosque at Shemshaki.

Shemshaki

The road up into the isolated mountain village of Lahij. We abandoned our Mercedes van and took a Lada taxi up there. Most tourists are Azeris. These isolated villages speak their own languages.

All sorts of spices for sale.

Female dressups

And male dress ups

Lahij is famous for copperwork

Or you could go for a ride but I think the carpet would not be the most comfortable saddle!

Baku, Azerbaijan May 22nd, 2015

A long time ago I bought a book on the throw out table at Angus and Robertson. It was Ali and Nino by Kurban Said - a love story between a Moslem youth and a Christian girl set in Baku about the time of the First World War and now we are here in Baku. It is a city of 4 million people in a country of 9 million. As well there are 29 million Azeris living in Iran This afternoon we drove past on ffice of the Ministry for the Diaspora so it obviously has plenty of work! The people are Turkic and can understand Turkish. The city is attractive and European in looks and feel, but the traffic seems to be more chaotic Asian.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Taghliev History museum in one of the mansions built by one of the oil barons. It was worth going to see the building, and the exhibition was good too. The labels were in 3 languages but rarely including English..

 Typical street scene

 

 One of the grand salons in the Taghiyev mansion

 

 Ornate cornices

 

 Beautiful parquetry floors

 

Azeri carpets are famous and there is a carpet museum in the shape of a rolled up market but we have not found it yet

Embroidered wrestling trousers

When we tried to get a taxi to the museum the driver did not know where it was and we soon had half a dozen people all putting in their two bob's worth. We then had to negotiate a fare, so were pleased we actually got there. Not surprisingly the museum was not crowded! 

If you want to see where we walked yesterday, copy and paste into a new window, the link below. It will probably come up with the google hybrid view but you can change it to google map

 http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/display/20150522021107-30102-map.html

 All for this first instalment.