from Baku to Sheki - Caucasian summer 2024 - 3
from Gudauri via Gori to Kutaissi
from Kutaissi to Batumi
from Batumi via Borjomi to Achalziche
excursion to Vardzia
from Achalziche in Georgia to Yerevan in Armenia
excursion to Etschmiadsin
excursion to Garni and Geghard
from Yerevan to Goris including visits to Chor Virap and Noravank
excursions to Chndsoresk and Tatev
from Goris to Sewan
from Sewan via Dilijan to Haghpat
from Haghpat in Armenia to Tbilisi in Georgia
Tbilisi and back home
18.07.2024 - from Baku to Sheki
Today we start a bit earlier as we are not dependent on late opening hours. But because the breakfast buffet doesn't open until 7:30 a.m., it's not really that early after all.
First stop is the Bibi-Heybat Mosque [↗] on the outskirts of Baku. I have this mosque on my visiting list, but was not expecting to see it, as it's not easily accessible by public transport.
Inside the mosque is a small room with tombs and a cage around them. This room and especially the ceiling is richly decorated. Also, the dome of the praying room is worth to see.
Luckily there is hardly anyone here when we arrive, but only a few minutes later another group arrives, and it would have been difficult to take pictures.
Today includes a bit of driving to get closer to the border with Georgia. But first we make a detour to visit the rock paintings at Qobustan [↗].
Qobustan, a place with hundreds of petroglyphs, is one of the main tourist attractions in the area. Accordingly, there are already lots of cars and coaches here.
First, we visit the small museum. Again, they put some effort into presenting the theme. It is certainly interesting for those who are seeing this type of drawing for the first time.
The area with the paintings is located a few hundred meters away on the slope of a small mountain. There is a paved circular path and barriers. But with so many people, this is the only way to protect the drawings. There are quite a few of them, and once you get used to them, they are no longer difficult to see.
Today it is mostly cloudy, and we make our way to Shamakhi. First on a bumpy road with lots of potholes, then on a well-maintained highway. The landscape is pretty boring, a brown steppe that gets a little greener after about an hour as we gain altitude. Somehow fitting for the dull weather.
We stop at a supermarket outside of Shamakhi. It's already 2pm and the supermarket also includes a small restaurant. But the food there doesn't appeal to me. So, I buy a sweet piece of puff pastry and a mini pizza, a Coke, and a few other snacks at the bakery.
The supermarkets here have Western standards. However, the prices are only half as high as in Germany. Azerbaijan is a cheap country, apart from the entrance fees, which are comparatively high (5- 8 Euros for each sight).
As we are in Shamakhi, we take a brief look at the Yeddi Gumbaz Mausoleum [↗]. Although it is an archaeological site of national importance, the narrow road alone shows that it is more of a hidden gem than a tourist attraction. In former times there had been 7 tombs, but 4 of them collapsed. For me this is more interesting than many of the sites we visited before, even it was meant as a stopover between two long drives.
The higher and further west we go, the greener the area becomes. It is mainly agricultural land, and we have to slow down more than once because cows are blocking the road.
Finally, we reach Sheki [↗]. Our hotel is part of the old caravansary [↗]. I know already that this will be the worst hotel of the trip, and it is. It has been criticized for years, but Djoser is still using it. There is another hotel across the road that is used by a Chinese tour group. So it shouldn't be that expensive. It's the terrace of that hotel where we have dinner together.
