To get to the Georgian border, as we were
travelling by car, we had to go through Lagish, Kish and Sheki, with Sheki
being the overnight stop. Sheki is NW of Baku, approx. 300 kms. The road to
Lalich was mountainous and the travel write up said village was pretty and lots
of handicraft shops. We found the mountain road terrible, full of potholes and
mud slides. There were no people in Lalich and all shops were shut. We left. It
was a 20 km detour one way from man road and we had to go back the same way –
40 kms of agony and wasted time. I learnt that the travel agencies in these
areas oversell various villages and locations and add useless items like “meal
with local family to see how they live”. Beware, of these scamsters.
Sheki is an old city as it dates from around the 6th
C BC. It belongs to Caucasian Albania – not European Albania, but another
kingdom that has lived in this area for more than a millennium. During the
1760s, floods wiped out the old settlement completely, and everybody had to
gather up and relocate to a higher area. That new site proved ideal as it was
sheltered by mountains, accessible down the trade routes, and out of reach of
the rivers so they were never flooded again.
Our hotel in Sheki was called Sheki Palace and was
meant to be four stars. I called it Shaky Place and gave it no stars ---it really
was the worst hotel we were given by our travel agent. It is huge and in two
buildings. I would rather write about Sheki and you read my review on Sheki
Palace in TripAdvisor. 
The city of Sheki was the capital of its own
khanate, a kind of semi-autonomous principality that existed for part of the
18th and 19th centuries. Most of the buildings were constructed during this
period. Khans were not only political figures but the patrons of arts and
architecture, and that is why such a small city turned out to possess such marvellous
buildings.
The centre of the town is pleasant and easily walkable. There is a street with a few old shops, a caravanserai opp. our hotel and a famous Baklava shop. It was full of people and the sweets were awesome.
The Palace of Shaki Khans was a summer residence and remains one of the most visible landmarks of Shaki. Constructed in 1762 without a single nail , it is a beautiful monument. The entry is through the fort gate. The tickets are reasonably priced. This palace features craftsmanship that modern society cannot recreate. The front is encrusted with shakework, which is simply a kind of stained glass that is bound together by wooden latticework that is so delicate it appears like a piece of jewellery. No photography is allowed inside. The guide said no glue has been used anywhere.
There is no square in the place that does not
speak. The walls are painted in frescoes with hunting scenes, and there are
also battles as well as geometrical images that can make your eyes weep if you
stare long enough. The colours have remained intense almost after two hundred
years due to the use of natural pigments and methods of painting, which were
roughly lost in other regions. The whole ceiling is of inlaid wood.
The palace was not simply a residence – it was the
administrative core of the whole khanate. The rooms were used to entertain
foreign dignitaries as well as issues of law. The original carved wooden throne
is still in the throne room, but sitting on it is prohibited. Local guides love
to point out hidden details in the frescoes – hunting scenes that actually
depict real historical events, geometric patterns that contain mathematical
principles, and colour combinations that require importing pigments from as far
away as India. The restoration work continues constantly, with craftsmen using
traditional techniques and materials to maintain authenticity.
In 2019, the palace was recognized by UNESCO as a
World Heritage Site, and this is both good and bad news. Good in the sense that
it allows them to be preserved and have maintenance finances. Bad as that
translates to an increased number of tour groups and increased ticket prices.
The city's central and main open city squares are
dominated by two Soviet towers. Many public places and private houses in Shaki
are decorated with shebeke, a wooden lattice of pieces of coloured glass, held
together without glue or a single nail. The technique is complex and known only
to a few artisans who pass their meticulous craft from generation to
generation.
The bazaar in Sheki isn’t designed for tourists. People
come here to buy actual necessities – vegetables, tools, fabric, household
items. The tourist goods exist, but they’re mixed in with real commerce. Several
workshops around the city still practice traditional crafts. Near the fort, we
went to a market which was actually a long hall with rooms opp sides. Here in
the passage were clothes shops. The rooms contained more important handicrafts.
Carpet weaving, silk production,
metalwork, and wood carving continue much as they have for generations. Many
artisans are happy to demonstrate their techniques.
Sheki Caravanserai is worth seeing. The Upper and
Lower Caravanserais are still standing, still functional, though now they serve
Turkish coffee instead of hosting camel trains. These weren’t luxury hotels;
they were practical business establishments where merchants could store goods,
feed animals, and sleep safely. The architecture is functional but somehow
beautiful. Thick stone walls, arched doorways, and courtyards are designed to
maximize security and efficiency. Walking through these spaces, you can almost
hear the negotiations, the arguments over prices, the languages mixing together. 
The architectural features tell us interesting
details of medieval trade. There were stables on the ground floor capable of
holding more than 300 horses and camels. At the same time, the upper stories
were used as sleeping quarters and storage of valuable goods. Much emphasis was
placed on security – there was only one entrance, the walls were thick, and the
inside of it had courtyards that could be closed off so that they could be safe
in case of an enemy attack.
After seeing the caravanserai, we drove to Kish to visit the first Albanian church,1st century AD, in Caucasus.. It is one of the oldest Christian places in the region, located about 15 kms from Sheki. It is not very large or impressive: but it withstood invaders, religious transformations, and all the turmoil of the history of the Caucasians.
The present construction dates to the 12th century, although archaeology indicates that the site has been devoted to religion for almost two thousand years. The encircling cemetery is marked with inscriptions in different languages, which shows the variety of communities that inhabited this region. New archaeological discoveries have found layers of building and rebuilding, indicating how the place responded to varying religious and political conditions. The basement houses the oldest Christian altar in the Caucasus area.
The church accommodated many Christian traditions
during centuries of existence, such as the elderly Armenian, Georgian, and
Albanian Orthodox people. It served as a grain storage facility during the
Soviet era, and this ironically led to the maintenance of many elements in
architecture that would otherwise not have remained. The surviving frescoes are
only partial and important, demonstrating influences of Byzantine, Persian, and
local styles of art.
It was drizzling and chilly. We found three old
ladies making naans so we all got one apiece and filled our stomachs. They also
made various jams etc but we eventually bought three bottles from a supermarket
just before leaving the country – they call them “murrabasi” which is close
enough to the Gujerati “muarabo”. Delicious stuff.
The surrounding village of Kish maintains some
traditional practices and crafts, making the trip worthwhile beyond just the
historical significance. The journey there takes you through beautiful
countryside and small settlements that see few international visitors.
