Final Azerbaijan Blog: The Weird and Wonderful Moments

Even a month later, there are moments from our 9 days in Azerbaijan that come back. I'm sure that there are certain things that I'll never forget:

• The crazy funikulyor up the hill in Baku. For 20 qepik (about 25 cents), you can ride a ridiculously rickety funicular up to.... well... to the higher part of the town, a collection of cemeteries from different uprisings, and monuments. You will also find some very hungry cats up there who will climb into your backpack to get your lunch...
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• The Old City of Baku. The Old city is beautiful, clean and so full of history inside its city walls that it is hard to describe. Everywhere there are old buildings, old streets, old people.
• The cats!  Everywhere we went, it seemed, there were friendly stray cats. On our last day, we stopped for lunch and, as happens in Azerbaijan, got a private room with a space heater. We were soon joined by a mother cat and her kitten, who happily shared our cheese with us, as they toasted themselves by the electric fire.

 

 

 

 

• The bus to and from Sheki. Instead of taking the luxurious "Western" bus, we hopped into a mini-bus for the 5 hour trek from Baku to Sheki. Lumpy seats, no shocks, a bumpy road with hairpin turns, a chain-smoking driver, a quick stop at a restaurant with a bear in a cage outside, and views of shepherds leading flocks of sheep over rolling fields... One of the weirdest bus rides I've ever taken in my life.
• Qobustan rock carvings. We had a private tour (for about $4 each) through the museum and up into the caves to look at rock carvings that were, in some cases, 20,000 years old.
• The fire temples around Baku. First off, we stopped at a naturally occurring phenomenon of the side of a hill that seemed to be completely on fire... and it was incredibly hot. You couldn't stand near it without getting singed. And it's been burning for thousands of years. The more established Fire Temple has been a favourite place for Zoroastrians for ages. In the rooms, we stared at 1st century swords and jewellery -- in glass cases without backs, meaning we could have simply squeezed our hand behind the case to grab at them.  
• The "wishing mosque". I'm not sure who the famous poet was who was buried here, but the mosque (in a rather unpicturesque village by an oil field) is absolutely gorgeous. If you visit his grave (I was in the women's section, following a group of women around and around the bars surrounding his grave, as they prayed), you can make a wish. As you are leaving, a woman may grab you by the hand and drag you over to a lady behind a counter who will hand you a bag full of candy.
• The bathroom in Xinaliq. Okay, we've talked a lot about Xinaliq but we haven't really touched on just how, um, primitive the bathroom was. A mud floor, over a hole in the ground, with  slippery rocks to stand on. And it's freezing cold on your nether regions. And to get there: you get to slide down either a muddy path (in the sunlight) or a hard frozen slippery path (at night, holding a tiny flashlight). Finally, on the last morning, I just simply refused to go at all. Hmmm, nice view out the little window, though (snowy mountains and a frozen river).
  
• Butchers/sacrifices etc. So, yes, we were there during the Muslim Eid that is known for its sheep sacrifices. These were done, it seemed, every 100 metres or so on the 150km drive from Baku to Quba. A collection of (live) sheep in a pen, or meandering around the side of the road, and one (dead) sheep hanging in a tree. In general, Azeris want the freshest meat possible, choosing butchers over pre-packaged fare. This meant that there were butcher shops just about everywhere, with both live and dead animals on display. One of our lunches in Xinaliq arrived in the same way: we got back from our horseback ride in the snow to a bloodstain and 2 feathers in the snow -- and had chicken for lunch.
• Televisions, everywhere. No matter where we were, there was always a TV blaring. The shows tended to be endless loops of funniest home videos and randomness like how to turn a lighter into a water gun... We did spend an entire evening drinking tea and watching TV in Quba.
• The random 11th century castle. We wrote about this when we wrote about the people. The size of it and its perfect condition,  its spot in the middle of a shanty town, our tour guide, and the odd jumble of ancient artefacts lying around, including the carved floor-plan, just waiting to be slipped into one of our backpacks, made this an unforgettable stop on the trip.
  
• The food. Of course, with animal carcasses hanging all over the place, Ty was in heaven (especially once said carcass was cooked and dipped in a special blend of spices). What, you may ask, did the world's most finicky eater survive on? Every meal is served with a pile of amazing bread, at least 2 different cheeses, and a plate of cucumbers, onions, rocket, parsley, cilantro and so on. I also discovered incredible oddities like hot yogurt soup (actually very delicious) and that bread spread with smetana and honey is the best breakfast in the world.
• Our caravansary hotel in Sheki. For about $50 (which is expensive in that part of the world), you can have a "suite" (sitting room, fireplace, bedroom, bathroom) in a caravansary. These were the stopping points on the Silk Route where the camels could be stabled downstairs, while the people had rooms upstairs. Quite thrilling to be surrounded by something so vibrantly old.

I'm not sure if we've left anything out, but don't worry... the next time you see us, every sentence will inevitably start with "In Azerbaijan, we...." and you'll be sick of hearing about the whole thing anyway. (edit… I’ve added a few parts to what Virginia wrote, and realised we’ve left a few places out… but I think we’d carry on writing forever if  we allowed ourselves more space. For now I leave you with the car full of apples, of which we saw two – Ty)