A day in Sheki

 A rarity today. An entire day in one city. Good news on one front, but not so good on another, as my hotel room was pretty dire, with only limited natural light thanks to an advertising sign blocking most of my window! Oh well, it won't kill me for just one more night.

Rooms with better views!

Our first stop of the day was the Summer Palace of the Sheki Khans. A fleet of 3 taxi's ferried  us the relatively short distance there. Of course, our driver didn't get the plot and took us to the wrong entrance! A ten minute walk later and we were reunited with the rest of our group at the entrance to the main Palace building. By Azerbaijani standards this place was really busy. They strictly controlled the number of people allowed in the building at one time, so we had to wait twenty minutes to get in. That was no hardship, as there was plenty to see and photograph in the meantime.

 

 

 

The Palace was an intricate looking place from the outside, beautiful in its own right. However, once inside it came alive thanks to the amazing Shebeke stained glass. Unlike your normal stained glass which uses lead and glue etc etc, this is made using only interlocking pieces of wood, and glass. No glue or nails. The craftsmanship was immense.

Next we went onto a workshop to see how the intricate stained glass is made. Just awesome. Best of all, we got the chance to try our hand at constructing a simple design. Basically it was like a Krypton Factor test (for those of you old enough to remember that programme). Modesty prevents me from saying....... oh no it doesn't..... I finished mine first, a good couple of minutes before anyone else! In those couple of minutes I was able to organise an open-top bus victory parade around Sheki for later in the day. My Dad would have been proud of me as I duly laid all the pieces out in front of me establishing how many differing parts there were etc. The "less haste, more speed" technique that he'd bred into me. That's probably why, unlike most people, I really enjoy doing self-assembly furniture. I am fully available to do this kind of stuff for others, and my rates are very reasonable. Online bookings can be made at www.imnotgullible.com/ikea.

 

 

We then just had a chance to wander, and some of us found a delightful little garden pavilion with more incredible stained glass.

 

 

 

Our next stop was the village of Kish, which was renowned for its beautiful old Caucasian Albanian church. The area around Sheki was much more of a blend of Mosques and Orthodox Christian churches - probably inevitable due to its proximity to Georgia. To get to Kish we were again ferried by 3 taxis. The first to arrive was an old blue Lada driven by a woman - nothing unusual at home, I know, but here it was a novelty. However, we later discovered that this woman was a force of nature - a full on Matriarch and Businesswoman.

Once at Kish we had a tour of the church and visitor centre (run by said woman!), followed by lunch at characterful old restaurant that majored in the local specialty - Piti. Of course, it was run by the Matriarch; and run with a rod of iron and military precision. She was a full on "Guvnor!" who happily barked the orders at her mainly male staff. The church was quite beautiful, especially with the snow-capped mountains behind.

 

The journey up to Kish

  

Whilst not renowned for my healthily eating habits, I can't abide cooked fat, so I was one of only two in our group to sidestep the Piti. Just the sight of the fat floating on the top was nearly enough to make me wretch. Anyway, here's what it looks like.....

 

After lunch Matriach taxi's took us back into the centre of Sheki for an afternoon of leisure. I took that quite literally and did absolutely "sod all". Then again, there's an awful lot of "sod all" to be done! Tomorrow we cross into Georgia, and my expected highlight of the trip, the Church at Gergeti, will only be a couple of days away.