Photos from Sheki continue

Sheki is a small town in the northwest section of Azerbaijan...a four hour drive from Baku through some amazing countryside...at points it looked like the dry brown hills of found at the Arizona Utah border, or even west of SF....but further in the drive, green mountains actually the Caucasas mountains...snow top peaked...then descending into these little valleys...where you can see evidence of the heavy flooding when the mountain snow melts....In the mountains is an Albanian temple...all of these lands share a history and a people...so it gets complicated really quickly...as the various ethnic groups don't always get along....The Kis Temple built in the 7th century...and completely restored in a joint effort with Norwegian government...is quite lovely..

The walls inside the Khan's Palace

The Khan like many men of his time had a rooms for different purposes...one the harem, one to entertain his male friends, and another for guests that he wanted to impress. The room for the women is decorated with flowers, trees, you know the nice stuff, the room for the male friends shows battle scenes including beheadings (which was popular in this time) and finally, the place to entertain guests that highlighted pictures of the coat of arms....I must admit the women's room was pretty boring...the battle scenes...well check them out...oh, right in addition to the heads on the ground...which are being presented as a gift to the Khan....the painting of the troops includes some rather dark faces...interesting given the population of the time 1700's ...might have been from Iran, or Turkey...who can be much darker than the Azerbaijanis

Khan's Palace finished in 1762

Sheki's foremost "sight" is the palace..the Khan was the main man of the times...the building is not very large, two short stories high and only one room deep. The photo the doorway, you have to take off your shoes in hopes to protect the wood flooring...the stained glass set intricate wood frames is quite stunning...

Making Halva in Sheki

I was given a back room tour of a candy making process...Halva...no, not what you might think of halva in the US...this halva is way more sweeter...I'm talking about putting you into diabetic shock and you ain't even diabetic...but it was kinda of cool to watch these guys doing their thing...

More pictures of the inn on the Silk Road

Journey to Sheki

Sheki is a town of about 60K persons, northwest of Baku about 4 hours drive....thank goodness the roads have been paved and smoothed. The drive up on the edge and through the Caucasian Mountains, more the that later....was quite spectacular....we arrived in Sheki and stayed at the Karavansaray..which in the middle ages were way places for travelers and their camels or horses..now it is unique guest house...

Heading out to the regions tomorrow

I'm joining a couple of colleagues for a weekend trip to a village, Sheki...it is about 4 hours northwest from Baku. It's reported to be a lovely, green town founded in the mid-1700's.
I hope to have some great pictures posted when I return...check back on Monday.

Have a great weekend....oh, did anyone hear Naomi Campbell's testimony at the Hague regarding the gift of diamonds she received. Regardless of her role, if any in the Blood Diamond trade that supported brutal wars in Liberia and Sierre Leone...but she was a reluctant witness clearly stating that she didn't want to be there...for fear of her family and "it's an inconvenience for me"....excuse me...sorta sounded like the BP executive..."I just want to get my life back to normal"....what are these folks smoking!

Oh, one more than..if you followed my post telling you to find the Time magazine cover of young Ashitani (the Afghani woman)...she left for the US today for reconstructive surgery...