Day 20 12 May Road trip along the old Caspian Sea to Black Sea trade route

Photo above - village street in Lahji.

Leaving the capital

Today I have the first road trip of the tour. Leaving Baku and the Caspian Sea behind, we will be travelling over 200 miles along a historical trade route between Baku and Sheki (population 68,400), driving in the shadow of the Caucasus mountains.

Silk road

Sheki has been an important market town for centuries. It sits on the east-west trading route, running across the Caucasus, from the Caspian Sea in the east to the Black Sea in the west. A further trade route across the mountains to Dagestan in the north turned Sheki into a thriving commercial centre - especially during the 18th and 19th centuries, when there were no fewer than five working caravanserais (inns) providing safe lodging to merchants and traders.

Border control

Sheki is reasonably close to the russian border to the north, however there are strict rules regarding entry to and from Azerbaijan. Whilst you can fly in to Azerbaijan without restrictions, (although you need to have a visa), and you can exit via land or sea, you cannot enter via a land or sea border. Azerbaijan has kept its land and sea borders closed for entry since 2020 and is unlikely to open them up again.

Azerbaijan proper borders Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Iran. However there is also the enclave of Nakchivan, which borders Iran, Turkey and Armenia, which became independent of Russia in 1990, and part of Azerbaijan in 1991, when Azerbaijan itself became independent of Russia.

Heading West

Today we started at 9am with a fight through the city traffic. Apparrently, out of the 12 different climates in the world, you can experience 10 of them here in Azerbaijan. Today it is mild but overcast. Once out of the city, we joined a two lane dual carriageway heading west through very flat land. Mostly passing through small towns or suburbs. business units, and rows of apartments. After about half an hour, the towns began to fall away, replaced by agricultural land, growing small trees and crops.

Later, hills started to appear in the distance. Once out of the city, the traffic all but disappeared. The road started to ascend up into rolling hills which were covered with dry grassland. The land here is apparently very difficult to cultivate and grow on, so some landowners import soil from other areas. There were a few sheep and cattle on the hills, but mostly they were dry scrubland and barren. We went over a small pass, still on the well surfaced and empty dual carriageway, and then continued through rolling hills, which started to become a bit greener. A bit further on we went through the first small town for a while, and a this point the land became a lot more green and cultivated.

On the road I saw quite a lot of police stopping and questioning drivers, I assume randomly. Also been seeing lots of Lada cars, quite a change from all the shiny new cars in the city.

Samaxi and a mosque

After two hours we arrived at Samaxi (pop 31,704) where we visited the second-oldest mosque in the trans-Caucasus, the Juma mosque of Shamakhy. It has been destroyed twice by earthquake and once by Armenians, so very little is original, but you can see some of the old stone work in the grounds.

Up into the mountains

After this we swap to a smaller minibus to go further up into the mountains. By now the sun had come out and it was pleasantly warm. The road ascended through small towns and villages, and lush farmland. At one point we are above the clouds. We stopped above the village Demirci to take photos. The road then continued up and down through the mountains. Eventually went over a pass around 2100m. Going down the other side, there were a couple of places where the road had been washed away by landslides, and was just loose gravel, on quite a steep slope.

Copper art

We eventually stoped in Lahji, a village situated on the slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and famous for its copper crafting tradition, which earned it a spot on the UNESCO heritage list. There was a settlement here in 5th century. We had a nice alfresco lunch at a local guest house. Then we visited a local copper workshop, where the owner gave a brief demo of how he makes plates, tea pots etc. The individual craftsmanship when doing the patterning was amazing. The owners family have run the business for 150 years. Afterwards we were invited into his house behind the workshop for a cup of tea and some Azerbaijan cake.

Wot no road

On the way back to the main bus at the town of Samaxi we had to take the same mountain road back, however the guide was not happy with us being driven back up the section where the road had been washed away, so we had to get out and walk up the washed away bit then wait for the bus at the top.The minibus managed with a bit of wheel spinning to join us, and then we drove back to Samaxi, got on to the big bus, and continued the drive west to the town of Sheki.

The road west continues

Continued to be quite lush, with vineyards at the side of the road. We started ascending into the mountains again, with forests at each side. There continued to be very little traffic. Finally we descended into a valley with a sizeable town. Once out of the town the landscape became very flat and fertile. There are so many Lada cars on the road and in the towns now that we are out of the city. It really seems that one in three cars are Ladas.

By about 8pm it was dark so not sure what was passing by the windows outside. We arrived at our hotel at about 9pm, had something to eat, and headed for bed. Tomorrow we explore the town of Sheki and surrounding area.