Final Days in Caucasus Mountains

Staying in the Karvansaray in Sheki! This is a great experience that we could not miss. Leaving the lovely Panorama Guest House was a wrench but the lure of staying in an old historic building was too much. The Karvansaray was a place where travellers of the Silk Road stayed and traded. The building has not changed much since then.There are over 300 rooms and gardens for the animals, and store rooms for the traveler’s’ wares.

The Karvansaray has been a great place to stay – glad of the heaters! It can get chilly in the stone rooms. There are lots of noises – during the day; heaps of tourists and tour groups, during the night the stray dogs bark. All night!

We had one nervous moment when we were told we had a problem! It appears that the Azerbaijan Migration services want to talk to us and fine us! We have no clue as to why, it is a 3 day public holiday and all government offices are now closed! We sought clarification form the lovely hosts in the Panorama Guest House. Google Translate came into its own! It appears we are at fault. If you intend staying in Azerbaijan for longer than 15 days you have to register with the government. We did not do this, believing our 90 day visa was sufficient! Hence the call up. We shall keep you informed on the result….

In the meantime we relax, drink tea, play backgammon, walk in the sunshine and watch the local football regional final!

We attended the regional football play offs between Sheki and we don’t know who…I was the only female in attendance (around 1000 men and boys), stunning backdrop, a lot of police to watch the crowd, a very enthusiastic and vocal crowd who clearly love their football. Sheki won 4-1, the game was pretty brutal with yellow cards being dished out left, right and centre! A man walked around selling hot chai from an urn for 50c. The entrance fee was $1, we forgot to bring cardboard (or egg containers) for sitting on – the seats all had weeds growing through them! Was such a fun afternoon, go Sheki!