Hospitality

How long can any table be?? As long as it needs to be to accommodate ALL the guests :)

XIX century Minaret

This is the picture of ancient minaret dated 1882 that is currently protected by Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan as national property…it is located in region number 1 of Sheki as well. Unfortunately it does not function at the moment...This minaret proves once more how everywhere around the world people in the past were eager to create difficult structures in complex locations (considering there were no heavy load vehicles…) to prove their beliefs and loyalty…I hope this human creation stays for many more years so that our heirs are able to enjoy it as well…

Taking this opportunity I wish everyone who keeps the fast happy Ramadan.

Absheron...

As you might know Baku is situated on Absheron peninsula. Climate of Absheron peninsula is mostly dry...Therefore there are couple of fruits that grow very well here...One of these fruits is fig. Currently we are having fig season in Absheron. This is the photo session we did last Sunday in our dacha in Absheron so that I can reflect the season on my blog...These are white figs. There are also black figs but we do not have this tree in our dacha...

Thank you nature, thank you, land :)

Why Gagarin?...

This year I discovered new restaurant in Sheki…it used to be there for a long time but I never knew about it…it is called “Gagarin restaurant”…Why Gagarin? Because it is opened in the area that used to be the park named after Gagarin and the owner left the name as it is…

The main advantage of the restaurant is its perfect location…the view that opens up from the restaurant is astonishing…sitting there and sipping tea at sunset may turn into an unforgettable experience…I strongly advise…maybe this is also one of the reasons why the place is named after Gagarin…makes one think of unique view that Gagarin saw…

...Peaceful moment...

Today I am posting a photo that we took when visiting our auntie (it is a must to go and see elder people when one visits Sheki, you can of course not visit but that would show disrespect and would upset the elder)...

This photo was taken when there was a moment of peace and my son actually sat for couple of minutes (this happens quite rarely since children as you know have "energiser batteries" that never finish...God bless...)

What might be interesting for you on the photo is the mattress that I am sitting on (every family in Sheki has mattresses like this. They are meant to be put on the floor for leisure times). See also "mutekke" kind of a pillow that has a shape that you see...This is for leaning purposes also for leisure times...I don't know if you agree with me but although everything is so simple in the room it brings peace and comfort...this is how I felt there...

It is very rare that people would sit now on the floor in Azerbaijan and have meals for example as it used to be before...but for leisure purposes there are always comfortable mattress and "mutekke" waiting for you in every house in Sheki...:)

View...

This is the view that opens up from the square before the mayor's office of Sheki. Apologize for the quality of the pictures.

The little girl on the picture is Munise, one of my cousins who would go anywhere I went, if possible :) Her energy is astonishing...This time Munise and I took one of our relatives to mayor's office as she had to register to be an observer on entry exams...and we took these photos while waiting for her :)

1st region…

The place that I come from in Sheki is called “gyshlag” what means “place to spend winter” as this part of the city is located in the bottom of the city and is warmer than the top of the city called ”yaylag” – “place to spend summer”…

The city is also divided into so called regions…i.e. the first the highest (in location) the most ancient and oldest part of the city is the 1st region…(our house for instance is situated in 21st region)…as it happens very often people rarely go to other regions of the city unless it is necessary…tourists in reverse very often explore the places they visit in very detail and see many places that locals never visit. Although I visit Sheki almost every summer lately I try to find something/somewhere new that I didn’t see before…Therefore this year my husband and I decided to explore region Number 1 of the city of Sheki. It is located on the mountains itself I would say…the roads are/were paved in stones…it is very easy to go down but going up is quite a challenge…can imagine how harsh winters are…here are some pictures that we took while exploring…

View from region # 1

I wonder how the owners put hay up there...must be hard work...

See the top of the furthest mountain...nothing grows there since it is so high and cold...

Two beauties...

Hello, everyone! I am just back from Sheki...thankfully trip was great as always and here I am back in Baku...

Today I am posting photos of two beauties…

To be honest I am not sure what causes the fact that I started to notice beauty around me more: my growing age or my sculptor husband who always draws my attention to everything that surrounds… In any case to my delight I see more and more (this is what I think…I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I realize that I haven’t noticed many things before)…

Ok…my epilogue turned out long…sorry… See if you share my opinion that these creatures are very, very pretty…I couldn’t pass by without taking their photos :)

P.S. Thank you very much for your great comments, everyone!

View...

A bit dark photo but view was beautiful, believe me...:)

...Miracles of nature...

I wrote about pomegranate earlier in my blog…today I am posting more photos to show how flowers turn into fruits…I think this is amazing…like everything in nature…

On a completely different subject...I want to share with you something that happened to me today: when I was driving today to work, I stopped to let the pedestrian man to cross the road...the man stopped to let me drive showing with his gesture that I am a female and he is gentleman...dilemma...who lets whom go first? driver - the pedestrian or gentleman - the woman?...funny :) very nice of him...at the end I drove and gave him thank you smile :)

Land of plenty...

This scenery opens up before you when you drive to village of Ivanovka in Ismailli region of Azerbaijan. People in Ivanovka, Molokans, were deported from Russia in XIX century or so and spread to many places including this village in Ismailli. This field of wheat is amazing and stops one's breath...

Seven waterfalls

As I mentioned earlier Qabala has beautiful waterfalls that are called "Seven waterfalls". Road to those waterfalls is quite difficult as it is a village road and one has to pass even through a small spring or river...but roads never scare locals (because they take thing easy by nature) and foreigners (because they usually drive jeeps). Waterfalls are quite high and one sees as far as he/she can and what is above higher in the mountains I do not know. But there must be other waterfalls so that there are seven of them.

People in Azerbaijan believe that anywhere one goes there must be tea place and this place is no exception. Tea place is available by the waterfalls as well and whoever desires makes a stop to listen to sound of water and enjoy the scenery that nature has granted.

Peace...

There are waterfalls in Qabala called “Seven Waterfalls”. To reach those waterfalls one has to go through a village that has beautiful landscape that I am trying to convey via these pictures. To me this village seemed as peaceful as any place could be…so green…so quiet…so beautiful…so big and so free…well maybe village inhabitants have a quite different view with harsh living conditions especially in winter (this is my personal opinion of someone coming from the city spoiled by heaters and air conditioning…maybe villagers do not think so...) although with such mountains around them winter must be really harsh actually…

In any case the place is beautiful…one wants to stay on the grass and just watch the mountains and sky…but we did not do so as we were in a hurry to see the waterfalls…pictures of which will be posted tomorrow...

Fish feast in Qabala

This weekend I visited Qabala and had fish by Nohur lake (about which I wrote earlier.) Although local people were calling that small fish as “river fish” to me they seemed very much like sprats. Interestingly they were selling it in kilos. So you had to buy a kilo of fried fish and then if it wasn’t enough another kilo or half a kilo…and so on :)

P.S. Just had a comment from Kris McCracken asking how this fish taste...They taste good and it is fun to eat them :)

Kur River

Two biggest rivers that go through Azerbaijan are Kur and Araz. Strange/bad thing that happened during Soviet times is that all Azeri words were translated first into Russian and then further to other languages. This resulted in total mispronouncement (if I may say) of Azeri words. For example in Azeri we call capital of Azerbaijan Bakı, in Russian it is called Baku and now in all languages the city is called Baku…the same is true for river Kur. We pronounce it Kur, in Russian it is pronounced Kura, in English and other languages I am not sure…

These are pictures that my husband Teymur took for me in Zardab region of Azerbaijan which he recently visited. Zardab is located in so called “aran” region of Azerbaijan (means lowland in Azerbaijani), is located in centre of the country and Kur River passes right through it. As you see I have enlisted all my family members in my blogging so that I have enough pictures to share with you :)

Hope you enjoy! :)

Fog in Quba...

No comments...

Lake in Quba...

Continuing on lake theme...

My sister just came back from Quba, region in north east of Azerbaijan and brought some photos. Here are the photos of a beautiful lake the name of which she and her friends never asked :(

Sometimes I think that if there were no photos and videos how well would one remember places he/she saw, experiences he/she lived...sometimes when I see something very beautiful or I am too excited at some event, there are things that I do not notice, details that I do not catch and later when I look at photos or watch videos not only memories come back but I also notice something new...

Hope you enjoy...

Nohur lake in Qabala

This is "Nohur" lake that we saw on our way to Sheki. It is located in Qabala, another region of Azerbaijan that one passes when travelling to Sheki. Lake is not on the way but if you go a bit deeper towards the mountains this beautiful view opens up in front of you. I heard from people who are originally from Qabala that this is not a natural lake...but in any case it seemed beautiful to me...

I am also posting a photo of a nice house that I saw by the lake. Maybe I am violating the privacy of the owners by posting this photo but the scene looked so nice that I decided to share it with you.

Photo session from Sheki bazaar...II

In Azerbaijan people eat herbs a lot. We just put them on a plate and eat them in combination with cheese, cucumber and other dishes. Might sound wild if you never tried this but actually it brings a lot of flavor and is very healthy.

This is a photo of a woman who is putting bunch of herbs together to be sold at her counter. Size of bunches in Sheki is usually much bigger than in Baku…must be because herbs are in abundance in Sheki…I asked the granny if I could take her photo and she started to praise me without even asking why I was taking the photo and tried to pose…very kind and touching…

This is the picture of the counter…not the best photo I took but hope it conveys the idea…

Have a good day, everyone...

Pickle time!

Pickle time is slowly starting in Azerbaijan. Vine leaves have already been pickled for dolma (will need to write about dolma in future) and other fruits and vegetables also rush to be eaten, pickled and preserved :)

Here is picture I took in Sheki bazaar with jars of pickled, marinated and preserved products for those women who don't have time/desire to do things on their own (few in the regions, many more in the capital :)

Have you ever seen white cucumber? :)

Let me boast of this sort of cucumber but I just know that Sheki people prefer it to green ones :) We, people from Sheki often may find ourselves boasting that white cucumbers grow only in Sheki :) I do not know if this is true but it doesn’t grow anywhere else in Azerbaijan and I am not sure about the rest of the world. Have you ever seen/come across? It would be interesting to know. I don’t know the origin of this sort of cucumber but I just know that Sheki people prefer it as white cucumber’s skin is thinner and more gentle…they prefer to pickle white cucumber instead of green one as well and in general Sheki people go for white cucumber :)

Today I am proud :) to post pictures of Sheki white cucumber :)