Above: My overpriced lunch.
Today I move on to Sheki in the north-west of the country. I left my Baku hotel before 0800, storing my main bag with them, and found a quiet street where I could order a Bolt car to the bus station.
The ride was too cheap for the 25 min ride in traffic, at AZN2.80 (about the same NZD) so I added a small tip.
The station is built on top of a mall and there appeared to be no pedestrian entry apart from the one that would take you through a couple of shopping levels. Everyone else walked up the bus ramp to the ticketing and departure level so I did the same.
After being misdirected, I purchased my bus ticket for the 0950 bus to Sheki. I had just over an hour till departure but less as the boarding time appeared to be 30 mins prior. I explored the mall beneath and it wasn’t exactly a happening place with many stores empty.
Back on the departure level, I couldn’t help think that the station had very little indoor waiting area for a city that can be freezing in winter. I saw a mashrutka (van) bound for Sheki but I’ve sometimes have to wait forever for them to fill and then they get very cramped inside.
The bus was there and waiting well before departure time so I boarded. The bus was old and probably not as nice as the ones we had in Turkey 30 years ago. We left about 10 mins late and there were three checks on board to ensure we had just the right number of passengers. But just as we left the station, we stopped to pick up extras.
Surprisingly, the motorway took us straight into the countryside even though the station was in a busy part of the city fringe. It was quite a contrast to see old Volgas cruising on the motorway along side expensive cars like Range Rovers. I think the discrepancy in wealth in quite pronounced in this country.
The bus made a lunch-stop around 1230. Not many people made use of the opportunity. As I sat down, I ordered a lamb kebab (which turned out to be tiny). Lots of side dishes were put down and I sent a couple back. I had a bad feel but hadn’t asked the price. It came to a whopping AZN25 which is nearly 3x the price of a better meal at the working men’s restaurant back in Baku. Lesson learnt.
Back on the bus, I felt dozy. As I came to the scenery was green with reeds. It turned dry and dusty again before we reached Sheki around 1530.
I took a short taxi ride to my hotel, the Panorama. If I had arrived by train, it would have been a 17km ride from the train station.
Sheki is surrounded by green wooded hills and my hotel is tucked up on one of them. It was highly rated but had concerns about the location when I booked. Yeah, it is far away from eateries despite the owner saying there were restaurants everywhere. Five minutes away, he said, but it was more like 20 mins walk downhill and more uphill. It seemed like even more of a mistake now, that I’m staying three nights instead of two … but the consolation is that it’s really only two full days instead of one.
The location isn’t so bad once I was reminded that the main sight, the Khan Palace isn’t in the town centre but on an adjacent hill.
The weather was cool and cloudy. I had one of my few rare down moments, perhaps due to the weather, my change of plan being a mistake and being cheated over lunch.
Around 1730, I walked down to town in search for dinner. On the route to town, there were hardly any restaurants but lots of sweet shops. In town, I saw a couple of kebab takeaways and bookmarked them in my brain for later.
When I was ready to eat, I went to one of the kabab shops to find it closed. The second was just finishing up with enough meat for the customer in front of me in the queue. Bloody hell!
I settled for a mince and cheese pide in a nice garden restaurant priced at AZN3.50. At the end, the waiter said it was AZN5. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and just paid. After walking away, I recalled that I had used Google Translate on the board menu outside so I wouldn’t have made a mistake. Then I remembered there was something like a 15% service charge, so didn’t feel too cheated. It’s been a while since I’ve travelled in parts like this and I’m losing my vigilance.