72 hours in Sheki

A waypoint on the Old Silk Road, Sheki, in northwest Azerbaijan, is a place of boisterous spice markets, handicraft workshops and heritage architecture.

- Emily Lush

It wasn’t all that long ago that a visitor’s first glimpse of Sheki would be from the back of a camel. Today, it tends to be from the window of a marshrutka, the nostalgic, Soviet-era minivans that trundle almost as laboriously up and down the time-worn trade route between Baku and Tbilisi. Those who prefer a smoother ride can board the direct train from Baku, reaching this ancient city in around seven hours. Sheki’s location roughly halfway between the Azerbaijani and Georgian capitals is your first clue to the city’s historical signifi cance. For as long as a tributary of the Silk Road ran through the South Caucasus, this was a place for merchants to bunk down at stone caravanserais (roadside inns) to sip tea, barter cargo and swap stories. It was this meeting of minds that helped shape Sheki into the diverse, cosmopolitan city it is today.

More than just a thoroughfare, however, Sheki was a major producer of silks in its own right. The art of kelaghayi (silk scarves intricately decorated using wooden stamps dipped in a mix of rosin, paraffin and solid oil) is but one craft tradition in an oeuvre that spans everything from shebeke (stained glass mosaics) to Sheki halva, a saccharine dessert favoured by the locals, who are known for having a sweet tooth.

Visit Sheki to wander Azerbaijan’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site — the historic centre of the city with the Khan’s Palace — and take a hike to see ancient monuments nestled in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains.

DAY ONE : PALACES & PITI