Today we started early, leaving the Caspian Sea and metropolitan Baku, to head up into the mountains of Azerbaijan. Traffic is bad in Baku, because they do not have enough public transport (sound familiar Adelaide?!), so heading off early helped us get out of town quicker.
It’s always nice to get out of the city, and as soon as the fields and cattle arrived, I think everyone felt a bit happier! Our first stop was at the Diri Baba mausoleum is a unique monument, a two-storeyed mausoleum-mosque dating back to the 15th century, located opposite an ancient cemetery. Legends say that a Sufi Mystic named Sheikh Muhammad died in prostration during prayer, and his body remained uncorrupted for 300 years. It is a place of pilgrimage and a place for meditation.
We then continued through the hills on our way to the village of Lahic. On our way, we got completely distracted by some amazing street food (the same as we made in Baku, but MUCH better)!
And it seems that the distractions on the way up to Lahic continued. Once we were further into the mountains, we stopped by a mob of sheep and some nomadic hearders. They had dogs, so we did not come too close, but we could hear the old man waving and yelling at us. Our local guide told us that he was calling us closer, and next minute, we are in his field, amongst his sheep, sharing hand made sheep’s milk cheese and freshly made bread with his wife and children. I’m quite sure they thought we were absolutely mad. Our guide bought a bag of cheese (probably over a kilo), so at the very least, we gave them a small cash injection, they gave us fresh mountain air, amazing cheese and the opportunity to have a small experience as to their way of life.
They are certainly odd looking sheep! For my farming family members, perhaps you can explain to me what is going on with their back-ends here as well?!
So with more cheese than we are ever going to be able to consume, we headed further up the mountains to Lahic.
Lahic is an ancient town, over 2,000 years old, with just over 800 people living in it. They speak their own language, which is a mix of Azerbaijanian and Farsi and are best known for their arts and crafts and in particular their copper making. We stopped for some mountain tea and to pick up some crafts, before heading off to our next destination that we will explore tomorrow, the city of Sheki.
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