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Published: December 13th 2008
The
Hotel Qala was such a comfortable place. We all slept well and ate a good Azeri breakfast consisting of bread (lots of it), jam, cheese and eggs washed down with more than enough tea. Then it was time for our excursion. We had arranged for a taxi for the day courtesy of the hotel manager. Our driver turned out to be his cousin and we were to travel in the relative luxury of his Mercedes. Very nice!
First of all we headed out of foggy Lankaran and into the Talish mountains. We hadn't travelled too far from the coast when the sun started to break through the clouds. We stopped at a
cayxana but there was no tea available as it was closed for the winter. Alongside it were some steps which took us down through a very autumnal scene to the river. The water was very cold but apparently in the summer it is a swimming spot. Maybe we'll come back and try it one day as it was a beautiful place.
A little further up the hill, now in bright sunshine, we stopped at the Babagil shrine. The graves there were very neatly maintained and the shrine
itself looks like a small mosque. At the back, quite bizarrely, we were shown the slaughter house! This was about to come into its own as the festival of
Gurban Bayram was upon us. This commemorates the biblical event when Abraham sacrificed a ram in lieu of his son Ismail (Isaac) and everyone is supposed to do this, giving meat to the poor and needy. Fortunately we were too early to witness the slaughter!
Before long we caught our first glimpse of Lerik, a small town perched on top of a hill. The views as we climbed were fantastic. Once we got there we left our driver drinking tea and went off to explore. There's not too much to see in Lerik right now, but the fresh air and the views are marvellous. There are one or two statues around, but the main ones in the central square have all disappeared due to a large reconstruction project. We climbed the steep stairway to get a great view over the surrounding hills. Back in town we joined our driver for tea and watched him play dominoes with some of the locals.
Our next stop was for lunch. We returned
to Lankaran then drove South before heading towards Lake Xanbulan. Lunch was good, if a little expensive, and we ate kebabs, salad, various dips and lots of fruit. We also drank a locally made fruit juice which was most pleasant even though we have no idea what it really was!! From there we went up to the lake which was truly beautiful. In the spring and summer it must be a terrific location for a picnic and we hope to come back to do just that.
Our final destination of the day was the border town of Astara where we hoped to get a glimpse of Iran. Our driver took us as close as he wanted to go then we walked down to the pedestrian border crossing. Hidden behind an unmarked grey gate it would be easy to miss. The Azerbaijan guards were happy for us to go a little way beyond their checkpoint but they wouldn't allow us around the corner to see their Iranian counterparts - spoilsports!! Michael tried to take some photos but lots of gesticulating and shouting from the guards put paid to that idea! Close to the border is a narrow street with some
kebab stalls vying for business. We didn't eat but everyone was really friendly and we ended up taking photos of some of our newfound friends.
From Astara we headed back to Lankaran and were taken to an extraordinary monument on the outskirts of town. Lankaran is famous for its tea and the monument to this is a giant samovar and some small statues in a little park. It was a bit bizarre, as was the faux-castle over the road which housed nothing. It just seemed to be a fancy facade hiding the local army garrison!
It had been a long day and we were all very tired. The Turkish restaurant in the centre provided us with some hearty lentil soup. There's no nightlife at all to speak of and we didn't even frequent the bar for our final night! We must have been tired!!
Rather than travel by train, or even by bus, we decided to hire a taxi back to Baku. Between four of us the price wasn't bad and once again it was a cousin of the hotel manager who was to be our driver. He was busy slaughtering a sheep or something though, so
we had a bit of time to explore the bits of Lankaran we had missed. That included a few more statues and the abandoned fairground with its rusting old Big Wheel. An intriguing sight!!!
The trip back to Baku took about 4 hours including a stop for tea. The scenery wasn't thrilling and at times it was like being back on the endless plains of Patagonia. On the way we saw a marvellous array of fruit sellers by the road, plus many people selling fish and some sort of chicken. We didn't stop to buy though as I can't imagine travelling for hours with fresh fish in the car!! The big bonus was being dropped off back in Bayil and not having to make our way back from the bus station.
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sevda
non-member comment
wonderful
can't help expressing my admiration, really wonderful.