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Published: October 2nd 2008
On the bridge
but a bit wet!Quba (pronounced Guba) is a small town in the North of Azerbaijan in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. It was a nice place for our first trip out of Baku.
On Thursday afternoon it was decided that Monday would be a public holiday. This made for a 5 day weekend as Tuesday and Wednesday were already holidays for
Eid al Fitr, the end of Ramadan. It was too good an opportunity to miss so we decided to make a trip of it with a couple of other teachers, Gunther and Michael.
We left Baku on Sunday morning. It was very wet and miserable so we were pleased to be getting out of the city. Gunther became our guide on the bus and metro of Baku and our translator once we got to the correct bus station. We were soon on a bus quite reminiscent of Bolivian buses (!) and on our way for the 4 hour journey to Quba. The reason it takes so long (it’s only 160km) is the state of the roads which are being completely rebuilt at the moment. Still, it gave us the opportunity to speak to some Azeris along the way as there
were a few men sat near us who spoke English.
Once in Quba we made our way to the
Hotel Oskar which had been kindly booked for us by a local guide who Gunther had been in contact with. A stuffed bear sits bizarrely at the top of the stairs staring out over the courtyard. The hotel was clean and comfortable so we were happy enough.
During the afternoon we set out to explore Quba. A good landmark for us was the horse statue on the nearby roundabout. From here we wound our way up the network of streets towards the centre. We saw the Ardebil Mosque which is housed in a converted church and the rather grander Juma Mosque sporting its new minaret. Near the Juma was a large open square which reminded us of many South American cities. The floor was littered with conkers (horse chestnuts), proof that summer has passed into autumn.
Some of the architecture of the traditional houses was very nice, but some other buildings are in desperate need of a bit of TLC. One such building is the Old Beehive Hamman which, according to our guidebook, was supposed to become a
Conkers
Horse chestnuts lay on the ground all over the place Tourist Information Centre. This has never happened and doesn’t look likely in the near future!!
Next we found ourselves at Nizami Park. It was a real shame it was raining as that stopped us sitting out at the tables for a cup of tea. The centrepiece of the park is the chess club. This strange building is shaped like a castle and decorated in mosaic forms of chess boards and pieces. We wonder if Gary Kasparov ever played there!
Descending the steps at the far side of the park we were greeted by several statues of athletes. It’s not certain exactly what these represent but we guess the Olympic spirit was a major influence. At the foot of the steps is a bridge over the river which took us across to Quba’s twin town of Krasnaya Sloboda.
Krasnaya is strange in that it is a Jewish settlement in the heart of a Muslim country. Azerbaijan has been tolerant of religious practices through the ages and Jews have not been persecuted here whilst the country has been independent. Under Soviet rule it was a different matter.
The first monument we saw was a Soviet War Memorial. This
sits directly opposite the
Palace of Happiness where couples would get married in Soviet times. As we wandered around a man invited us into his home. He wanted to sell us some carpets! They were nice but we were not in a buying frame of mind. Instead we gave him a few minutes of our time before saying our farewells and continuing our exploration. The trussed up (but live) chickens bleeding on the floor combined with the unusual smell did nothing for our willingness to buy!!!
Set back towards the river from the main road is the Grand Synagogue. It was much bigger than we had imagined but didn’t seem open to visitors so we just looked on from the street. From there we climbed up the hill towards the cemeteries. On the way we stopped off to try to find the headless statue of Lenin mentioned in our guidebook. It seems he has long since been destroyed so our search was in vain.
On top of the hill we found the gates to the old cemetery locked. Luckily it was secured only with a twig so we decided to have a wander around inside. It is in
a beautiful location commanding a fine view over the two twin towns. Some of the graves were old and others were so new that their plaques hadn’t yet been uncovered.
From there we began to make our way back to the river. On the way we saw orchards of apple and pomegranate. We even picked some cherries off a tree growing at the side of the road. They were delicious and evidently not poisonous!!!
We crossed the bridge, guarded by statuesque lions, and returned to the hotel. In the evening we found very little to do. The choice of restaurants was limited to say the least. We ate some local cuisine in the
Chinar Kafe. It was delicious but the choice was puree (mashed potatoes) or rice. We opted for the former only to be told there was none so we had to have rice! There was no choice of meat and we are far from certain what was actually served. It was very tasty though!!
After eating we went into a Turkish “restaurant” near the hotel. There we had some tea and some Quba baklava. Anyone who has ever had desert in Turkey or Greece will
A colourful flower
But what on earth was this doing near the main town square? know about baklava. This was more like a cake though and deliciously semi-sweet. It was a great way to finish the day.
The next morning we set out on our pre-arranged tour to Xinaliq. That’s for the next blog entry though. On our return to Quba we stayed another night in the Oskar and ate again in the Chinar. Our return to Baku was by taxi as the weather was bad. The closer to Baku we got, the worse it became, and we were pleased to have paid the extra for door-to-door service.
That evening the four of us went to a small Georgian restaurant not far from our apartment. Dangerously close in fact! The food was amazing: a cheesy pizza type of starter followed by the Georgian version of wanton or dumplings dipped in a spicy tomato sauce. We washed it down with a couple of carafes of Georgian wine which made a fabulous end to an extra-long weekend.
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Baruh
non-member comment
the favorite Grand Synagoge
Grand Synagoge in russian it is Six domes synagoge, it was build in 19 century. In the Past in Little Jerusalem this is another name of Krasnaya Sloboda, there were 13-teen synagoges. I am the mountain Jew, I live in Baku, however my grandfathers and grandmothers from Krasnaya Sloboda, I am proud that I am from Quba, and we are the evidence of the Old Jewish People from Israel))) Thank you for visiting the Little Jerusalem)))