Sheki is a world heritage listed town. It is 300km from Baku, and the scenery changes dramatically driving up into the mountains. There is a fortress, a summer and winter palace, two caravanserais and many old buildings dating back centuries.

We spent the day searching firstly for the Winter Palace, and after an hour of wandering the back streets of the old town, we gave up and headed for the Fortress. There’s lots of restoration work going on so unfortunately a number of the buildings including the glass workshop and the folk museum were closed. However a glass craftsman had set up an outdoor stall to show us how it was made. The windows in both palaces have lots of stained glass, but it’s surrounded by wooden joins, not lead. Amazing! (No pictures allowed inside the palace)

My favourite place was the Artists workshop and gallery, a recent project to keep the old crafts going. The ceramic tiles on the outside of the building were gorgeous.

The upper caravanseray was also impressive. Seki was a stop along one of the silk routes across Eurasia. Parts have been restored and you can stay there, but you just have to turn up and hope there is a room…a bit like in the old days I guess!

Our hotel was very interesting, full of carpets, decorations and a couple of chandeliers in the courtyard.