Azerbaijan: Baku, Ganja, & Sheki

I spent two and a half weeks in Azerbaijan and was able to explore different areas of the country. Unfortunately, while there I got sick and that threw off all of my plans. Thankfully, when I wasn’t feeling super horrible, I was able to make the most of my time in Azerbaijan, as it has a rich history and so many beautiful sights.

After spending many hours in the Budapest airport it was finally time for my flight, which luckily was uneventful. While waiting for the bus into the city, there was a small show of traditional dancing and music. It was a fun welcome to Azerbaijan. Once in Baku, Azerbaijan I headed to my hostel, dropped off my bags and then got lunch. Since I had pulled an all-nighter the night before, I spent the rest of the day relaxing at my hostel. On my first full day in Baku I went on a free walking tour with a girl from my room. Unfortunately the tour wasn’t that great, but we were able to see some of the old city. After the tour we wandered around along the waterfront and then found a festival going on, which we believe was a 100 year celebration for a former leader. There was a bunch of music and traditional dancing there as well as wrestling and a lot of other activities; it was all really cool to see. Since it was super hot out we went for lunch after the festival. We were both exhausted from the heat so we went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the afternoon there. The next morning I woke up sick and in a lot of pain due to tonsillitis, so I spent the rest of the day resting in bed. I hoped the tonsillitis would go away on its own so I didn’t go to the doctor. Unfortunately it did not go away and I spent the rest of the week in bed in constant pain. A few times I did try to get out of the hostel and explore the town a bit, but I was never out for very long before becoming extremely tired and exhausted and I then had to go back to my hostel to rest. It completely sucked not only being sick and in constant pain, but it was made worse by the fact that I was alone and in a hostel. Not only is being sick all alone in a foreign country physically difficult, it is also mentally challenging because there are no comforts of home. Even little things, like finding or making food, is a challenge and it resulted in me not eating for a day and a half. After posting photos on my Instagram story from the beginning of my time in Baku, Esme, who I met back in the Philippines, messaged saying she too was in Baku. So, after a few days of resting and after the pain subsided a little, she and I met for dinner, which was a lot of fun. It was good to see a friendly face and to be able to get out of my hostel. I ended up spending just over a week in Baku due to being so sick and in constant pain. Once I was feeling a tiny bit better I decided to leave the city since I was in desperate need of a change of scenery.

When leaving Baku I wanted to go to a town called Sheki, however when I arrived at the bus station I was told that all of the buses were sold out, so I decided at the last minute to change my plans and I went to Ganja instead. While waiting for my bus to leave I looked up accommodations in Ganja and booked a hostel for the night. The bus ride was really hot and halfway in we had a break where the friendly man next to me translated what the driver had said. Once in Ganja I got a Bolt, a taxi app similar to Uber, to get to my hostel. After resting at my hostel for a short while, the one other girl in my room came back and it turns out she was someone I had met back in Baku. The two of us then got a Bolt and visited a large mosque just outside of town. The outside and garden space was beautiful and after walking around for a little while we got a Bolt back into the city and then went for dinner. Unfortunately my tonsil pain continued to worsen as the day went on and by the evening I could barely speak due to the pain. At dinner I ordered soup and struggled to even eat that. Once back in the room I reached a breaking point after being in constant pain for a week and a half and decided that the next day I was going to go back to Baku and finally see a doctor. Luckily the next morning I woke up feeling a lot better than I did the day before. I decided I was finally on the mend so I stayed in Ganja instead of going back to Baku. I took it pretty easy and relaxed that day, but I did spend some of the day wandering around Ganja and seeing what there was to see. Unfortunately while hanging out in a nice park and calling my parents, a homeless man started harassing me and was being very creepy so eventually, after trying to ignore him, I had to leave the park to get away. While it was a very uncomfortable experience, I do not fault the city or country since that can happen anywhere in the world. Since I still wasn’t feeling well and after the park incident, I headed back to my hostel to rest some more. The next day, while still in Ganja, I did wander around the town some but I kept up a slow and relaxed pace so as not to overexert myself.

After two full days in Ganja I headed to Sheki, another town in Azerbaijan. Sheki is a small mountain town that was on the Silk Road. I really enjoyed my time there. It was a beautiful town with old stone buildings; a Karavansaray, which travelers on the Silk Road stayed at; and a palace. I didn’t have an accommodation booked when I arrived in Sheki so when I showed up I went around to a few different places and eventually found a guesthouse to stay at for the first two nights. I spent the first two days exploring the town, which was a lot of fun. After my first two nights in Sheki I switched accommodations and was able to stay at the Karavansaray for the next two nights. It was really cool staying in an ancient, historic building with a beautiful courtyard in the center. On my third day in Sheki I spent the day as an admin day, catching up on my writing and planning that I had gotten behind on while sick. While I was able to see most everything there is to see in Sheki, I would still love to go back to the town because it was really cute and I loved just walking around the old streets. After Sheki, I headed back to Baku for one day to try and explore some of what I wasn’t able to see while sick and then the next day had a flight to my next country.

While my time in Azerbaijan didn’t go according to plan because I got sick, I enjoyed the little time I had while feeling slightly better. I would love to be able to go back to Azerbaijan again someday to see the country while not sick. It was a beautiful country full of so much history.

“Your attitude toward problems, difficulties, and adversities is the most important factor in overcoming them.”

- Napoleon Hill