The hook
An old Silk Road town in the green foothills of the Greater Caucasus, home to a small summer palace whose windows are filled with intricate coloured glass lattices assembled without nails or glue.
01Why it's worth it
Sheki sits prettily in the wooded foothills of the Caucasus in Azerbaijan's northwest, an old centre of silk and trade with a gentler, more mountainous feel than the Caspian lowlands. Its jewel is the Palace of the Sheki Khans, a modest-sized 18th-century summer residence whose interior and façade are lavishly painted, and whose windows are glazed with shebeke, a traditional craft of coloured glass fitted into wooden lattices piece by piece with no nails or glue, casting jewelled light inside. You can watch artisans still making it in the town. Sheki also has a grand stone caravanserai where travellers once lodged and where you can still stay, atmospheric lanes, and a distinctive local cuisine, including a famous layered halva. Surrounded by green hills and villages, it is a relaxed, characterful stop and a base for the mountain country nearby.
02How to experience it
See the Khans' Palace for the painted rooms and shebeke windows, and visit a workshop where the coloured-glass lattices are still made. Stay or at least look inside the old caravanserai, try the Sheki halva, and wander the town. It pairs with the Caucasus foothill villages nearby.