The 165 km trip from Baku will take you about 2-2.5 hours. The road leading there, hugs the seaside for the majority of the journey, but the scenery is less than spectacular. Guba is located on the north-eastern flanks of hills of the Shahdag mountain belonging to the Greater Caucasus Mountains at the altitude of 600 m above sea level on the bank of Gudial River. With 30,000 population, Guba is the main town of northern Azerbaijan. It serves as a trade center for people living in the mountains near there and hosts some tourists from Baku on weekends. Its only distinguishing feature is the post-Soviet-era Bet Knesset Synagogue, a sign that this town is the center of Azerbaijan’s small Jewish population. Famous for carpets and apple orchards, the low-key town of Guba sits on a cliff top. It was founded in the 18th century as the new capital of local potentate Fatali Khan but rapidly became a quiet provincial backwater once the khanate had been absorbed into the Russian Empire (1806). A fair scattering of modestly historic buildings remain from that period and today Guba’s wooded hinterland is becoming a popular spot for Baku weekenders, thanks to its distant horizon of snow-topped mountains and a comparatively cool summer climate.
Sights – Guba is quite well preserved and still bears a lot of architectural marks left by the Russians. Besides numerous interesting facades, the town is famous for such architectural landmarks of the 19-th century, as the octagonal Juma-Mosque (Friday mosque), the Mosque of Sakine-Khanum, the Ardabil-Mosque (formerly a church!), and the baths with their two domes.
There’s a little History Museum but the main attraction in Guba is just wandering its orderly grid of quiet leafy streets and admiring the 19th-century Russian houses and distinctive mosques, notably the colourful Haci Cafar Mosque and the unique, octagonal Juma Mosque with its distinctively pointy metallic dome. Notice also the decrepit century-old Gunbazli hamam with its big beehive dome.
At the time Guba was visited by the famous French writer Alexander Dumas, writer Bestuzhev – Marlinskiy, the famous Norwegian scientist and traveler Thor Heyerdahl.
You can see Guba’s famous carpets being made at Gadim Guba, which also has a delightful boutique selling them along with handicrafts and pakhlava (alternating layers of chopped nuts and white, stringy, fried pastry, all saturated in a sickly sweet syrup).
KRASNAYA SLOBADA
One thing of interest, though, is the Jewish settlement of Krasnaya Sloboda. A long flight of steps lined with statues of Adonis-like Soviet youth leads down to the old bridge, which links Guba to the town of Krasnaya Sloboda, home to a unique Jewish community with two active synagogues. It’s on the northern bank of the gorge of the Kudyal River, just facing its sibling city, Guba. This Jewish settlement of Guba has been inhabited by Jews since the 13th century. In 1742, a local ruler named Falikhan gave the Jews, who were being persecuted by Islamic fundamentalists, permission to settle on the left bank of the mountain river Kudiyal-Chay opposite his town. It’s strange to walk around the village and have locals say the Hebrew “Shalom” instead of “Salaam”. Everywhere there are the Star of David, and even a couple of working Synagogues. You can hike up to the Jewish cemetery on the hill overlooking the twin cities and watched the marvelous panorama.
KHINALIG
There is a unique mountainous Khinalig village at the territory of this district which located at the altitude of 2500 meters above sea level. The population of the village is a separate ethnographic group with its only language which no one else in the world speaks. The village of Khinalig is an ancient settlement, going back to the Caucasian Albanian period. Khinalig is the highest, most remote and isolated village in Azerbaijan. So remote, in fact, that they have their own language which has no relation to Azeri or Russian.
An undisputed highlight of all Azerbaijan, this fabled mountain village speaks directly to the soul. Its timeless stone houses are often wrapped in spooky clouds, giving it a haunted medieval feel. Then, when the clouds lift, you realize that you’re perched on a mountaintop with stunning 360-degree views of the Caucasus.
Khinalig’s hardy shepherd folk have their own distinct language (Ketsh) and still live much of their lives on horseback. Nowhere in Azerbaijan offers a more fascinating glimpse of mountain life nor a better opportunity for inspirational hiking. The village is amazing. Perched on a hill, surrounded by peaks. The traditional homes are all still stone. However, you should hurry to get here. A new road was built in 2006, tourists are starting to discover this gem and already some homes are starting to sprout corrugated metal roofs.
But life, for the time being remains simple. The majority of people are herders. Sheep, cows and goats make their way to the pastures in the morning, only to return by evening. Even after centuries of isolation, the people are remarkably open to visitor. There are no hotels, so the only place to stay is with a local family in a homestay. There is really not much to do but watch the people watch you. Wandering around the village, it is assured that you’ll collect a group of curious children.
Apart from examining the one-room museum and gazing at the hypnotic views, Khinalig’s most popular tourist activity is hiking to ateshgah, a small ever-burning natural fire-vent. The walk takes about two hours (towards Laza then up a side valley) but finding the site without help is pretty much impossible.
View and scenery alone are certainly enough of a reason to come.
