Sheki

Sheki is the town most travellers remember longest. Its historic centre earned UNESCO status in 2019, built around the Khan's Palace, whose facade and interiors are filled with shebeke — coloured glass mosaics assembled from thousands of hand-cut wooden pieces without a single nail or drop of glue. Two restored caravanserais still stand on the old Silk Road route, one of them operating as a hotel. Workshops around the bazaar continue silk weaving, copper work and the layered Sheki halva sold warm by the slice. Above the town, the village of Kish holds a church dating to the Caucasian Albanian era. Cool, green and walkable.