One thing that is nice about being in a conservative, muslim, post-soviet country is that foreigners are easy to spot and you naturally feel affinity for them. The number of people I have talked to in other countries just because we're both blond astounds me. Normally I can't stand having another blond near me in the first world. In any case I met two Britishchers who apparently had some sort of Lonely Planet guide and told me that if we went even further up the hill (towards Dagestan!!!) then we would not only find the Russian border, but also an old castle and an ancient stone city in the hills. Also something to do with Thor Hyderdaal. Or else the guide didn't mention Thor Hyderdaal and therefore you're hearing about his involvement in Azerbaijan from me first.
Yes, Thor Hyderdaal. He was there. There is a plaque of Thor with some quotation about how the Norwegians originally came from Azerbaijan. Now before you get excited (and it's too late to tell that to the Azeris because they are already tres excite), he didn't mean that Norwegians and Azeris are related in any way, shape, or form. With the exception of excessive oil wealth the Norwegians and Azeris share little in common. What I believe Hyderdaal was getting at is that the people who originally lived in the Caucasus, back when it was called "Caucasian Albania" and there was some plausible connection between the region and western civilisation. So, I said no to Baku for one more day and yes to going to Kis, closer to Dagestan (!) and closer to Thor Hyderdaal's legacy.
Kis was a great little spot and definitely capitalising on its status as a tourist hub for Azerbaijan. With the Brits I walked up the river towards where this castle supposedly was and happened to run into a young soldier who--surprise!--wanted our passports. Being suave as I am, I told him no. In so few words. I actually told him I'd be "right back" with the passports which we left in our hotel and that we would totally bring them to him. Totally.
We went about 100m back and found a fairly shallow spot to ford the river from. We followed trails until we found what we assumed was the Russian border because it was a fence with barbed wire. We weren't actually sure where this castle was and whether or not it existed and we knew we couldn't go any further to the left because we would run into the soldiers. I think my most vivid memory of this day is the realisation that I was in a place in my life where I couldn't go somewhere because I would bump into the corrupt soldiers. It was like playing a computer game or something.*
But we found the castle! And not a moment too soon. Do you have any idea how hot it was there? Every step we took uphill may have drained us of energy but it also provided us with a chance of getting to higher grounds, to an Azeri hill station as it were. The castle was nice buty almost entirely run down and once again I reflected how how long it would have taken to haul all that stone up there. It would have taken so long. And once you have a castle, so what? You can't move it, so people can just go around you. Certainly when your castle is way up in the middle of nowhere and impossible to find. Anyway, no surprises for me that this castle was abandoned and a note to prospective feudalists about the importance of location.
*No joke about these soldiers. What were they doing out in the woods? Azerbaijan is fairly friendly with Russia and there are no Armenians in this part so I have really no idea what the soliders were doing there except taking bribes from men on donkeys (which is something we saw happen before he attempted to extort us).
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