Lahic is famous in Azerbaijan for its blacksmiths, whose workshops line the main streets of the Old Town. These were, I thought, a bit oversold and not that exciting.

Much more interesting to me was simply walking the streets and alleys that branch off of the main road and cut into little neighborhoods below and fields above the town.

These are the places I go to meet people, see a bit more of daily life, and escape the crowds of tourists and shops advertising great deals on knickknacks galore.

So if you’re in Azerbaijan, go to Lahic. Take a cursory glance at the blacksmiths shops, sure, but then get out of that central tourist district.

Talk to people, use your silly bad Russian vocabulary to ask about their lives, and share a laugh when you have to look up half the words in a sentence before you can make yourself understood.

Who knows, maybe it’ll be the path to a whole new experience in traveling and way of seeing and contextualizing your experiences.