Hi Mike, Jake, and Eli!  How do you like Gala?

I think they think it’s pretty cool.

We got to feed a horse,

And pet a camel (be careful they spit),

And stand in a teepee made of sheepskins.

Ew!  It stinks in here!

Gala is an “ethnographical museum,” a re-created ancient Azeri village about 45 minutes outside of Baku.  We took a scenic route to get here, through some rustic towns that were filled with dusty shops selling used car tires.

Baku is very much an oasis in the middle of a desert.  Once you leave the city lights and the piped-in irrigation there is just a lot of dust!  It is good to leave the city, though, to remember that the Azerbaijan we live in is not real for most Azerbaijanis.  We bought some gala apples to eat along the way.  We thought we were pretty funny.

We were able to climb to the top of this cool spiral staircase:

Hi Daddy!

We walked through a typical Azeri village home, full of the carpets that make this part of the world famous.

The samovars and other dishes are “old,” but actually look exactly the same as the ones in use today:

These ancient clay vessels lying under the trees are used for bathing and for carrying water.  Copper versions of these are what they use to rinse us off when we visit the hamam.

Our biggest motivation in visiting Gala was to cross the last place off our list, now that the end of our chapter in Azerbaijan is drawing near.  We did it today!  It is almost time to start looking forward to what is coming next.