Quba

Quba grew where the road along the Caspian meets the valleys of the eastern Caucasus, a crossing point between the lowland and the mountain peoples of the interior. The settlement took its modern importance in the 18th century, when Persian authority in the region weakened and a local dynasty established the Quba khanate, moving its seat here from Khudat on the coastal plain. Under Fatali Khan, who ruled in the second half of the century, Quba extended its power over Derbent, Baku and much of the Caspian shore and became one of the strongest states in the eastern Caucasus.

Mountain Jews, who had long lived in the region, settled in numbers on the far bank of the Gudyalchay under the protection of the khans, and their settlement, now Qırmızı Qəsəbə, grew into the country's largest community of Mountain Jews. The Russian Empire absorbed the khanate early in the 19th century and abolished it, after which Quba settled into the role of a provincial district town living on its orchards, its looms and its market.

The collapse of imperial rule brought violence to the town in 1918, as it did across the region; a mass grave was uncovered in Quba in 2007, and a memorial complex was built over it and opened in 2013. Soviet policy turned the district into a fruit-growing centre, with orchards, canneries and cold stores. Since independence, better roads to Baku, the building of the Shahdag resort and the appeal of the mountain villages have made the town a base for visitors as well as a market centre.

Quba is one of the most mixed towns in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani is the common language, but Tats, who speak an Iranian language, live in villages around the town; Lezgins are numerous towards Qusar; and the Mountain Jews of Qırmızı Qəsəbə speak Juhuri, another Iranian tongue, and keep their synagogues across the river. That the two communities have lived on opposite banks for centuries is a point of local pride, and the bridge between them is as much a social landmark as a practical one.

The town's craft reputation rests on carpets. Quba rugs are one of the classic groups of Caucasian weaving, the town remains a centre of the carpet industry, and looms still work in village houses around the district. Azerbaijani carpet weaving as a whole was recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2010.

Manners follow the conservative pattern of the north-east. Guests are fed first and at length, tea comes before business, elders are deferred to, and modest dress is expected of women in the villages. Novruz in March is the great communal festival, marked with bonfires, sweets and visiting; weddings fill whole streets; and the tea house remains the centre of male social life, where the news of the district is exchanged over long afternoons.

About 47,000 people live in Quba itself, with well over a hundred thousand more in the surrounding district of villages. It is a low town of brick and plastered houses with gardens, apartment blocks towards the highway, a covered market, a bus station and a scatter of hotels built for the traffic heading into the mountains. Qırmızı Qəsəbə, across the river, functions as part of the same town while keeping its own character.

The economy is built on fruit. Quba apples are the best known in Azerbaijan, and the orchards also yield quinces, cherries, plums and walnuts; refrigerated warehouses along the road store the crop for Baku and for export, and canning and juice making follow the season. Carpet weaving, livestock and small trade fill in around it, and tourism — traffic to Khinalug, Laza and the Shahdag slopes — now provides a growing share of the work.

Days begin early with the market and end with long hours in the tea houses. The town swells in summer with families escaping the heat of the capital and with weekend visitors, and again at the harvest, when villages empty into the orchards. As across rural Azerbaijan, younger people leave for Baku or for work abroad, and money sent home supports many households; keeping them in the district is a standing local concern.

Quba eats from its orchards. Apples appear fresh, dried, pressed into juice and above all boiled into mürəbbə, the thick whole-fruit preserve eaten by the spoonful with tea rather than spread on bread; quince, cherry, walnut and cornelian cherry preserves sit beside them on market stalls. Mountain honey, walnuts and hazelnuts come down from the foothills, and lavash, thin flatbread baked on a curved iron sheet, accompanies almost everything.

Meat cooking is that of the mountains. Lamb is grilled over charcoal as kebab or stewed slowly with herbs, and dovğa, a warm yoghurt soup with herbs and rice, is common in households. Xəngəl, boiled dough served with meat and a garlic yoghurt sauce, is eaten across the Caucasus, and qutab — thin folded flatbreads filled with greens, pumpkin or meat — are made everywhere. Sharp sheep's cheese matured in a skin, and fresh curd cheese, come from the high villages, and the Caspian supplies fish such as kutum, often served with narsharab, the sour pomegranate syrup.

Qırmızı Qəsəbə keeps a distinct kitchen, observing Jewish dietary rules with the same regional ingredients. Meals everywhere end with strong black tea in pear-shaped armudu glasses, drunk through a lump of sugar or with a spoon of jam.