The Wheels on the Bus

The road to Ganja was foggy most of the way until we passed well beyond Agstafa and could see rows of mountains over fields of nothing.  The terrain reminded me of the Gobi as we passed through Mongolia.  Fields of cattle and sheep dotted the countryside, as mountains rose and fell along the way.  As we arrived in Ganja after a 3 hour ride or so, the driver's helper came back to ask if we wanted to be dropped in the town center.  Responding affirmatively, we expected to see the main town square, along with other landmarks mentioned in our travel book that would tell us we have arrived in the correct place.  Of course he dropped us nowhere near the center of town, but on the outskirts of everything, over a mile hike to the park we wanted to see.  We headed out and were asked if we needed help several times.  Problem way, the people who wanted to help were not so helpful.  They kept pointing and grunting us in the wrong direction, could not read a map to even begin to tell us where we were, and just kept insisting we take a taxi.  We finally arrived at the town square...Heydar Aliev Square I believe.   After some quick investigation, we decided to stay the overnight in a small town nearby called Xanlar.  It was founded by Germans a long time ago as a wine making village.  The vineyards and winery remain to this day.  The hotel is a wreck, but home is where the heat is, and there is at least a heater going full tilt in the corner.  The Internet in Xanlar turned out to be an overstatement, since it was too slow to even do email with.   The shamed Internet Cafe employee would not even charge me for the visit.