“I travel to feel the ancient intangibles and hear the whispers of history.”
– Elise Abeth
One of Nakhchivan’s great highlights is the magnificent view from the medieval ruins of Alinja Castle. It is sometimes nicknamed as “Azerbaijan’s Machu Picchu” or the “Machu Picchu of the Caucasus”. It is though a bold comparison but indeed there are several similarities to that of Machu Picchu in Peru.
This is the ruins of an ancient castle in Nakhchivan dated back to the 6th-8th centuries, it is located at the mountain slope, rising up to the top in a stepped form. It was the strongest & biggest fortresses in the Middle Ages that time. Also it was the residence of the Atabey (Atabeks) dynasty of Azerbaijan (in 1136-1225). The fortress is used as a safe haven for the family of the ruler and as a repository of the state treasury. This was one of the most powerful defensive structures in Azerbaijan’s history.
Now this site is a recent reconstruction of the former fortress used by Nakhchivan’s various ruling dynasties of the Middle Ages, they were the Atabeys, Safavids and Seljuks. Indeed the castle have many conquerors in history; so it was destroyed and rebuilt for several times.
If you like hiking then visiting Alinja fortress is your thing. It has approximately 2,000+ steps climbing up to the mountain top. For more photos to see click: THE RUINS OF ALINJA CASTLE WITH SNOW ON SPRING from my Instagram. In the year of my visit (2019) I think it was far less discovered, so there’s no need for pre-booking. It was indeed, that the place didn’t have much tourists. That day I was the only person on top of the mountain watching the ruins – of course except with my guide. 🙂 Truly a beautiful place, though that time it was covered with snow.
Below the Alinja castle near the highway is the museum named “ƏLİNCƏQALA” TARİX-MƏDƏNİYYƏT MUZEYİ”. After climbing to Alinja ruins and back, I visited their museum too. The very good thing there which I’m very much impressed was that there’s no entrance fee and tourists were allowed to touch the objects displayed in the museum. I don’t know if it is still the same today.
Inside the museum, I was also very pleased and amazed with these kids with me in the photo below. These three siblings are very friendly indeed. This boy beside me at my right approached me first, said ‘hello’ and asked where I came from. Then these three kiddos all came to me and we had our photos. I really appreciate them – very much and to their parents as well. Thank you – a lot – for your hospitality! Your kindness really made my travel at Alinja so meaningful and beautiful. Truly people are the best to see that made my travel memorable and a treasured moments forever. ♥
Early in the morning about 5am, I leave my hostel in Baku and went to the airport to go to Nakhchivan region alone. My departure from Baku at 8am then reached Nakhchivan approximately by 9:30am. There in Nakhchivan’s airport where I met Natig from Nakhchivan Travel, he is so nice and was my guide for that day. You can check them here at Nakhchivan Travel.
To get from Nakhchivan airport to Alinja Fortress, you need to drive approximately 30 km (or 30 minutes) and walk about 2 km by stairs of about 2,000+ steps. The fortress is located at the top of Alinja mountain in Julfa region.
More reads at 4 A MUST PLACES TO VISIT ON A DAY TRIP IN NAKHCHIVAN (to be published soon). Please keep posted for more blogs from my travel to Nakhchivan and Baku coming up.
Written: 31st of October 2022; Edited: 16th of December 2022; Posted: 17th of August 2023…
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