Ordubad

Ordubad is the best-preserved historic town in the exclave, laid out in mahallas - walled quarters each with its own mosque, spring and square - in a valley of orchards where the mountains come down to the Araz. Water runs through the streets in open channels, the squares are shaded by very large plane trees, and the buildings are stone and brick with high blank walls to the lanes and gardens behind. The Juma mosque, the Gaysariyya covered market and a former madrasa are the main monuments, but the town as a whole is the point.

History

The name, from the Turkic ordu, army, and the Persian bad, town, suggests a foundation in Mongol or Ilkhanid times, and in the mid-14th century the historian Hamdallah Mustawfi described Ordubad as one of the five towns of the tumen of Nakhchivan, with fine gardens and good grapes, corn and cotton. It was an important stop on the caravan routes of the Silk Road, first built as a fortified town on the Ambaras height on the left bank of the Ordubadchay in the 15th century, and as trade grew new quarters spread across the right bank, where trading centres were set up in the 17th and 18th centuries (Wikipedia, Ordubad).

What you'll find

• The mahalla quarters - walled neighbourhoods each with a mosque, spring and shaded square.
• The plane trees - very old trees shading the main squares.
• The Gaysariyya - a domed brick market building from the seventeenth century.
• The water channels - open irrigation running through the streets and into the orchards.

When to go

April to June and September to October are the comfortable seasons, and autumn brings the fruit harvest the valley is known for. Summer is hot in the valley bottom. Winter is cold and quiet.

Before you go

Many of the historic buildings are closed or in use as something else and cannot be entered. The town is quiet to the point of empty on some days. Reaching it means the long valley road from Nakhchivan city, and there is little accommodation.

Nearby

Alinja Castle is west along the valley, and the Ilandag peak is visible from the road between them.

Key facts