Zaqatala

Zaqatala sits where the Greater Caucasus meets the plain in the far northwest, in country given over almost entirely to hazelnuts and walnuts. The central square is shaded by two plane trees of great age and size, one of them hollow enough to have been used as a shop. Above the town stands a Russian fortress from the 1830s with its walls and gate largely intact. The population is mixed - Azerbaijani, Avar, Tsakhur and Georgian-speaking communities all live in the district - and the market reflects it.

History

The territory of Zaqatala was once a province of Caucasian Albania, then part of a kingdom within the Georgian cultural sphere, and in the Middle Ages the region later called Saingilo was mostly held by Georgia and Shirvan, with seven Georgian schools teaching theology, philosophy and history. The town gained city status in 1840, its main square keeps a pair of plane trees some 700 years old, and the fortress above it was built by Russian forces in the 1830s (Wikipedia, Zaqatala - city).

What's there

• The plane trees - two vast old trees on the central square, one hollow at the base.
• The fortress - a nineteenth-century Russian fort above the town, walls and gate standing.
• The market - hazelnuts, walnuts, honey and mountain cheese, strongest in autumn.
• The foothill villages - Car and others in the valleys above, with stone houses and old mosques.

When to go

April to October is the comfortable season. Autumn is the hazelnut and walnut harvest and the best time for the market and the colour. Winter is wet and the mountain roads above the town become difficult.

Things to know

The town itself is modest and a day covers it. The fortress is unrestored and partly overgrown, with limited interpretation. Rain in this corner of the country is heavy and frequent, and the foothill road can be slow.

Nearby

Ilisu and Qakh are east along the foothills, and the Georgian border crossing is west.

Key facts