Hey there! 🤙
• It's time for another story of my trip, of me, a german backpacker and hitchhiker in Iran, for more info, check out my introduction post! :)
» My next stop in Iran after Tabriz was a trip to the Alamut region with some friends I met.
The Alamut protected area lies in the northern part of the "Qazvin" region, which is located in the north-west of Iran. We drove a few hours into the mountains of this picturesque area, where we stayed in a small house.
On the way we passed the Taleghani lake. It looks so "made" but of course it's natural. I find that these strict segments look very unique.
Another thing I found especially interesting was the texture of rocks and nature generally in this region, I mean look at it ?!!
This canyon especially.
And these rock "sheets"!!
We continued further up and got to appreciate amazing views from there.
One of the main attractions of the region is the Alamut castle (also Hassan-Sabah castle) - or what's left of it. It was located on this rock and built around the year 1056.
It was the headquarters of the "Ismaili cult", better known as the "Assassin's cult" - yes, the original, actual Assassins! I didn't know that they used to be a real formation with a very real influence on the greater area's politics and even some events on the European continent. In it's time, the castle was home to the greatest library in the area and even laboratories for scientists, who could research freely there.
With the brutal Mongolian conquest around 200 years later, the castle was mostly destroyed and today, little is left of it.
(My friends on that trip)
The view on the town below from the rock.
We went even higher up towards the high mountain passes.
Passing more beautiful views, valleys and waterfalls.
At some point it started snowing - from there we couldn't continue much further with our car.
Again, sometimes the sudden differences and sections that nature creates here just look surreal.
And once we got down to the usual altitude, things looked different again.
Ovan lake is another attraction of this area, it's just really nice to see, with a small village at it's side.
The drive to Qazvin city after 2 days rewarded us with some last epic views
This was truly an amazing trip and shows some (only some!) of the beauty of northern Iran.
» Hope you enjoyed the read and the pictures.
Cheers, Alban 🤙
Ps: (I left out the part where our perception of that incredible nature was enhanced through some substances but you can imagine xD)
(All pictures were taken by me with the Google Pixel 5)
Pinmapple:
[//]:# (!pinmapple 36.446443 lat 50.587030 long Alamut castle and region d3scr)
