Many come to New Athos in Abkhazia, visit a monastery, a former railway platform and an artificial waterfall, well, even the New Athos cave. But New Athos has an incredibly rich history and in the early Middle Ages it was called Anakopia (anakop is a ledge in Abkhazian, the New Athos mountains, if you look at them from the air, resemble a ledge). Did you know that this very Anakopia in that very early Middle Ages was the capital of Abkhazia!
If he passes through the New Athos cave (or climbs) along the road above, then you will arrive at the entrance to the territory of the Anakopia fortress. You still need to get to the fortress itself, it is located on the top of Anakopia Mountain. It was formed in the 5th century AD, built of hewn stone. A wide and comfortable path leads to the very top.
On the way you can meet minks. These small animals run from mink to mink and if they stop for a long time and do not make sounds, they allow themselves to be photographed.
The first on the way is the old tower. It can be seen that they tried to reconstruct it, they came up with the idea to put the remaining parts of the internal structures on metal sleepers like this. The bridge to the tower, although it looks fragile, is quite reliable.
Ceiling in the tower of the Anakopia fortress Ceiling in the tower of the Anakopia fortress
We rise further along the path and along the way we see a lot of old walls
From here there is a stunning view of the sea and coastal houses:
Simply beauty!
Further, the road goes higher and higher, and along the way, more and more remains of the old walls and more and more beautiful views open up:
And having risen to the top, we see these ancient walls. Above the fortress rises a tower, seemingly modern.
The tower is really modern, it is a reconstruction of an old destroyed tower, from which only one wall remained. In 2008, the new tower opened its doors to tourists.
From its top, a stunning view of New Athos, river valleys, the sea and the New Athos #monastery opens up. You can read about ithere.
Panorama of the view from the top of the Anakopia Tower Panorama of the view from the top of the Anakopia Tower
Also consider from above the fortress itself:
In the fortress there is an ancient Christian temple of the 7th century AD in a dilapidated state. From the walls that remain, one can judge its size and shape.
Inside the ancient temple, monks from New Athos built a chapel at the beginning of the 20th century. The chapel contains a copy of the icon of the Iberian Mother of God, which is considered the protector of the mountain and the fortress.
There is a legend that when in the VI century the enemies attacked the fortress, then after a while the enemy suddenly had a stomach ailment and in a few days this unknown disease struck more than 30 thousand people.
On the territory of the fortress there is an inexhaustible well. A legendary place for which thousands of pilgrims come here. Again, when the enemies attacked the fortress, this spring allowed the warriors in the fortress to quench their thirst. And this source is still active! In general, it is considered a “miracle”, because the fortress is located on a mountain, and the source has not dried up for so many centuries and is still full of water.
Let’s take a walk around the fortress:
Chat with a local:
Many more interesting things in our Zen:
Medieval church of the 10th century. Let’s see what’s left of her.
Bogatyrsky caves. Wild caves in the Krasnodar Territory
Mount Klementieva. Stunning views of Koktebel and a unique location
Suspension bridge over the mountain river Belaya in Adygea
Gorges «Wolf» and «Bear Gates». Interesting one day itinerary