Baltit Fort is the most famous tourist attraction in the Hunza Valley. It is one of the most decorated and well equipped historical sites I have ever seen. Though many ancient sites in Pakistan would exceed in importance like the Mohan Jo Daro city or Taxila city but their artefacts have been shifted to different museums. Baltit, however, is a historical site as well as museum all at the same time. It is adorned with all its jewelry and preserved objects of old days. The rulers have graciously given everything to the heritage trust. From medieval era clothes to British era to recent times, the fort is fully decorated and well preserved.

This fort is a medieval times fort. According to carbon dating samples, it was built nearly eight hundred to nine hundred years ago. It was a gift, a part of marriage dowry, when princess of Baltistan married the ruler of Hunza. It seems that the fort has stopped aging after that grand marriage ceremony occurred in the fort. History is very much alive and breathing in these structures. Children of the valley don’t need to buy books to know their history. They just need to visit the fort.

Baltit fort is situated at the highest point of the settled Hunza Valley. It has such a commanding location, one wonders if the hill where the fort is built was formed millions of years ago just to serve the purpose of being the site for this structure. The settled population below and the high mountains above the fort, all present a view which is difficult to imagine anywhere else in the world. 

Perhaps, I could find a similarity with the site “Machu Picchu” in the Andes Mountains but with some differences as well. The height of two sites is somewhat similar but the mountain ranges are enormously different in size and texture. The Andes Mountains don’t rise more than 10,000 ft above sea level whereas the Karakoram range and Himalayan rise above 20,000 ft. The more than twenty thousand feet high mountains are actually visible from the Baltit fort, standing as close as only 10 km from the site. Hence, the depth and height trajectory the eyes can grasp at Baltit vary immensely than one at Machu Picchu. 

There is a long street which comes before the fort becomes visible to eyes. The street is vertically going upward till it reaches the foundations of the fort. Mr. S.M. Bukhari, famous Pakistani photographer, has captured one of the best shots of this street.

There are shops and restaurants on both sides of the street. Different traditional clothes, dry fruit stalls, herbal stores, cultural ornaments, hiking equipment shops, and several restaurants adjust in that congested street.

Just when the vertical Baltit Street starts going upward, there is a small restaurant located on its right side. It is known as Café De Hunza. I stayed there for a lunch meal. They can offer sandwiches and all but their special food is a desert which is famous among tourists.

The café is located on the first floor of a two story building with a shop on its ground floor. The whole building is owned by a local family. The man who owned the place has died recently. As a result, his younger son and a daughter run the family business. Both the siblings appeared to be young and educated.

What surprised me was that the shop below restaurant had no one to look after. The girl and boy both were working on the first floor. But there was a system to keep track of whoever visited the shop. Once the door opened, some melodious bell started ringing. 

The whole setup suggested that the valley had no security related issues. Hunza was not only beautiful but also safe. It’s odd to imagine that they had such an environment. It’s hard to believe such a place exists in Pakistan.

As the street ends, a large structure of Baltit Fort becomes visible. It looks more like a house or a mansion than a fort. There is plenty of space around the building for tourists to stay and view the town from top. Everything from there looks beautiful and pleasing. We stayed there sometime for photo session and waited for our turn to get tickets for fort.

For the first few minutes after we entered the fort, everything appeared to be dark or dim. They had a low lighting system in there. No one explained the purpose behind it. Then after sometime, we were able to see and adjust properly. 

Almost all doors in the fort had a small size. They were like doors made for hobbits. The guide told the logic behind it. First of all, such size served a better defense in case of breach. Finally, the area has about eight months of winter season. It’s very cold out there. So, in that sense small size doors served to keep the fort warm during winters.

The stairs led us to the main room which was a public place or a tax collecting room. It had a hidden chamber on the floor with a hatch. In old times the local army or royal guards used to collect tax in the form of food, wheat or grains, and store inside. 

Our guide was standing at the first room which I mentioned earlier as the tax collecting room. He looked like Pashtuns but I am sure he was native. His English language skills were good and he seemed to know a lot about the fort. May be, he was from the heritage trust which is formed to look after the fort. Anyhow, he welcomed us and gave some of the overview of the fort. 

A foreigner was also there visiting the fort. She was in army dress accompanied by Pakistani soldiers. I can’t say for sure which nationality she belonged but she appeared to be from Thailand or China or somewhere from the East Asia.

Most of the rooms in the fort were fully furnished. With different artefacts of different ages surviving at one place, it appeared as if the history has somehow merged in the sands of time. From the ancient to medieval to colonial times, everything seemed to be well preserved inside the fort.

The Kitchen area was one of the most interesting places in the fort along with a large drying room. The kitchen was also the oldest area in the building. It is from here that the scientists took carbon dating samples to find out the exact age of the fort. It turned out to be around 800-865 years. Samples were taken from the centuries old wood ceiling. The cold atmosphere of the area prevented the ceiling from deterioration and no insect ever tasted or attempted to destroy it.

The drying room or a large room was one of the most beautiful rooms of Baltit fort. The place had glass windows installed by British during colonial times. Its colors were scattering with the sunlight reaching inside. Multiple glass shades added much beauty to the room. The outside view was incredible from the windows. Different musical instruments were placed in the room on the other end. It suggests that the rulers of Hunza were very fond of music.

Many of the rooms were decorated with paintings and pictures of important figures and royal members. In one such room, the whole hierarchy of rulers was shown in the form of pictures. Their spiritual leaders were also shown there.

During sidewalks, we came across different medieval clothes preserved behind large glass frames. They showed the prevailing culture of the old times. It was stunning to see how much the people of Hunza cared about preservation of their history. For a moment, I thought I was in the medieval age of Kings and Queens. 

Once I reached the rooftop of Baltit Fort, I felt like I had reached the heaven. It was an epic view. High mountains were gazing at us and we were reciprocating with same. It appeared as if we were in the clouds. It appeared as if we were flying. Only after watching the world from that point, I came to know what might have inspired the colonial British to term Hunza as the Asian Paradise. It certainly felt like being in a paradise from the top of Baltit Fort.