Eastern Anatolian Tour - Day 6 (June 11)

For more photos, see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Nemrut Dag Crater Lake

Oh my gosh, today we walked around the inside of a 9,000 foot high volcanic crater, in the Nemrut Dag Crater Lake park. This is not the Nemrut Dag of the huge statues from an earlier trip. "Dag" means "mountain." "Nemrut" is a generic term used in ancient times to denote "evil ruler." But Wikipedia says that "Nemrut Dag" translates to "mountain spring." Go figure.

At any rate, in the early morning of this beautiful June day, we climbed the mountain in three minibuses (our big bus can’t make it up the switchbacks), then down into the volcanic crater. Yesterday’s Turkish/English newspaper web site (Aug. 24, 2010) states that this volcano is likely to erupt again, not having done so since the 15th century. I’m glad I didn’t know that when we were there. Nonetheless, it certainly showed no signs of volcanic threat, other than some hot steam coming out of a fumarole, and some hot spring water spilling into the large lake inside the crater.

We were here early because it can get extremely hot up here. Nevertheless, we saw snow on the rim right near our photo op stop. For us, though, the temperature was perfect, the air crystal clear, and the crater magnificently beautiful. The view of the surrounding countryside was also breathtaking, including the sight of the huge Lake Van, which was created millennia ago by this very mountain when an ancient eruption created a dam, causing water to back up into today’s alkaline lake.

This is a national park, so certain rules apply, such as not bringing one’s cattle or sheep inside the crater for grazing. Nonetheless, we saw not only grazing animals, but a shepherd’s shack constructed on the banks of the pretty lake. We peeked inside for signs of a tea shop and wouldn’t have been surprised to find one. But it was deserted.

This crater is huge. The dimensions that Onur, our guide, gave us are: circumference=10 km.; diameter=3 to 4 km.; area=40 km. I’m too lazy to do the math at the moment; any takers?

Bitlis – Ihlasiye Medresesi

After emerging from Nemrut Crater, we headed for Bitlis, where the Ihlasiye Medresesi, built in 1589, has been converted into a contemporary municipal office building. When used as a medrese, or educational center connected with a mosque, the building was divided in two. On one side, students learned secular studies; e.g., science, math, philosophy and so on. The other half was the theological school. I did not catch whether the same students attended both halves of the school.

When we entered the beautiful Seljuk era building, the civil servants and officials briefly stopped what they were doing to welcome us, although they soon went back to their work. We felt pretty awkward wandering around desks, filing cabinets, computers, and of course working people, as we gawked at the features of the building, including what turned out to be a spiritual isolation chamber, built earlier in 1216.

Outside the building, we visited a collection of "turbes," or tombs, also from Seljuk times. They were built in a wide variety of styles. One looked like a boat; one was a rectangle with arched openings; one had the more familiar (to me) pointed roof; while the largest had a huge arch, surrounded by what appeared to be steps leading to heaven. They were all within a few steps of each other, looking like a graveyard, but without any smaller gravestones.

Outside the entire complex, a rock music festival was entertaining the local school children – at 10:30 a.m.! One group of uniformed teenage girls was insistent on having their pictures taken with me; I was duly charmed into complying.

One thing that struck Larry and me was the excellent condition of all the buildings and the cleanliness in general in this town, sandwiched in a narrow valley between a mountain and a river.

Elazig, Harput

On the road to Elazig, another small eastern town, we passed a variety of snow tunnels constructed to protect vehicles from marching snow drifts. This area of the country has very harsh, very long winters.

On the bus, I sure wish I had my camera working; I will never forget Larry listening to two i-pods at once; a fellow traveler wished to introduce him to a specific type of Turkish music.

The first major site was Harput Castle, a compact fortress sitting on top of a very tall, sheer outcropping. The Urartians were the first to build a fortress here in the 8th century B.C.E. It was used, repaired, and extensively modified over the next several thousand years by succeeding civilizations, including Romans (much later, of course), Byzantines, Turkmen tribes, Seljuk Turks, and finally Ottomans. As always we climbed to the top and, as always, I could not get as close to the sheer edge as everyone else. What a wimp!

The view was terrific, the buildings in ruins, and the excavations, which began as recently as 2005, included some repair and safety features—although they can use a safety fence on top of that sheer drop.

The town of Harput included a variety of historical buildings, including the Ulu Camii (Great Mosque), which is one of the oldest in all of Anatolia. It is unusual for two key features. The inner courtyard, surrounded by brick arches, is like nothing we had ever seen before—very beautiful. And the minaret leans about as much as the Tower of Pisa, except that the top is perfectly level. The leaning apparently began during construction a thousand years ago, when the mosque was built in 1156 to 1157. For some reason, it was decided to keep the minaret as is.

There were several other buildings in Harput on our itinerary, mostly mosques. Onur asked us if it was okay to skip them, as we had seen an awful lot of mosques on this trip. We all agreed that we were mosque-ed out and it was okay to just point them out from the bus. Onur said that, by contract, he was obliged to show everything on our itinerary unless the decision to do otherwise was unanimous among the paying travelers. We were in total accord and headed back to our hotel, this time another 5-star one.

Arriving back in the town of Elazig, we stayed in a swanky hotel which turned out to be something of a disappointment. The music from a wedding celebration – outside everyone’s window – blasted on until 1:00 a.m. And the food was a big disappointment. But Onur was gracious as always and did his best to ensure we were comfortable, even if he couldn’t stop the music.
　

[Note: the first image is courtesty of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center, ISS001-E-6354 NASA].
　

Eastern Anatolian Tour - Day 5 (June 10)

For more photos, see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Van Museum

Our first visit on this day is to the small Van Museum. We were astonished to see sculptures the likes of which we had never seen before. The Hakkari Stelae, thirteen flat sculptures mounted on a wall, were discovered by a farmer as recently as 1998 in the small town of Hakkari, in the farthest southeastern corner of Turkey. Estimated to be from the 15th to the 11th centuries B.C.E., they are thought to be from the kingdom of Hubushkia, another kingdom of which I had never heard, set among extremely rugged terrain. The reason we had never seen anything like this in Turkey is that no one else had either. They are unlike anything previously found in Anatolia up to this time. They may have been contemporary with the Urartians and the Assyians, about which I am reading these days, but show strong influences of art from the Eurasian steppe, farther to the East.

In the courtyard of this nice museum was another stele, about eight feet tall, representing one of the three principal Urartian gods, Teisheba, the god of war, standing atop a bull. This large piece had been accidentally blown out of a construction site and now is displayed in pieces, but it is still quite mpressive.

Urartu Carpets & Kilims

On our way to the next major site, we stopped for a brief visit at a large carpet shop and educational center.

But first, we visited a small cage in the yard of the carpet shop where we saw our first Van cat. These cats are bred only in this area and are distinguished by their silvery white coat and their mismatched eyes; one is green while the other is blue. I was told they are albinos but I don’t understand the biology of an entire breed of albinos. At any rate, they are quite unusual.

The carpet center itself was founded for the purpose of educating local and outlying village women in the finest techniques of traditional Turkish carpet creation. Sponsored by the European Union and the Turkish government, the organization assists these women in learning the art of making these spectacular carpets and kilims, while also paying them decent wages, which are deposited directly into bank accounts that only the women have access to. In this way, when the weavers later return to their villages to run their own workshop and/or train other women, their husbands or other male relatives cannot lay claim to the women’s hard-earned money.

Another goal of the organization, besides assisting in women’s economic independence, is to preserve the legacy of Turkish textiles, which are under threat from cheap Iranian and Chinese copies.

After serving us tea – wine was also offered, but it was still morning so we passed – we all sat on divans surrounding a large open space. The walls were covered with gorgeous carpets. The salesmen then proceeded to perform the standard ritual of flipping carpets onto the floor for our perusal, after giving them a practiced spin in midair. Larry and I decided to buy a small kilim, made in the Kurdish "sumak" style, with embroidered silk forming a pretty pattern on one side, but leaving crude threads hanging on the other side. The crude sides would have been hung on the outside of tents and were intended to keep critters outside nomadic homes. I doubt, though, that nomads would have used silk for their exterior tent flaps.

After making our decision, we discovered that neither of us remembered to bring our credit card with us. As we were nearing the end of our Eastern Anatlian tour, we were getting low on money and couldn’t afford to spend all our remaining cash on the kilim unless we planned on eating nothing on the long trip back. Since this shop does no bargaining – unlike most other carpet shops – we could not offer less. Nonetheless, the salesmen arranged for us to pay a small deposit, take the rug with us, then wire the remainder of what we owed to them when we returned to Ankara. We were shocked that they were so trusting. Perhaps they were aware that our tour company was a good one and they knew we could be trusted. At any rate, we have our pretty rug (sorry, Kadir Bey!), and it was duly paid for within a day of our return.

Akdamar Island & Tenth Century Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross

On our way to the beach of Lake Van, where we will be boarding our boat to the island, we stopped to place our order for lunch after the tour. We wondered why we had to make our lunch selection hours before eating, but, given that most entrees were fish, I suppose they needed to know how many to catch.

As we boarded the boat, who was coming down from the upper deck as they returned from the island? None other than Jane and David, waxing poetic about the island’s spectacular beauty! Alas, this is the last we will see of our Australian counterparts on this trip, and likely forever. Sigh.

Akdamar Island and its Church of the Holy Cross served as the center of Armenian Catholicism from the 12th to the late 19th century. This impressive structure, with gorgeous exterior reliefs carved by master masons, was restored by the Turkish government just a few years ago and reopened to the public as recently as 2007. We were fortunate to see it in its current excellent state. I just read that next month (September 2010), an Armenian mass will be held there for the first time in many decades. Armenians from Turkey and also from the motherland (Armenia) will be travelling by the thousands to attend the ceremony, although the latter will have to enter Turkey through the country of Georgia.

The reliefs on the exterior of this church are stunning. They represent a variety of biblical stories, the life of Jesus, and some representations of life at the time of their carving. There are warriors, clergymen, and saints, as well as an elaborately carved and decorated continuous vine encircling the entire structure. The interior frescoes, depicting the saints, apostles, and Christ, are not in as good condition as the outside reliefs, but, given their age, they could have been worse.

The church is all that is left of a once thriving monastery, castle, and larger Armenian community.

Returning from the island, we had lunch in a pavilion on the beach of Lake Van, along with hundreds of other visitors and tourists. No wonder we had to order in advance. This lunch was served like a military maneuver—very efficient! And also very good.

Old Ahlat City and Seljuk Graveyard

Another new sight for us is the Seljuk Graveyard in the old city of Ahlat. The standard gravestones are unusual in shape; they are tall flat stone, with a bend near the top, reminding me somewhat of a hooded figure. I doubt I would like to be here at night. There seem to be thousands of graves here, so old that most are askew and leaning every which way.

One large tomb complex is the final resting place of a king who chose to be buried with his horse. The multi-chambered structure (one for the king, one for the horse, and a few others attached), were covered with earth to form a small tumulus in the midst of the graveyard. I believe the king died before the horse; the poor animal, though, must have been sacrificed at the time of the king’s demise.

The large number of tombstones, dating from the 11th – 12th century Ahlatshah dynasty, are tentatively listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Refa Usta Cane Shop

Our last stop for the day was at this master carvers cane studio and shop. "Refa" is the carver’s name; "usta" means "master craftsman." We watched in amazement as wood carvers worked the finest details, including intricate lathing and inlay, into some very beautiful canes. The show room was full of polished finished canes for sale at a very reasonable price. Not knowing how I would carry a cane back on a plane, I did not purchase one, to my regret. I understand that Bill Clinton did when he was here on a presidential visit a few years ago. He had good taste, at least in canes.
　
　
　
　
　
　

Eastern Anatolian Tour – Day 4 (June 9)

For more photos, see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Today we visit the Ishak Pasa Palace and the city and citadel of Van.

Ishak Pasa Palace

This huge, empty palace and administrative center was second only to Topkapi in Istanbul in its grandeur and scope. Built by the regional governor and his heirs from 1685 to 1784, it is still massive and elaborate in scale, but much of its ornamentation has disappeared to plunderers, including Russian occupiers in the early part of the 20th century.

The word Pasa (pronounced "pasha") means military hero. Ishak was the name of the bey, or governor of the Kars/Dogubeyazit provinces, and ruled during Ottoman times. The 366 room palace has evidence of Ottoman, Persian, and Seljuk architectural styles. Because it is a relatively recent structure, in this area of thousands of years of history, it boasted a central heating system and indoor plumbing, including running water and a sewage system. Like Topkapi, it had a variety of structures within the main building, such as a turbe (tomb), library, mosque, medrese, and soup kitchen. Additionally, there are other buildings in the complex nearby.

Today the buildings are a museum complex, in the midst of ubiquitous renovation. The only visible structures in this remote, mountainous, beautiful countryside, are another small mosque and a few peasant huts.

On our way out of the harem rooms, who do we run into again—Jane, David, and other friends from the Australian tour. This is getting kind of fun, guessing where and when we are likely to run into this tour again. We are on different itineraries. For example, they had seen Ani the day before we did. But we are all visiting the major tourist sites in Eastern Turkey, so we were bound to run into one another; I just wouldn’t have thought we would see them as often. Jane accepted a slip of paper I had prepared in advance – just in case—with my email and blog address. I hope to hear from them after they complete their seven week (!) tour of Turkey.

On the road to Van

I am so excited about finally being able to visit the famous Lake Van, with its renowned Armenian church on an island in the middle of the lake. But first we have at least one more stop on the way.

While on the bus to Van, Erhan, the bus attendant served tea again. First he handed me a cup of scalding hot water, to be followed by a package with the tea bag, stirrer and sugar. While I was reaching for the bag, however, the bus began a fairly steep incline, knocking the water into my lap, scorching me and boiling the insides of my camera, which I had put on my while accepting the tea. Ouch! Although my clothes dried fairly quickly (after I briefly changed my seat), and there was no lasting harm to my legs, I tested my camera, only to find that it was working erratically. Sigh, wouldn’t you know after all these years of waiting to see Van, I would be unable to record it.

Sadly, I disembarked from the bus when we stopped for a tea house break (I hate tea today!) and a brief visit to the Muradiye Waterfall. I’m not sure which body of water flows down these falls, but they originate in the volcanic moonscape upriver. I was unable to get good photos of the landscape while I fooled with my camera. But I was eventually able to get pictures of both the falls and the scary suspension bridge that swayed precariously as we walked over the ravine and the river.

After that – kaput – my camera never worked again. Sad.

Rock of Van

When we reached the fortress of Van, on top of a huge outcropping, we first visited on one side of the rock a beautiful small mosque that had been designed by the famous Sinan in the 16th century, and renovated as recently as 2007. Since the gold leaf on the mihrab had been stolen, reportedly by local Kurds, the current gold was donated by nearby jewelers. The mihrab sparkles amid new tiles and carpets in the beautifully restored building.

At the base of the rock, we could see evidence of earlier homes which were destroyed by Russian supporters of Armenia in 1915.

Taking the bus to the other side of the huge outcropping, we split into two groups—those who wanted to climb to the top of the rock to visit the castle and other fortifications, and those who chose to stay behind at the teahouse. Since our new friend Gisela did not want to climb the rock, and since she knew about my camera’s demise, she entrusted me with her camera to take pictures for both of us. I was nervous about being responsible for her camera while I climbed some steep pathways, but I’m glad she trusted me. I was able to take some good pictures; her camera is great. After this visit, all pictures are from Gisela’s camera; after the Rock, though, she took them herself and graciously mailed a CD to me from Germany with her pictures. Thank you so much, Gisela.

As for the Rock and the castle:

As we climbed up the Rock of Van, the first adventure was to climb up, then down a scary looking metal stairway hugging the steep cliff, with a fence that looked like it should keep us from falling. The fence looked precarious to me, but then everything does at this height. To the side of us, on a flat surface of the cliff were long passages of text carved into the stone using a cuneiform script. These words , written in the Assyrian language, date from the kingdom of Urartu, my new reading interest, which dates from 1300 to 700 B.C. Inside an opening next to the script, we entered the burial tomb of one of the Urartian kings. I don’t remember which one was buried here (I think it was Sarduri), if in fact, he was, but I will fill in the blank as I continue my reading about that ancient kingdom. I do know that the Rock served as a fortification throughout successive civilizations as competition for land and plunder continued among clashing civilizations.

The entire rock and its various structures overlook the beautiful Lake Van, and the modern city of Van, which once served as the capital city of Urartu, called Tushpa at the time.
We continued our climb along the summit, to view other edifices constructed over the ages, most of which are made from bud brick and seem to jut out of the underlying stone as natural outcroppings. Some of the ruins are Urartian, some Roman, Assyrian, Byzantine, Seljuk, Ottoman, and so on through time. This is a very old place. Somewhere on the rock is even a tablet in cuneiform from the time of Xerxes the Great, which enabled modern scholars to crack the linguistic code of ancient Persian.

City of Van

Back in the city, a large group of us decided to take an after dinner stroll to a specialty silver shop where a local jeweler makes articles from ancient Urartian designs. As much as I am interested in Urartian art, I found the jewelry far too elaborate for my taste. So Larry (who was waiting patiently outside the crowded shop entrance) and I decided to explore the main street. We were greatly surprised by the large number of people with the same interest in promenading on this warm evening. Larry and I were not successful in finding a Migros grocery store, where we had hoped to purchase some soy milk for breakfast, but we did find a great sweet shop where we bought some dried fruit and nut treats, and the attendant gave me some free chocolate samples. Yum!
　
　
　

Eastern Anatolian Tour - Day 3 (June 8)

For more photos, see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Today was spent in a region of Turkey that shares a long, painful history with Armenia. The site of ancient wars of conquest, ethnic tensions, WW1 battles, and dramatic changes in religious perspective, this area has only recently been opened to visitors and is now considered safe for tourists like us. Most painful perhaps are memories of what is today being called the "Armenian genocide," which occurred in this area of the country. Likewise, there is evidence of displacement of villagers during the recent Kurdish resistance, manifested in new housing with tin roofs – an unusual architectural feature – in outlying areas, far from established villages and towns.

Subatan Village memorial

Our first stop after leaving Kars was at a monument to the village of Subatan, where Armenians destroyed the town and killed thousands of their fellow Turkish residents in 1918. Constructed as a propaganda tool by the Turks, the monument nonetheless pays silent witness to clashes between peoples and cultures that exist to this day, although there are signs that relations are warming.

Ani

This huge site was once the capital city of Armenia and home to more than 100,000 Armenians. The latter are said to be the first Christian nation in history. Now the site is located within the borders of Turkey and has been only recently opened to visitors. Prior to a few years ago, the entire area was off limits and monitored by both the Turkish and Armenian military, protecting the border between the two countries. Today it is full of ghosts of Armenians and Seljuks past, with gorgeous public buildings popping out of the poppy covered windswept fields and ravines.

We spent an entire morning in Ani, beginning about 9:30 a.m., before the bright sunshine became too hot for us. It was a gorgeous day, with a brilliant blue sky complementing the spring wildflowers. It looks as though we picked the perfect time to be here. Generally it is so dry in this area that the prevailing color is brown; but today the green grass, bright red poppies, yellow wildflowers and deep blue sky set off the deep brown buildings over the entire panorama. Beautiful!

Most of the more visible remaining buildings are Armenian churches dating from more than a thousand years ago. Interspersed are Seljuk mosques, baths, and commercial buildings. The most significant of the buildings we visited were the entry gates, the Church of St. Gregory, the Holy Virgin Cathedral and, after the Seljuk king, Arslan, captured the town, the very first Turkish mosque in all of Anatolia. All of these buildings have undergone, or are in the process of undergoing, renovations. Rather than repeat all the details of the buildings, I’ve put more information in the captions of my photographs, which can be found at the site mentioned above.

Many of our Turkey tours have emphasized historical buildings. What is so incredible about this site are not only the significant buildings, but the distance between thems, the stark beauty and immensity of the site, and the spectacular ravine separating the two contemporary countries. Additionally, this was a major stop on the famous Silk Road, with evidence still visible of the actual road traversed for thousands of years by merchants carrying their goods between East and West. This will be yet another of my more potent memories of Turkey.

Kars

Returning to Kars, we climbed a long, but not very difficult walkway toward another of the ubiquitous fortresses in nearly every major town. On the way up, we finally saw evidence of some of the places mentioned in Orhan Pamuk’s novel, Kar (Snow), which takes place in winter in this town. Previously we kept trying to picture the locations of the various political and religious intrigues that take place in the novel. Instead, all we saw was another nondescript town with multi-story cement structures, although interspersed with some impressive stone Russian and Armenian mansions, the latter mentioned in the novel. But nowhere could we envision the town as it was described in Pamuk’s book.

Finally, while climbing to the fortress, we looked down on an old bridge and nearby hamam that figured prominently in that story of a visiting poet. Finally!

Reaching the fortress, the more memorable artifact, something we hadn’t seen before, was a cannon inscribed with the tughra, or stylized signature of Sultan Murat III. His signature denotes the fact that the sultan was actually here on a visit from far away Istanbul.

Armenian Church of the Apostles

On the way back down the fortress hill, we stopped at yet another Armenian Church, called the Church of the Apostles, decorated with crude exterior reliefs of the twelve apostles. The history of this edifice is striking: First, an Armenian church, at a time when this city was part of Armenia. In 1579 it was converted to a mosque, after the Seljuks conquered this area. Next, the Russians, in 1918, converted it to a Russian Orthodox church. One year later, during the Turkish war of independence, it became a mosque again. Then briefly it was an Armenian church again (I’m not sure why), and finally in 1920, back to being a mosque.

The history of this area is beyond comprehension after such a brief tour!

Mount Ararat

Everyone knows that Mount Ararat is where Noah’s Ark was supposed to have landed many millennia ago. This huge mountain, which looms over the rest of the countryside, was once considered the tallest in the world. It certainly gives one the impression of being more massive than even some in higher ranges, the reason being that it is not in a mountain range itself. Its 17,000 feet of snow covered volcanic rock looms out alone over the much lower landscape, giving it the impression of being even taller than it is. One can see why this volcanic mountain figures so prominently in both history and myth. We did not see the Ark, nor has anyone else except those who want to believe that they did.

Dogubeyazit

Our resting place for the evening was Dogubeyazit (David, from Australia, pronounced it Dog Biscuit). This town is a center for the sale of goods smuggled from neighboring Iran. In our free time before checking into the hotel, we wandered among the countless shops selling cheap household goods, including some of the most garish gewgaws we’ve seen so far. Despite being advised about the excellent tea available in these shops, we discover that it is mostly Earl Grey tea! We bought nothing, but stopped to examine a statue of "justice," flanked by plaques of the 1948 U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, something we were not expecting here among a strong military presence and a history of violence between local Kurds and the authorities.
　
　

Eastern Anatolian Tour - Day 2 (June 7)

For more photos, see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Breakfast this morning at our five star hotel did not stand out in my mind, meaning that it was probably the typical Turkish hotel breakfast: bread, cheese, yucky looking processed meat slices, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs (not typical for Turks, but a concession to tourists),cereals (another concession to tourists), cukes, olives, various spreads for the bread (jam, butter, honey, etc.) tea, instant coffee, overly sweetened cherry juice and Tang-like orange juice. Given the terrific dinner the night before, it is possible that there were better choices, but I cannot remember, so probably not.

What I do remember about that breakfast though is that once again I heard English being spoken nearby—Jane and David! We were obviously wrong about staying in different hotels. We also met Caroline and her husband, as well as a Japanese couple, also residing in Australia and traveling with the group. How nice to make these connections while traveling.

While yesterday was a day of touring historical buildings, today was one of appreciating the vastness and beauty of the surrounding countryside high in the hills of the farthest Eastern Anatolia.

Cobandede Bridge

Some sites claim this bridge, built in 1297-98, was built by the Mongolians; others say it was constructed by Seljuk Turks. A third site claims it is an Ottoman bridge. Like so many structures in Turkey, there is a succession of building, rebuilding, renovating, and so on, by successive civilizations. So I will call this a Mongolian bridge, knowing full well that the Seljuks, the Ottomans, and probably contemporary Turks all had a hand in the construction or re-construction of this massive structure. It spans the Aras River, which farther north forms the boundary between Turkey and Armenia.

On the road to Kars

Travelling to Kars, we follow the Aras River along a road that served for centuries as the main thoroughfare between Anatolia and Iran, and formed a piece of the famous Silk Road. The surrounding countryside is mountainous, stark, lacking in arable land, but sparsely populated by cow herders tending their herds over hundreds of miles of pasture. This is a beautiful, green country—at least now in late Spring. In winter, which is harsh at this high altitude, the country is generally snow covered; most other times it is brown. We are seeing this part of Turkey at its best—lush greenery, reminding us of Ireland, wild flowers, herds of cows and some flocks of sheep, an occasional nomad tent or tiny villages of sod covered huts —all surrounded by obsidian hills or snow-covered peaks. What an extraordinary place!

Sad place, too. During the first World War, in a battle plan between Ottoman forces and the Russian/Armenian army, General Enver (Pasha Enver) employed what had previously been a successful Napoleonic tactic of surprising a superior force with a focused army with a specific objective, in this case the Sarikamis Pass of the Allahuekber mountains. His plan was to surprise the Russians by traveling with 60,000 troops over the mountains in winter, when the Russian would least expect them. History says he would have been considered a genius if the plan succeeded. But it didn’t. As a consequence, he is considered more of a lunatic. His troops never reached the Russian enclave; instead 20,000 of the poorly equipped soldiers died of exposure, disease and starvation. A monument to these poor souls tells the sad story of these “sehitler,” or martyrs.

Continuing on the road to Kars, we begin to see more evidence of former Russian/Armenian control of this region. One very large stone house looms over the countryside—a summer home for Katarina, of the Romanov royalty, built around 1905. The surrounding countryside is also the sad location of what is often referred to as the “Armenian genocide.”

Cilder and Aktas lakes

As the clouds thicken and the road continues to climb toward the Caucusus mountains, we approach the second largest lake in Turkey, Cilder Lake. This portion of the farthest borders of Turkey approaches nearly 7,000 feet above sea level on average. The harsh winters and isolation, as well as the difficult soil make this a sparsely populated region. Although there are some agricultural products – only about 10% of the land is arable – most of what we see are cow herders. The few houses are made of mud brick, with sod roofs. Outside are small mounds of dried cow patties that will help the families get through the long winters.

The lake itself is huge and pristine. The cloud cover makes everything uniformly gray and somewhat forbidding. Most of the lake has no sign of people except for the occasional nomad tent. This lake, I believe, is a protected preserve.

Since by now it is raining and fairly cold, we spend only a short time at the lake and continue north to a smaller lake, Aktas Lake, which borders Turkey and Georgia. Our stop here is from a high vantage point, with a long view of the mountains, the two lakes, and Turkey’s northeast neighbor.

Seytan Kalesi (Devil’s Tower)

As the rain increases and we hear distant thunder approaching, our bus continues to climb, then stops along the road for no apparent reason. Our guide and attendant disembark and start running across the road; we follow, umbrellas over our heads.

Soon we reach the edge of a precipice, which opens up to the most spectacular view I have ever seen – anywhere. Our guide book says that even those who are “panorama-ed” out should not miss this unbelievable view. Devil’s Canyon cuts deeply into the Caucusus mountains; our view of the huge green canyon sweeps to both left and right. In the middle of the canyon, about 1,000 feet below us is a rocky promontory with a stone tower on the edge of one of its cliffs. Beyond the promontory, the canyon continues to drop another few thousand feet.

I am afraid of thunderstorms; I do not like lightning. Nonetheless, I stood there transfixed with the spectacular sight before me, feeling wet and cold and a little scared of the approaching storm. (We were very high and there were no trees in sight). But the book was right—this was not to be missed.

Onur, our archaeologist guide, admitted that nobody knows who exactly built this tower and when. Apparently there are no written documents available about the tower. He and others speculate that it is either a 3,000 year old Urartian edifice, or a 1,000 year old Armenian one. Because of the “boat-like” shape of the building, he is guessing Urartian.

This whole area, as well as Georgia, figures prominently in the history of the Urartian civilization, one I had never heard of before this year. Larry and I decided then and there that we need to learn more about these people and their history.

Once again, the weather shortened our stay, but that image will stay with me forever.

On to Kars, where our stay at a nondescript hotel left few memories . . . except a long talk with Jane and David and some other of our Australian friends.

Eastern Anatolian Tour - Day 1 (June 5/6)

For more photos of today's travels, see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Saturday, June 5, at 9:00 p.m. begins the long bus ride to the far Eastern end of Turkey, a place of extraordinary starkness and poverty, but one of immense beauty. This trip, another Tempo Tur trip, will keep us on a bus for about 3,500 kilometers, which translates to 2,175 miles. Gak! Luckily for us, the tour guide is our favorite Onur Erturk, the archaeologist and graduate of Bilkent University. Although the tour narrative is always in Turkish, Onur generally sits with Larry and me at lunch or dinner to explain in English what we saw during the day or what we are about to see. This time, unlike our Southeast Anatolian tour, we also remembered to bring our tour book.

Also, unlike the last trip, the other tourists are a mix of nationalities. We are the only two Americans. There is a large extended Turkish family (who caused some issues with our tour, always late for everything, and always smoking), and a group of ten or eleven German women. The latter group, with one exception, are, or were, all married to Turks and are still living in Turkey. One woman spoke excellent English, as did several other Turks, so we always knew what was going on with this tour. (E.g., do we have fifteen or fifty minutes for this rest stop?)

Waking up Sunday morning after a typically fitful "sleep" on the overnight bus, we breakfasted at a café in Erzincan, then continued east to visit the site of a mineral water park, where children were already playing and people were already picnicking around the warm natural mineral pools in the park called Eksisu. The town itself looked newly constructed to us, with streets following a grid pattern, something we seldom see in Turkey. It turns out that the original town was entirely destroyed by earthquake in 1979, necessitating rebuilding, but in a somewhat different location and away from the prevailing fault line. Despite the lack of charm of the new town, the surrounding snow capped peaks added a dimension of beauty it was otherwise lacking.

This was not anyone’s favorite stop; the park showed signs of neglect and the town was just a small town with little visible history, but nonetheless it broke up the day’s bus ride to Erzurum, our first day’s significant destination. A second stop on the way, though, was something of a surprise.

Tercan Mama Hatun Tomb and Caravanserai

Somewhere between the mineral park and Erzurum we stopped in the town of Tercan to visit the first tomb of the tour designed in the "kumbet" style, of Central Asian design. Other Seljuk or Ottoman tombs called "turbe," that we had seen on other tours, had the tomb and an area for worship on the same level. The kumbet tombs, in contrast, have an underground chamber for the sarcophagus of the deceased, and a prayer room on a second floor slightly above ground level. Even more significant about this particular tomb is that "Mama Hatun" was a female Turkish tribal leader who ruled for ten years from 1192-1202; her real name was Firdevs. Her rule was an anomaly representing the power of some women in early Islamic society, before the extreme patriarchy, still prevalent in Turkey, took complete hold. The nearby caranvansaray was locked on this day; it was being prepared for a wedding like the one we crashed in another caravansaray near Antakya on an earlier trip.

Erzurum

This stop was a repeat for Larry, where he had delivered a lecture in mid-winter just before a heavy snowfall. Erzurum is notable for its severe winters; the altitude increases dramatically from West to East in Turkey. Now late spring, the weather was terrific, and we were able to visit some of the sites Larry had already seen, but this time with flowers rather than snow. Erzurum is also a very conservative town. The restaurant where we ate was the first I’d been in that had two separate dining rooms—one for men only, and one for families. The other room was not designated for women only, since women were always expected to be with their husbands or close male family members, or with other women doing errands, not lounging around in restaurants.

While visiting the huge Cifte Minareli Madrasah, with its open courtyard and gorgeous, elaborate stonework, we saw another tour of English speaking tourists who featured in our remaining visit to the East. In the 13th century, when this building was constructed, medreses were centers of intellectual activity, not just religious instruction, as they became more recently; this one is the largest medrese in Anatolia. The kumbet, or tomb, attached to the rear of the building was also the largest tomb of the period. Notable about the building is the exquisite carved stonework which, in some places, remained unfinished due to the interruption of Mongol raids.

Next we visited the Congress Building, where the 1919 Congress of Erzurum, convened by Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk), played a significant role in planning the War of Independence and the creation of today’s Turkish Republic.

Following this, we stepped into a Seljuk house/museum, a first on both our trips to Turkey. This large two story house was flat-topped, with windows flush with the outer walls, very different from Ottoman homes with their varying vertical planes. The lower floor was the "museum" area, decorated with copper and ceramic artifacts, mostly in the kitchen. The fireplace was huge and reflective of the architecture of the time. The biggest surprise was the ceiling in the kitchen. In the center of the otherwise flat ceiling rose a comb of interlocking wooden planks, reminding me in their design of a variation on my favorite "log cabin" quilt design, although instead of being square, the designs had multiple sides—maybe a dozen or so.

Not realizing that the upstairs was the living area of the young family who owned the building, Larry and I climbed the crooked, rickety stairs, to find a sleeping child in one of the rooms. Oops!

It has been nearly two months between the visit to Erzurum and the writing of today’s blog entry. On our itinerary two other sites are listed: the Tas Caravanserai, and Yakutiye Madrasah Museum. My pictures for the last few stops in Erzurum are confusing to me after all this time. There is obviously a citadel, with a former minaret converted to a bell tower by Russian occupiers and a view of the opposing Russian fortress. There is a beautiful mosque interior, and another building with a ceiling like the one we saw in the house. Which photos belong to which site (except for the citadel which is not actually listed on the itinerary) remains a mystery to me after all this time, reflecting not only my travel fatigue at the time, but also my faded memories since then. Sigh.

During a short period of free time at the end of the day, while Larry and I sat in an outdoor cafe drinking tea, we heard English being spoken at the table next to us. There were four people from the tour group we saw earlier. The tour was an Australian one, with kangaroo decals on their bus. Jane and David, who were on a seven week tour of the country, were particularly friendly. Before boarding our bus again, we determined that we were staying a different hotel from theirs, so we bid them "iyi yolculuklar," or "bon voyage."

Our hotel that evening was one of two five star hotels on our seven day tour. This one is a ski resort; Erzurum is a popular ski center in winter. The other hotels ranged from passable to nearly awful. But tonight, while I swim in a wonderful indoor pool, Larry uses the gym; it is too hot for either of us to consider the sauna. The dinner is great – our favorite, an open buffet -- and remains in our memory during the dinners of most of the remaining tour—meat, meat and more meat (meaning Larry ate a lot of rice and eggplant, and I ate more chicken in one week than I normally do in several months).

Despite our fatigue and the redundancy of the Erzurum visit for Larry, this was a good start to our long tour of the elusive far eastern end of Turkey, an area that was inaccessible fifteen years ago, but recently opened to tourists. We are very glad to have finally made it to this end of the country.