We slept pretty well in our wood lined clean and basic room at the
Macahel Green Room Hotel. The views the next morning over the green hills were impressive and unique in their verdant richness. Mehmet was already at breakfast drinking tea when we went downstairs (of course). We ate a typical Turkish breakfast at the window lined dining room and saw there were a few other guests staying. These included a northern European couple and a Turkish teacher seeking solitude and nature immersion.
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| View from our room in the morning - lots of corn growing there |
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| Another shot of the view |
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| One more across this green land next to Georgia |
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| The dog was kept below the house in the yard |
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| Our bedroom but it had it owns bathroom |
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| Typical Mehmet in the morning - tea (endless glasses), Turkish breakfast and the laptop |
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| The building is new and looks more luxurious outside than it is inside |
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| The place to stay near Camili - don't know how many choices there are |
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| Another view of this verdant land |
We did not stay too long at the hostel as we had a long day ahead of us, intending to finish our tour of the Georgian churches and drive across to Bayburt to spend the night. Our first stop was the local village which was about 20 or minutes downhill and located at the border with Georgia. This large village is Camili Bucagi because it is famous for its painted mosque which we visited. There was a drizzle by the time we reached the village. First, because we were with Mehmet, we had to visit the border crossing. This border is generally closed according to the young soldier (from Adana) on guard. It is only opened for medical emergencies when Turkish locals need urgent medical attention as there is a good sized town with a hospital nearby on the Georgian side.
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| I dared not take a photo of the friendly soldier on guard duty at the border but I took a covert photo of this |
The wooden mosque was also being visited by a small tour group coming in a minibus. I think they were Turkish. We (minus Randy who is not too keen on old mosques or churches) admired the painted decorations and the simple charm of this remote mosque.
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| The splendid and unusual mosque of Camili dates from the early 1800's |
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| The wooden exterior with even a wooden minaret |
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| The doors give a clue to what lies inside |
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| The dome |
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| The joyful minrab |
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| Pretty ebullient |
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| Everything that could be carved and painted was |
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| A carving detail |
Then, we said goodbye to Camili Bucagi and retraced our route (this time, thankfully, minus the mountain fog) through Borcka and Artvin. From Artvin we headed southwards and slightly west towards our first goal - Osk Vank. This is the finest of the Georgian churches in Turkey and is located not too far off of the main road heading to Erzurum. The drive was spectacular through gorges with high mountains, these much drier than those to the northeast. We arrived at Osk Vank around midday. There was no one else viewing this impressive Georgian cathedral. The church was constructed in the late 900's as part of a monastery of the region (the Tao-Klarjeti). It was enlarged after this and served for many of hundreds of years before being converted to a mosque and thence to its current state as a national heritage site. It is the largest Georgian church in Turkey and still has a few frescoes visible.
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| The main Georgian attraction in Turkey - Osk Vank or the Monastery of Oski |
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| Impressive facade |
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| This sad column has a temporary (?) tree trunk substitute |
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| Yes, grass growing on the roof but check out the condition of those carvings |
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| A saint |
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| Detail - only 1000 years old |
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| Mehmet takes it in |
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| Some visible frescoes |
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| The dome |
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| A faded donor or king or church leader... |
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| Four amigos at the little seen but impressive wonder of Osk Vank |
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| More carvings showing their age |
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| The Georgians were master carvers |
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| This deserves a selfie |
We soaked up the atmosphere of this superlative Georgian effort of over 1000 years ago when a black Mercedes van pulled up. Out came two black clad clerics with impressive headgear and a bevy of black clad nuns. They went in to tour the church. As some of them spoke Georgian we struck up a conversation with some nuns and it turns out they are all from Georgia and doing a tour of Georgian churches (as were we). They just came from Haho (which is a little further south and, to my regret, we did not see) and were headed to others afterwards. The lead man, the bishop or archbishop of the Georgian orthodox church was in charge of the tour and it was clear he had been to these places a number of times before. He explained some of the carvings and features to us. The friendly nun asked me why we were making a pilgrimage to the Georgian churches and wanted to know if we were orthodox. I had to disappoint her on that count and explain our motivation was historical rather than religious appreciation. Sharing this jewel in the crown Georgian church with top representatives of the current Georgian clergy was both fortuitous and exciting. Bound by our appreciation of the Georgian relics in eastern Turkey we randomly met up in this remote place to share an hour of awe.
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| Although we had already seen the place we headed back in the bishop (or whatever rank he was) |
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| He shows off an interesting interior detail while a faithful nun observes trying to figure out why we are there |
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| He was a hefty man but knew his stuff about the Georgian churches |
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| The nun translated a lot for us as her English was pretty good |
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| Another bishop (?) with the nuns - the two men's headgear were slightly different so probably one was a bishop and one a metropolitan or one an archbishop and one a bishop. I guess we will never know. |
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| A mix of cultures - Turkish, Georgian, American and Mexican come randomly together in remote eastern Turkey sharing the common bond of an appreciation for the Georgian artistic skills of over 1000 years ago |
Saying good bye to the Georgian holy people, we headed back to the main road deciding our time would not allow the trek south to Haho (next time) and we headed north stopping at Lake Tortum for another lunch of fresh grilled fish by a lake. This was just as good as the day before, and as before, the meal would need to sustain us for a good long time.
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| Pretty Lake Tortum - Tortum Golu |
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| It was warm but we sat in the shade of the restaurant garden - notice Mehmet the Navigator's map and portable GPS. These were augmented with my Garmin GPS and more maps, some very detailed |
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| The guys waiting for lunch |
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| Our lake fish, coban salatasi and lots of bread |
Our next goal was the large Georgian church of Ishan known for its carvings. The road to reach it had recently been paved and upgraded, and thank goodness for that, because it is situated in a village (Ishan) that is perched on a mountain top. The drive there and the views from the village were (again) breathtaking. Sadly, the church was under renovation and despite pleading with the work people, they would not let us in. We were able to view the exterior however. The church is a cathedral built around 1000 at a site of an earlier Armenian church from the 600's whose apse is still present.
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| The stark beauty of the area around Ishan, just north and a little east of Lake Tortum |
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| Another view of the mountains |
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| Our friend here was ahead of us on the road - that's a lot of hay on one donkey |
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| The faded sign for Ishan - will no doubt be replaced when the renovations are finished |
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| Facade of Ishan under full scaffolding |
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| Carving detail of window |
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| Another view of the dome |
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| The closest we could get - the workmen were determined to keep us out (even though they were on their lunch break at the time of our visit) |
Taking a little more time to savor the views we headed down and westwards for our next (and last) Georgian site, that of Dortkilese (Four Churches).
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| Randy loved this area as much as he did Lake Van - this is a drier area but truly beautiful with the serene mountains and high pastures |
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| Randy and Mehmet enjoy the view from the village of Ishan |
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| Needless to say, we were the only visitors there on this Thursday in July |
This is located near the town of Yucefeli. Yucefeli was bustling and the traffic was slow. The turn off for Dortkilese was pretty easy to find but the road quickly became dreadful. It followed a rapidly flowing stream and was a challenging gravel affair and going was slow. But, we persevered and eventually arrived at our quest. It is called Dortkilese because there are four buildings remaining of this monastery complex. It is mainly a huge church sitting in the yard of a rural home. It was one of my favorites due to its remote (even more remote than usual) location and its melancholy spirit in the arriving dusk. We soaked up the vibrations from this last of the Georgian churches we were to see and savored the reflections such places especially at dusk invoke.
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| Dortkilise is really off the beaten track - no one was around when we were there (of course) and I doubt if more than a handful of visitors come there a year |
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| After almost of hour of hideous road we made it! |
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| Mehmet does his favorite thing - drinking from a roadside fountain |
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| Bee hives are now inhabiting what used to be a Georgian monastery |
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| The sign in Turkish, English and Georgian (a language unrelated to any other). The four churches denote the main cathedral, a chapel, a refectory and a meeting room |
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| Mehmet heads to the cathedral - note the grass growing from the walls |
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| Some remnants of frescoes remain inside |
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| A window to the deep countryside |
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| Not sure what this depicts |
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| Randy stayed closer to the car (not a big ruined church fan) but Mehmet and Alejandro enjoyed the special atmosphere - rather haunting - as much as I did |
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| Carving in the interior |
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| On the outside some remains of the colorful exterior still exist - my camera ran out of battery by now so this photo and the next few are courtesy of Mehmet |
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| I gaze at this remote wonder and still of the ancient inhabitants |
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| One of my favorite of the Georgian sites because its atmosphere seemed to be the truest |
But, we had far to go to get to Bayburt and set off. The road was very pretty mainly parallel and next to the Coruh River. However, it soon became dark (really dark!) and we found the road was under a lot of construction. We had to go long stretches on completely de-tarmacked road that had not even been graveled yet. Alejandro did most of the driving but it was treacherous and one time our lives flashed before our eyes. There was nothing to do but keep going. To turn back, we would have had to go all the way to Erzurum and there were no turn offs of any use. There were also no towns and not even any villages. Eventually (around 9 PM) we reached Ispir, a town in the middle of nowhere. We lacked the energy to push on to Bayburt (another two hours) and decided to try to stay in Ispir. Mehmet advised that there would be no suitable hotel but there was a Teacher's House. In any Turkish city or town there is a Teacher's House. This is basically a hostel for teachers - simple but clean and reliable lodging that is very cheap. For towns like Ispir the Teacher's House is always the best choice. When Mehmet checked, there was one room available and another room that was reserved but the people had not yet shown up. Mehmet left his cell phone number and we went to a restaurant. Despite there not being much choice, the place was very tasty and we tried the local Ispir specialty - dried beans. I know that does not sound all that appealing, but the beans and everything else, were very good. While we were eating, the reception agent at the Teacher's House called Mehmet and said we could have the second room. That sealed the deal - we were spending the night at Ispir (a place I had never heard of before). I had wanted to stay at Teacher's House after hearing about them from Mehmet and other Turkish friends in the education system so here was my chance!
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| Our dining place at Ispir |
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| We were pretty hungry as it was past 9 PM and the food was super cheap. Note the famous local beans in front of Mehmet. We enjoyed stew, salad, soup, pilav and bread - quite a feast really. |
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| Outside on this Thursday night - the Sultan Sofrasi - the place to eat in Ispir |
Back at the Teacher's House we finished the remains of the Irish whiskey and some red wine. We had to use our bathroom glasses for drinking. Randy and I claimed the room with the AC (thank goodness!) while Mehmet and Alejandro made due without the climate control. We went to sleep after the party. The next day we left our empty bottle (or was it bottles) in the room and I was told later that drinking at a Teacher's House is strictly forbidden. Who knows would they would make of an empty Jameson's bottle? Well, I am probably blacklisted from staying at any Teacher's House in the future.
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| Our lodging for the night (and we were lucky to have it) - taken the next morning. Ogretmenevi means Teacher's House - these are ubiquitous across Turkey |
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| We were loading up the next morning from the Teacher's House |
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| Our impromptu party in our room - Jameson and red wine - not too shabby - we were happy to survive the long and treacherous drive from Yucefeli |
What a packed day - I did not think today could top yesterday for activity and wonder but it stacked up very well!
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| We did not get many photos of the four of us because we were usually the only people around at the places we visited. But a friendly local obliged us by taking this photo in front of the heritage site of Osk Vank. |
