We drove out of Erzurum on a sunny cool morning headed east. The road was good and we first stopped at a famous Selcuk bridge at the Aras River. The bridge is in excellent condition and is not currently open for traffic. We admire the builders of this structure who combined quality and elegance. Certainly, it was built to last having been constructed some 700+ years ago.
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| A very impressive Selcuk relic |
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| A selfie on this happy morning full into the road trip |
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| A buttress detail of the bridge |
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| Mehmet and Alejandro traverse the bridge |
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| The river was at a pretty low level |
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| Women walking to do their wash in the river |
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| The bridge could be easily pressed into service if needs be |
We passed a ski resort area of Sarikamis and then stopped nearby before reaching Kars at the famous battle site of between the Turks (led by Enver Pasha) and the Russians at the end of 1914. Over 60,000 Turks died in this bloody battle. Mehmet was very interested in this recent historic site of national importance.
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| The poignant site of the battle of Sarikamis which occurred at the very end of 1914 |
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| About 100,000 Turkish and Russian soldiers lost their lives here, some due to battle and others to exposure in the winter |
We reached Kars but skirted around the town to head directly to Ani. Ani is the biggest attraction in this region of Turkey. It sits along the border with Armenia and is a well preserved city that spanned a few hundred years of importance mainly from around 950 to 1050. While most of the remaining structures are Armenian, some predate back to Zoroastrian times while others date from Byzantine and Ottoman times. The city was abandoned more than 600 years ago after invasions and a huge earthquake and has sat more or less undisturbed on its lonely high plateau in an obscure corner of the world. Guidebooks have lavished praise on Ani uniformly and some said it is hard to get the true spirit of the place because of all of the buses of tourists, however due to the Kurdish troubles in eastern Turkey, tourists were thin on the ground. When we visited, we only met a backpacking Chinese young man and saw one European couple and one Turkish family. This, on a site than spans many, many acres. Therefore, we had no trouble invoking the true nature of Ani with the friendly ghosts of the past inhabitants. The site is situated at the Armenian border so across the small river east of Ani is Armenia and we could gaze at its green hills.
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| Some of the famous geese of Kars - we would eat some of their cousins for dinner that night |
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| The treasure of Ani |
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| Located at the western end of the Silk Road, Ani was one of the leading cities of the world in the middle ages |
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| A lion on the outer walls of the Lion Gate |
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| Another view of this nicely carved animal greeter on the city walls |
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| Mehmet contemplates the city walls |
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| The swastika appears some places but as an Armenian symbol predating its use by the Germans |
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| It was dry and hot and lonely, all seemingly appropriate to this abandoned, isolated city |
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| A view of some of the miscellaneous ruins |
We walked through the entire site seeing all of the major buildings. It was hot in the sun but still a pleasant visit weatherwise. We split up initially as Mehmet wanted to see the supposedly over-restored palace of the pasha which is located in a far corner while the rest of us stuck with the main site. We soon reunioned and made a counterclockwise circuit of Ani. Details are contained in the photos and captions below.
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| The perfect small Church of Saint Gregory Abukhamrents dating from 1000 |
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| This church was huge but lies in almost total ruins |
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| Alejandro with a fallen carving |
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| Another of these ruined splendors |
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| At the Church of King Gagik |
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| Checking out the large ruins of the Church of King Gagik |
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| The well preserved Church of Saint Gregory Abukhamrents (what a name!) |
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| The interior dome |
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| So spectacular! |
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| One of my favorite pictures |
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| The mosque, probably overly preserved, but still interesting and evocative |
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| Some carved detail - notice the six point star |
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| The mosque and tomb of Ani dates from around 1100 |
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| Carving from the Ebul Menucehr mosque |
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| Mehmet in the mosque |
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| At the exterior |
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| The huge cathedral of Ani dating from 1000 |
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| Looking from the cathedral to the mosque |
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| The cathedral is the largest structure at Ani |
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| Carving detail of the Ani cathedral |
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| The massive interior |
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| The apse |
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| Alejandro in the cathedral - notice the huge flagstones |
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| The sad Church of the Redeemer completed in 1035. It is only 1/2 of a church, the other side completely destroyed by a huge storm in 1957 |
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| About the conservation of the Church of the Redeemer |
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| The empty half of the fallen church |
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| Looking towards the mosque and cathedral on the way to the Church of Saint Gregory Tigran Honents |
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| This church is later (1215) and was Georgian rather than Armenian |
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| Frescoes still exist in the Church of Saint Gregory Tigran Honents |
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| An impressive eagle carving on the exterior |
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| The well preserved Tigran Honents (the sponsor of the church) Church |
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| More bird carvings by Georgian artists |
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| Frescoes |
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| Not sure what these are but frolicking horses maybe |
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| The interior |
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| Mehmet and Alejandro marvel at the Church of Saint Gregory Tigran Honents |
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| A bear carving |
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| An incredible fresco on the underside of an arch in the exterior of the church |
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| The last major site we saw at Ani |
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| The Silk Road starts here! |
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| The wild loneliness of Ani |
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| Another view of this treasure - so glad we had the chance to experience it! |
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| The fire temple - the oldest structure in Ani might have dated from the Zoroastrian times around 100 to 400 AD |
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| Carving detail from the ruined caravansaray |
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| Started as a church but switched by the Selcuks to a caravansaray |
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| Interior of the Church of the Holy Apostles cum caravansaray |
After spending about three hours at Ani, we headed the 30 minutes or so back to Kars. We had just enough time to see the worthwhile historic museum in the town. There were many interesting objects both inside and outside. Out back was the railway car of given by the retreating Russians to the Turkish "rescuer" of Kars in the 1920's - not too exciting to me but something of note for Turkish Republic history fans.
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| The Kars Museum is well worth a visit |
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| Along with Selcuk and Armenian art, the museum has Georgian as well |
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| The Georgian horse tombstone |
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| The breathtaking carved doors from a Kars Armenian church at the museum |
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| The birds (eagles?) crowning the doors |
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| Some of the pottery |
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| A sheep funerary statue |
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| The rail car given to the rescuer of Kars by the Russians who left the city |
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| Randy gets ready to enter the rail car |
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| The White Wagon - we were given a tour of it by a young lady employee of the museum |
We then drove to the citadel/castle of Kars. The current Kumbet moque started at as an Armenian Church. This was sadly closed for renovations. Instead we went to the historic mosque next door, Evilya Camii. This had some charm especially in its painted ceiling.
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| Located just below Kars castle |
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| Like so much else in Turkey this is closed for renovation - we will have to return to Kars to see the Armenian Apostles Church |
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| We were able to enter this mosque, not as venerable as the closed one above |
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| The beautiful ceiling of the Evilya Camii |
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| The Evilya Camii |
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| Some rain at dusk from our hotel room |
We then went to our chosen hotel of the night - the only four star establishment in Kars - the Sim Er Hotel. This modern building was outside the city center and was decently comfortable though hardly four stars. We chilled in the late afternoon and I chose our restaurant for the night after some internet research - one specializing in the well known geese of Kars - Kars Kaz Evi (Kars Goose House). We walked there in about 20 minutes and were greeted by the owner and founder, Nuran Ozyilmaz. This lady has been lauded by the United Nations for her efforts in helping local women breed and raise geese, and for helping developing a market for the geese meat and other products. Goose meat is a tradition of the Caucasus region. We ordered an assortment of foods while the owner regaled us (in Turkish) about her history and activities (which Mehmet translated). The food was all very tasty and, although expensive by local standards, was a big bargain. And, it was a unique opportunity that we thoroughly enjoyed.
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| A decent place to stay in Kars |
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| The modern Sim Er Hotel - the inside does not look as good as the outside |
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| The kaz menu |
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| Myself and the proprietor, Nuran Ozyilmaz |
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| We really enjoyed our special dinner in Kars |
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| The painting says it all - a woman, snow (Kar is snow in Turkish) and geese |
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| A version of borek |
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| A goose feast - we deserved it as we had no lunch and walked a bunch at Ani |
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| Happy at the table |
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| The road trip is amazing so far! |
What an active day full of impressive and memorable sites and experiences! We walked back in the cool and damp evening to a good night's sleep. After the typical Turkish breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the city center for a look around. Kars was a Russian city for about 40 years in the late 19th century and early 20th century and many of the buildings date from that period - squarish and plain but not unpleasant. It was also briefly the Armenian capital. Kars was bustling on this Wednesday morning in the bright sunshine. We bought some local honey and cheese (famous) and set off northwards.
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| Wednesday AM in the city center of Kars - note the paved streets |
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| The sky was so clear and blue |
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| We bought some cheese and honey here - both specialties of Kars |
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| One of the Russian built buildings |
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| A local goat and pay phone |
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| The European styled buildings of Kars |
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| An architectural detail |
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| A fitting parting image of Kars |
