Turkey Trip Day 3 Ani and Kars

Day 3 May 30, 2007
Aradahan-Kars-Igdir

We had NO problem waking up the next morning! We were up at 5:00. Not only did the prayer calls keep us up but, because of our easterly position in the time zone, the sun rose much earlier. We were easily on time for our 7:00 mini-bus to Kars.
On the way we noticed an interesting 'landmark' on the hillside, that we would see numorous times throughout the rest of our journey. On the side of a hill was the crescent moon and star symbol found on the Turkish flag as well as some kind of quote or anouncement of the military post that was in the region. As we were in what is considered by some as 'Kurdistan' I can only imagine that these Turkish symbols were 'gentle' reminders of what official country we all were in. Very interesting....
We got into town around 8:30 and set about trying to find the tourist office and a way to get to Ani. Ani is the ancient and now ruined Armenian capital and the major ‘tourist’ attraction for anyone going to Kars. We were also on the hunt for Lira- Turkish currency. Unlike Azerbaijan or Georgia there were no shady money exchange shops on every street corner. We actually had to find a real bank! We quickly figured out that the banks didn’t open until 9. So we found the tourist office first and discovered that our only option to get to Ani was to hire a taxi ourselves as they didn’t organize any tours. By that time the banks were open so we loaded up on Lira and food and found a taxi to take us the 40 km to Ani.

We arrived around 10:30 and with the help of our driver, bargained for student prices. We spent the next two and a half hours wandering around the amazing ruins of Ani. It was built between 900 and 1100 AD and was a major stop on the Silk Road as the gateway to the Anatolia peninsula from the far East. The population at its height was a booming 100,000. However with the advent of the shipping trade the overland trade routes were discontinued and the cities that had sprung up along them died out. Now all that is left is a handful of ruins,mostly old churches, scattered about a wide open field within throwing distance of the Armenian border. What struck me the most was how massive these buildings had been and now nature is slowly reclaiming them. Ozymandias by Shelly springs to my mind. The exact opposite impressed Mike, he was more amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the buildings for the time period and how buildings built today are not nearly as well-constructed.
Some of the structures were off limits, one of which was the citadel perched on a hill with a tempting elevated view of the city. Despite a warning sign in Turkish we decided to clamber up to the fortress. To be fair the warning wasn’t real clear as to exactly where we weren’t supposed to go. And we figured if they really wanted to keep us out they should have put up a fence! However we learned later that there was a good reason for visitors to stay away. Because of the conflict with Armenia there was a risk of landmines in the restricted areas!! Woops!!!

Around 1:00 we headed back to Kars and just as it started to pour our driver dropped us off at the Heydar Aliyev Park in Kars. After noticing this park on a map of the city we HAD to go and visit and take at least one picture. For those of you who have not read some of my previous posts, Heydar Aliyev is the now deceased former president and “savior” of Azerbaijan. He held the country together and restored order after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His son Ilham is now the president, and every regional capital has a Heydar Aliyev museum and park and the whole country is littered with his giant billboards and quotes. Even in Turkey we could not escape his shadow.
After waiting out the storm we walked back into town- purchased some famous Kars honey and then walked up to Kars castle. The top offered great views of the city. I must note here that Kars looks nothing like how I pictured it in Orhan Pamuk’s novel ‘Snow,’ which is a fascinating book. The city was not nearly as barren and cold as depicted but it helped that we were there in late May and not the dead of winter.

After hiking down from the fortress we decided to start to walk to the bus station, where our 5:00 bus was leaving for Igdir. We were between storms and we had time and not a ton of money to spend on a taxi so we decided to walk as far as we could and get a cab from there. About 2/3 of the way to the station we hailed a cab- afraid we would be cutting it close with the bus. We drove maybe a kilometer to the bus station and the meter read 10 Lira!!!! We were in shock. Aside from the heroin smuggler this was our next worst transportation decision. And since it was a metered cab we couldn’t bargain with the fair.

We harped on our misfortune for a bit but then moved on- literally. We got on a really modern bus to Igdir and munched on fresh bread and honey for most of the ride. We also had impressive views of Mt. Ararat as we got closer into town. Igdir was a small city, nothing really outstanding. Lots of people on bicycles. It looked very European. The driver of the bus, who was Kurdish and openly expressed his love for the United States and support for what the U.S. is doing in Kurdish populated northern Iraq,helped to find us a hotel since he highly disapproved of the one from our tourbook. After settling in we gathered travel provisions for the next day and then went to bed. The mini-bus for Dogubayazit, our next destination was leaving at 6:00 the next morning.