Sea of Van

There were many times I saw Van Lake in my dreams. I don't know why actually, those dreams usually start from Ankara or Istanbul and after a ride with a car I end up in the coast of Van Lake. Maybe why this place so much took a place in my under concience is I always find this great junk of water which is in the middle of the high mountains so far from the sea, interesting. I should have seen a place where occupied so much place in my dreams without being there even once, so I decided to do that in a long weekend holliday this month, a friend from the university days was also eager to see the region so we two headed to Van togather.

The flight from Istanbul to Van takes about 1 and a half hours and the distance is over 1000 km's. Almost the longest journey you can make inside Turkey. And that distance can be felt as you land off to one. Firstly climate and geography is completely different. The hot, humid air of Istanbul which makes you sweet in the place you are sitting changes into continental cool climate. The heat does not disturb you at all and the weather you breath is fresh. The attitude of Van lake is 1800 meters from the sea level. And lake is surronded with high mountains, even one of them mount Suphan reaches over 4000 m's.

Besides its unique geography the region has other interesting facts. The city and its lake is located in a region which has overwhelmingly Kurdish region. This part of the country was a zone for an undeclared war between Turkish army and seperatist terrorists, especially in the 90's. Things became cool after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured while wandering around the world with his mistresses, but unfortunately the last few years again the terrorism gained momentum. So during our trip in the region many times we were stopped for security checks by gendarme.

We reserved our first day for Akdamar Island or originally Ahtamara. The island is close to Van's municiplity Gevas and has a historic importance for the monastery built on it by Armenian king Gagik in the 10th century. The monastery is considered to be a sacred place by Armenians and still many come to lit candles in special days. It is a museum right now and was recently renovated. We reach the island after a 30 mins boat trip, the monastery is standing alone on the island so can be seen clearly even from a long distance. The island is also the only place where almond trees grow in the region as it was considered to be holly by priests who lived there and today not a tree except Almond is found in the island. The island is really a spiritual place with its Almond trees, well preserved monastery, bird colonies in her cliffs and the sound of wind and wawes of the lake; only sound you can hear in the island. At the highest point of the island view is great, and Lake Van lies like an endless sea in some parts of the horizon. Also I should say the cleanest place to swim in the lake is this island, water is crystal blue but you should be careful not to swallow any sip while swimming. Van Lake is the largest soda lake of the world and its water leaves a very bitter taste in your mouth. Though it was a great experience to swim in the greatest washing machine of the world. Clothes can be washed with Lake Van's waters as there is so much soda concentration.

We returned to Van and ended the day watching the sun set from the castle of Van, which was also another quite a view. Actually this trip was planted into my mind with the great views I saw. East of Turkey is quite mountainous and when this impressive geography combines with historical monuments it gives you fairy tale sort of views.

The next day we rent a car to make things easier and firstly saw some spots in the south of Van. The Hosap castle was built by a strong land lord during the Ottoman era and is located on a very steep cliff looking over the valley where Hosap creek flows. The place seemed to me like Mordor in the Lord of the Rings with the castle being the castle of Sauron. Also near this spot Cavustepe ruins is located an ancient Urartu city which was built around 7th century B.C. Urartus are the first civilization lived in this region and are shown as the ancestors of today Armenians. The stone workmanship we saw in these ruins impressed us.

Then we took the opposite way and headed to the north of Van. We gave the lunch break in the water falls of Muradiye, another beautiful place of nature in the region. We tried not to see all the rubbish, plastic bottles thrown around this beautiful place and took our photos. The people of the reagion has been very friendly and kind to us during our trip, even most of the times they seem frowning from outside. But environmental conciousness has still not visited this region and sadly we were told by many locals the lake itself is also getting dirty in a fast pace.

In the afternoon we reach to the palace of Ishakpasa, located in Dogu Beyazit. The glamour of the place is hard to describe, the view of the plains you see from the windows of the palace make you feel like you are flying. At the same time the highest mountain of Turkey, mount Ararat with its over 5000 m's mass and its snowy cap can be seen. The palace was built by an Ottoman governor in 18th century and according to the sayings was intentionally built so glamorous to show the power of the empire to the rebellious people of this region. With its dungeons, harems, mosque, kitchen and Turkish bath walking in the palace is a travel in time. A renovation is also going on and hopefully it will look much more beautiful in the near future.

The last place left for us to see is the Meteor craters located close to the Turkey - Iran border. Actually that was definetely not a good idea as the sun was setting. We took the country roads just before the border and not suprisingly got lost. At one point we reached to sentry huts, and I left the car to ask the border sentries to ask for the cratar. The soldiers nicely told us we are just 100 ms away from Iran border and had better come back in the day time. What we did was really dangerous cause there is terrorist activities going on in the region and just weeks ago some German tourists were kidnapped. I would not blame any of the soldiers if they decided to spray fire on us.

Third days plan was to climb to mount Nemrut and see the crater lake over it. Nemrut is a volcanic mountain looking over Lake Van and 4000 years ago errupted in a way which finished all life around the lake. The explosion was so big the height of the mountain decreased 2000 m's and a crater with a diameter around 20 km's formed. By time rain and snow waters formed three lakes on the crater. The road was difficult to drive but it definetely worth in the end. Some villagers opened authentic cafes in the crater. Also there is a boat in the lake which may take you for a tour. In the biggest lake also some island occured. A crater, lakes, streams, islands every piece of geography was packed in such a small area and altogather the crater to me seemed like an ideal place to film a science fiction movie, the landscape seemed under the setting sun like it was another world. I did not miss the opportunity to swim in the crater lake. After the soda waters of Van Lake, it was nice to swim without worrying to swallow water.

After the mountain we headed to the historical town Ahlat, on the west coast of Van Lake. Ahlat has many historical remains from Seljuk Turks times, the region is in the history actually the gate of Anatolia to Turks. Most significant of the remains is the Tombs left from Seljuks. The tombs were made from brown volcanic rocks which occured in the region after the big explosion of the mount Nemrut. The height of the toms were determined according to the place of the person in the society and some were up to 2ms. As soon as you enter the cemetary some kids surround you to tell about the stones. At first this seemed annoying to me but after I gave a chance to kids, I was suprised to see how much they knew about the history and they were also so bright that there were times I felt like I was speaking to grown up men. I reckon as in this region children start to work from the early ages, they also mature earlier than they should.

In the rest of Ahlat most of the houses and many governmet buildings were also built with the same brown volcanic stone, so the town has a unique architecture. It was bad we could have spent only a few hours in this interesting place.

We finished our trip in the eastern lands after having a famous Van breakfast and swimming last time in the lake. Still the white soda crystals were over my skin when I arrived home in Istanbul. It was really worth to follow my dreams and be in those mystical lands.

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