Blogs from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 4

Once the sun rose I found that Kars is actually quite a nice little city. Kars the city is much more well-to-do than I had imagined from knowing a bit about its history. Was Soviet Russian not too long ago, etc. I figured a downright dreary sort of place, but it was nothing like that. The apartment buildings, while rather uniform in structure (thank you Russia), were decked out in wild colors. I think this might have something to do with the Armenian influence, but a more astute student of history could perhaps fill me in. The standard of living seems to be quite high based on the products available in the home appliance stores (large LCD TVs, etc.). I figured Kars would be much more a sleepy city. I mean it is still a city ... read more

The gritty town of Doğubayazıt sits a mere 35 kilometers from the Iranian border in the far flung reaches of Eastern Turkey. From Doğu I began my travels in Turkey after an unplanned stopover in the pleasant city of Erzurum when my luggage was unavoidably detained while transiting through Istanbul from Russia. I had set up a 4 day trip to Mt Ararat with a tour operator via email but it was postponed so we did it in 3 days. Pretty tough. Yesterday I took a couple of buses to Kars and today did a tour of the Armenian ruins at Ani. Awesome sight but scorching hot. Tomorrow to Yusufeli where I hope to set up a trek in the Kaçkar Mountains. Important note about Eastern Turkey: Ramadan is taken much more seriously than in the ... read more

At first glance, Kars seems like a hard place to love. It is located in the northeastern corner of Turkey in land that was once controlled by the Russians. Kars still has the feel of a depressing Russian city, with many large concrete buildings that are in various states of demise. There's also trash everywhere. However, there are at least three foreigners who have some affection for Kars: Dan, myself, and Steven, the crazy Scottish guy. We met Steven on our trip to Ani, the ancient Armenian capital located 45 km west of the present day Turkish-Armenian boarder. "You're late. You have to ride in the trunk," our driver joked as a middle aged, unshaven Scottsman who emerged from the hotel. On our ride to Ani it became apparant that Steven had spent a great deal ... read more

Před cestou do Vanu jsme se vyrazili posilnit do místní jídelny na buriani, což jsou kousky masa mezi dvěma tureckejma chlebama. Jídelny na výcghodě Turecka fungujou tak, že v přízemí jedí jenom chlápci a v prvním patře potom ženský nebo rodiny. Dalším místním obyčejem je, že když jdete s někým do restaurace, strhnce se na konci boj o to, kdo bude platit. Vyhrát tenhle souboj bez znalosti turečtiny dost dobře nejde, takže jsme ani jednou nedostali příležitost zaplatit. Před odjezdem jsme ještě zaskočili koupit Moně letenku do páteční Teheránu, což nám dalo příležitost zjistit, že ve zdejším kraji nejsou směnárny. Jejich funkci tu přebrali místní zlatníci. Dolmuš do Vanu byl narvanej po střechu, kromě sedadel se sedělo ještě na štokrdletech v uličce, což není nic příjemnýho, když cesta trvá přes čtyři hodiny. Silnice jsou zde v ... read more

THe more 'dangerous' and 'unfriendly' Western Turkishs and the outside World have protraited Eastern Turkey, the more I was excited in finding out the truth. The fact that people have such rumors about the eastern turkey are likely due to the past headlines about the Kurds and their guerilla gangs and killings... I cannot say that the guerilla has all disappeared nowadays but my visit has confirmed myself that Eastern TUrkey is one of the safetest places to visit in the world! Back to Malatya! WHILE there's an option taking an organised tour from Cappadocia directly to the all familiar Mount Nemrut (hilltop with giants standing heads), we chose to stopover in Malatya, a place where possibly most of the world's Apricots come from! The Malatya region itself dates back to as far as 4000BC, there ... read more