2014 Eastern Turkey

Kurds, Kayseri and Kars

24th September 2014 – 4th October 2014

In September 2014 there was a meeting of the ways that presented us with the opportunity for a holiday in Eastern Turkey. Adrian was on his way back to Australia from the UK where he had enjoyed a final 60th birthday party. Megan had been in Istanbul where she met briefly with Annabel, and then was heading to Uzbekistan for another adventure. We booked a small group holiday directly with Alkans, an agency in Van. The tour starting point was flexible, but we agreed to meet up in Kayseri (Central Turkey) on the night of the 23 September. The description of this short holiday starts with our arrival at the Bent Hotel.

Alkans Tour
Our tour of Eastern Turkey started the next morning – the 24th. We had the name and telephone number of someone who was coming to meet us, but had no idea if were expecting a bus or a taxi, a guide or a driver. Whilst we were waiting in the foyer and sipping on tea there was a phone call saying the pickup would be 45 minutes late. So we left our bags and Megan had a brief tour of the nearby sights of Kayseri. When the tour arrived it was in a small (30 seat) coach with about 13 passengers. While the other members of the group queued to use the two hotel toilets we were greeted by the tour guide, and our bags were loaded.
Aysel, our guide, was excellent. She had a long and deep personal knowledge of the area and was married to a Kurd. On the road she would give us informal lectures; on history, on the Turkish language, or on some aspect of Turkish life; all without reference to notes. Her informed commentary was particularly valuable as all the guide books to the area are out of date, and many we discovered are factually incorrect.

Neither Megan nor I warm naturally to group travel, but our first impressions of the friendly small group were positive. Most of the group were very experienced travellers, and many like us were more used to independent travel. Some had joined the tour in Cappadocia but others had come (with a different guide) from Istanbul). Our group grew as people joined en route till we had eighteen in all. In Van some ended their holiday and flew back to Istanbul or joined a private tour, which left just nine of us to continue on to Trabzon.

We started travelling in a small bus. This provided plenty of space for luggage and personal belongings, but it had a tachograph and was subject to monitoring by Traffic Police (a benefit of applying for EU membership perhaps). The maximum speed of 100 km/hr made some of our long days even longer. After shedding half the group in Van we continued on in a minivan. This was a lot faster on the open road but it barely had room for all our luggage. The roads we took were mostly excellent, often dual carriageway, sometimes with tunnels. There were still had a few high passes to negotiate on narrow winding roads but this won’t be the case for long as the construction of new roads and tunnels was already in progress.

Our route
The route took us down from Cappadocia to the Syrian border and into ancient Mesopotamia. From there we headed north to Lake Van, and then further north to the Armenian border and Mount Ararat. After passing through some of the coldest and bleakest parts of Turkey we descended to the Black Sea at Trabzon.
[24 Sep] Kayserie – Kateray – Pınarbaşı – Kahramanmaraş – Adiyaman (Hotel Samos)
[25 Sep] Adiyaman – Kahta – Adiyaman – Euphrates crossing – Atatürk Dam – Sanliurfa (Hotel El-Ruha)
[26 Sep] Saliurfa – Göbekli Tepe – Diyarbakir (Buyuk Kervanseray )
[27 Sep] Diyarbakir – Mardin – Deyrulzafaran monastery – Midyat – Hasankeyf – Batman – Tatvan (Hotel Mostar)
[28 Sep] Tatvan – Akdamar Island – Gevas – Van (Elite World Van )
[29 Sep ] Van – Hoşap – Çavuştepe – Van (Elite World Van )
[30 Sep] Van – Dogubeyazit – Kars (Elite World Van )
[1 Oct] Kars – Ani – Kars (Elite World Van )
[2 Oct] Kars – Erzurum (Polat Renasance)
[3 Oct] Erzurum – Sumela – Trabzon (Saylamlar Hotel)

One unexpected bonus in understanding the route was the discovery that Megan’s Nexus tablet could accurately plot our position on a Google map without access to the internet or a GPS. The reliability of this triangulation even in remote areas was surprising.
There were two long days which involved an early start and a late arrival. But only the first day’s drive to Adiyaman was lacking regular stops at places of interest. We also had only two days when it rained, once on the first day, and then as we traversed the bleak highland area towards Kars. At all other times we were lucky to have clear skies, and daytime temperatures in the mid-20s.
At the time of our travels there was an ongoing conflict just across the Turkish border in Syria and Iraq. We saw surprisingly few signs of the fighting just a few kilometres away over the border. An occasional refugee begging on the streets, a few refugee camps, fighter planes roaring overhead in the night, and, on one occasion, a convoy of tanks being transported to the border.



Places we visited:
Kayseri
From the Bent hotel it was only a short walk through parks to the centre of town, and to the citadel (closed for restoration as a park), the main mosque, and the three bazaars. First impressions of Kayseri were of its apparent prosperity, and interest; it had far more old buildings than the guide books mention. The bazaar was a buzz and the goods on sale seemed to be of better quality than in other countries we have visited. On my first walk through I failed to find the older uncovered sections but on the way back I stumbled across the Bedesten (1497) now selling carpets and another old Han with wool sacks.
Wandering round in the bazaar got me completely souk-ed and when I emerged I was lost till I found a landmark that was on my tiny (inaccurate) map. Wandering in ever increasing circles I eventually stumbled across the Huand Hatun mosque complex. It was midday prayer time so I put my head in the back door and watched from the shadows. The Medrese next door was a delightful cafe with art galleries where I had a cold drink whilst I studied the artistic interpretation of the map I was using.
I searched for a restored Ottoman family home mentioned in the guide books and marked on the map. But the only place I could find in the right area had a different name. I poked my head in the doorway and there was a sign pointing upstairs to the Muse. There were just 4 simply furnished rooms on the 1st floor, worth a look but not matching the rave description in the guide book.

Karatay Han
Our first stop on the long trip from Kayseri to Adiyaman was a large caravanserai (han) built in the 13th century. This han had been restored and had an open courtyard and a closed hall (which had been set out for weddings). The shaped keystones on the lower archway leading into the closed section attracted our attention; perhaps it was intended to make the arch more earthquake resistant or just as a challenge to the stonemason.

Mount Nemrut
Mount Nemrut is a remote mountain to the north of Kahta, surrounded by desolate barren countryside, and reached by a steep cobbled access road. The summit (2134m) has a number of large statues erected round what is presumed to be a royal tomb. The sanctuary was built by King Antiochus (he of the big ego) in 62BC and may well have not been completed before he died.
We visited Nemrut after staying overnight in Adiyaman. Our bus couldn’t make the ascent, so we transferred into two smart new minibuses in Kahta. We were blessed with a cloudless day but there was a strong chilling wind on the top of the mountain. The path from the car park and tea shop to the monumental tomb of Antiochus has now mostly been paved but there was one section of original path that involved a climb over some old rough rocky steps. It was a stiff climb at high altitude but the views from the mountain top were worth the effort.
We started on the Eastern Terrace where nine statues had been placed in front of the central mound. Although the heads of the statues had toppled you could clearly identify the sequence including Antiochus himself standing with the Gods (Tyche, Zeus, Apollo, and Hercules). On the Western Terrace the fallen heads were better preserved but the jumble of fallen stones more confused.

The Euphrates and Atatürk Dam
After visiting Mount Nemrut we backtracked to Kahta where we had a large lunch in a scenic outdoor restaurant overlooking the Atatürk reservoir. We then followed the shores of the lake anti-clockwise till we reached the dam. Crossing the Euphrates river into ancient Mesopotamia was marked with a photo stop.

Sanliurfa (Urfa)
Our hotel in Urfa was right in the middle of town, next to the new museum. As an aside, why was it that all the old museums were closed for our visit but none of the new ones were yet open? We just had to cross the road to get to Gölbaşı Park, a sort of urban theme park highlighting legends about the prophet Abraham (İbrahim). We started with the sacred carp ponds which became quite attractive at sunset as the lighting on the mosques came on. The park was crowded with pilgrims and locals enjoying the balmy evening. During prayers, when the crowds thinned, we visited the cave and spring said to be Abraham’s birthplace. How bizarre – if this legend is true then surely Abraham must have had the original water birth!
The markets closed at sunset, so to sample a local delicacy – murra-min ‘pistachio coffee’ made from berries, we went to one of the restaurants by Abraham’s Pools. The coffee had a thick comforting nutty taste.

Göbekli Tepe
The discovery of a temple east of Urfa dating from pre-pottery Neolithic times (over 11000 years ago) is becoming more widely known. A smart new visitor centre is under construction; so we were one of the last visitors able to drive right up to the site. Located on the top of the highest hill for miles around. Göbekli Tepe has views over the plains of Harran to Syria and north to the mountains enclosing the Atatürk dam. The story of the discovery of the temple is fascinating, starting with the finding of an unusual carving in Sanliurfa, with an archeologist asking villagers if they knew of any places with flints, and then the unearthing of the first circular constructions with carved T shaped stones round the edge. We can only speculate what the T-stones were for; many have carvings of animals and some seem to be crude representations of people with carved arms and feet. One column was particularly well carved with ducks round the base. It is intriguing to speculate how sharp clean carving was achieved in such early Neolithic times.
Only a small part of the site has been excavated so far and it is protected from the elements by an intrusive but necessary roof. One can only imagine what remains undiscovered under the remaining mounds.

Diyarbakir
Diyarbakir is the de-facto capital of Kurdish Turkey. When the Kurds have issues then Diyarbakir sees the demonstrations. Given the problems on the Turkish border we were lucky to find the town calm and normal when we visited.
Our tour of the old city included one of Aysel’s personal additions to the itinerary. Walking down some shady laneways we stooped under a low doorway and entered Dengbêj House. Here we were treated to chai and an exposition of the Kurdish tradition of unaccompanied singing by some old bards (dengbêj). Their songs told Kurdish stories, both from the past and contemporary. It was a most moving experience.
The square in the centre of town was full of old men drinking tea. Behind them, the main mosque clearly showed its origins as a church. It had separate areas for worshippers of different Moslem sects to pray, showing a religious tolerance not often found in the Middle East.
Diyarbakir’s city walls are most impressive and largely intact. We visited a section of wall close to our hotel, climbing a tower near the Mardin gate which had views over the Tigris valley.
The following day, as we left the city for Mardin, we stopped at the ten eyed bridge over the Tigris built in the 11th century. It had been restored and traffic diverted from it. From the bridge there were distant views back up the valley to the high walls of Diyarbakir.

Mardin
Mardin is perched on a steep hillside with extensive views towards Syria. It has many grand buildings built out of yellow sandstone. The main street through town was busy so we started to explore the back lanes with their steep steps, narrow passages and surprise views. We could have spent a lot longer in this unusual town.

Deyrulzafaran monastery
Near Mardin there is a Syrian orthodox monastery also known as the Saffron Monastery. The main church and burial chapel date from the 5th century. We had to wait to take a guided tour even though Aysel explained everything to us.
The basement had a flat stone ceiling built by the Romans. Though it has survived many earthquakes I decided not to test the engineering by standing under it!

Hasankeyf
This small town on the Tigris will be flooded in a few years and so has a very uncertain future with its source of tourist income threatened. Some interest has already been lost; the castle can no longer be explored because of recent heavy rock falls. But it remains a very picturesque spot with the Tigris flowing past the remains of a mediaeval town. On the other side of the river is the Zeynel Bey Türbesi tomb (15th C) showing strong Persian influences.

Akdamar Island
Lake Van is one of the world’s largest lakes without an outlet; the original outlet from the basin was blocked by an ancient volcanic eruption. Akdamar Island is close to the south eastern lake shore and is reached by ferry from a camp site/restaurant on the road from Tatvan to Van. The island is in a very picturesque location with great views back to the shore and the towering mountains beyond.
On the island is the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross, built in the 10th century. It features high relief carvings on the outside illustrating stories from the Old Testament presented with a sense of humour. Inside the church the murals in blue and black have been vandalised and then restored. They now look like unfinished sketches. The old graveyard has tombstones with interesting designs.

Gevas
Gevas is on the southern shore of Lake Van just west of Van. On the outskirts of town is the tomb of Hakine Hatun – a 14th century mausoleum somewhat spoilt by the construction of a pink block of flats right next door. This was one of the many examples we found where the guidebooks and tourist publicity choose to use old pictures without the more modern intrusions!

Van
Van is clearly rebuilding from the massive earthquake that hit in 2011. The city lost 15,000 buildings and there are still lots of empty blocks. The main attraction in town is Van Castle, high on an isolated rock between the town centre and the shores of Lake Van. It turned out to be difficult to get close to the rock in our bus as they were resurfacing all the access roads. Van castle dates back to the Urartians (6th Cent. BC) but there is not much to explore (mud bricks don’t wear well), and the climb up was really only justified by the views from the top.
We visited two tourist traps in the city near the castle. The first was a carpet weaving project sponsored by the EU to educate and improve the lot of women in rural villages. But after viewing the girls at work we were subjected to the ubiquitous carpet viewing! Then there was a silver workshop (that did have some nice jewellery). The draw card here was the Van cats that roamed around with their distinctive miss-matched eyes.

Hoşap Kalesi
Hoşap is on the road south east of Van heading towards the remote Kurdish areas on the Iran/Iraq border. The stone and mud brick castle towering over the tiny village dominates the valley leading to Iran. It was built by a local Kurdish lord in 1643.
The main gate is impressive from the outside, but it was a muddy scramble inside to get to the upper levels. The harem (private quarters) were being restored so our visit was restricted to the lower levels. There were plenty of places where a safety fence might have been nice. If one was careful there were good views down onto the village built amongst the town walls and towers.

Çavuştepe
The visit to see this 700 BC Urartian citadel was another addition to the itinerary, as Aysel was a close friend of the site caretaker. The first thing that was surprising about the archaeological remains on the narrow spur overlooking the fertile valley was the quality of some of the early stone work. The later work was less carefully finished; maybe they found it was taking too long to build to the original specifications?
Only the plinth for the temple remained as the mud brick superstructure would have eroded a long time ago. The temple had highly polished basalt foundations with an inscription that the elderly caretaker could translate for us. He is one of the few world experts on the Urartian language. Our exploring was restricted as some tourists had stood on a wall earlier that morning and damaged it. The archaeologists were naturally reluctant to have more people tramping over their excavations.

Dogubeyazit
The road we took from Van to Dogubeyazit was interesting. Our first stop was the Muradiye Bendimaahi Falls. A nice little waterfall being fed by hydro electric power station upstream, and an excuse to have chai in the picnic grounds (does a Turk need an excuse to stop for chai?).
The road then climbed up into the volcanic peaks bordering on Iran. The lava landscapes were spectacular as we passed over the highest pass in Turkey, the Tendurek Pass (2644m ).
Dogubeyazit itself was a chaotic town with poor roads, even the one that led to the border control for Iran on the outskirts of the town. Maybe the border is so slow to get across that a bit of extra delay negotiating the narrow streets isn’t significant! We had lunch overlooking an army camp on the border, and were treated to a local specialty –a puffed up bread (like a Nan).
After lunch we visited the remote Ottoman palace of Ishak Pasha Sarayi, perched on a mountain ledge high above the town. The volcanic hillside is bare but attractively stained with many coloured rocks. Although the addition of glass roofs allows more of the palace to be explored on a wet day, they do detract from the romantic picture of the palace looking out to Mount Ararat. Another case where the guide books choose to use old pictures!
The highlights of our visit to Ishak Pasha Sarayi were the carved entrance gateways, the palace living quarters, and the simple but spiritual mosque. Only the lower slopes of Mount Ararat were visible for us, and as the day drew on the cloud came down lower denying us a view of the mountain.

Kars
We reached Kars after an hour of travelling over a flat bleak volcanic plateau in the rain. Although the clouds lifted as we descended into the town, it appeared to have few immediate attractions. The 40 years when Kars was part of Russia at the start of the 19th century seem to have injected a lasting dourness to the architecture and its people. An atmosphere not helped by having a climate verging on the subarctic!
We walked round the town looking for its hidden attractions. The nice Armenian Church of the Holy Apostles beneath the castle has 10th century features – but the interior is now a mosque. Cheese and honey shops are popular (we sampled the local cheese and didn’t find it particularly distinctive).
There are many solid buildings dating from the Russian occupation; those occupied by government offices seem to be well restored, the remainder are generally being left to fall down – in the process adding to the feeling of a place lacking civic pride.

Ani
The only reason to stay in Kars is to visit the ruins of ancient Ani. Ani was the capital of Armenia under the Bagratid kings and reached its apogee between 990 and 1020 AD. It occupies a large triangular site with deep river gorges on two sides and a strong city wall on the third.
We had the site virtually to ourselves and the sun began to shine. After passing through the massive city gate we took a clockwise path round the large site. There were many highlights, as this visit exceeded both our expectations and we had perfect weather. As is so often the case the guide book photos don’t reflect the current state of buildings. The remaining half of the Church of the Redeemer is now obscured by structural scaffolding, but even so looked as if it would collapse if there were another earthquake!
The wall paintings inside the St Gregory’s church were well preserved. From this church the views down into the ravine separating Turkey and Armenia were particularly scenic for an international border.
The late 10th century Cathedral of Ani is largely intact. The superb acoustics were demonstrated by a few of our group chanting.
Many buildings were decorated using different coloured stones. The Menucer Mosque was a good example with geometric motifs in the ceiling and a stunning view from its windows into the ravine.
We were left to explore our own way back to the bus. Some of our group discovered that the castle is now open to the public. Megan and I visited a ruined church converted to a caravanserai and then walked to the perfect Armenian church built in 994 that appears in most publicity shots. Needless to say we also took many photos of it!

Erzurum
The route to Erzurum from Kars follows a wide valley. Our first stop on the way was at a memorial to the Battle of Sarikamish. This Turkish defeat at the hands of the Russians in World War I resulted in horrific casualties – many just because the Turkish soldiers were ill equipped for the bitter cold of the plateau. The road then entered a scenic section where the steep hills drew closer and were heavily wooded. In this section we stopped where the road had been widened and a cutting had been made through a deep bed of obsidian.
Erzurum has its own speciality kebab – the Cağ kebabı. We sampled it at a restaurant in the middle of town – each serving being brought to the table on a bent skewer. When you finished a skewer it would be replenished with a new one. Very tasty!
Our walking tour of the historic sights started at the three Selçuk tombs, the oldest of which dates back to the 12th century. The Seminary with Twin Minarets was still closed for restoration, but the main mosque next door has been fully restored with an unusual inverted birds nest dome (and underfloor heating for the imam!). In the main square the Ottoman Yakutiye Medresesi has attractive turquoise tiling on the minaret, and the 16th century Rüstem Paşa Bedesten is full of small shops each selling a near identical selection of prayer beads and other obsidian jewellery. Some of the obsidian beads were nice but no one made them into a necklace length. There is a limit to what you can do with prayer beads back home!
We were treated to another off-itinerary musical highlight. Aysel took us to a tea shop close to the town centre where a particularly charming bard was waiting for us with his bağlama. After a lot of animated talk between Aysel, the bard, and other Turks in the room the singing started. Like the dengbêj of Diyarbakir the songs were haunting in their intensity and still clearly have a role communicating Kurdish news freely by bypassing the censorship of TV and media.

Sumela
To reach the monastery of Semela from Erzurum we had to go over the spectacular Kop Dağı pass (2302m). A very long tunnel under the pass is nearing completion which will avoid the problems caused by the road being closed for 3 months each winter. On the Black Sea side of the mountains, in the Tortum Gorge, the climate was damp and misty. The tree cover on the steep hillsides and the chalet houses gave it the look of Switzerland (without the Swiss). We were running late for lunch, so we stopped for some rice puddings at Hamsiköy, a roadside hamlet serving this speciality! The puddings were topped with a hazelnut mixture that made them particularly nice; we had two each!
Sumela monastery is some way up a deep misty side valley, with a rushing mountain stream and trout farms. The monastery had its origins with a cave church in the 4th century A.D. but most of the visible restored buildings are much more recent. We skipped the ascent from the lower car park and were dropped at the end of the road leaving a short walk to the entrance. Where the frescos could be reached they had been badly damaged and covered with graffiti. Many interesting early representations of bible stories still remain in quite vivid colour and detail.


Hotels and food
Our tour included a selection of hotels which generally were comfortable and clean. Most nights were a one night stay and so we tended to live out of our suitcases. The two night stops in Van and Kars were an opportunity to do some washing and repack.
The two main challenges staying in Eastern Turkey were controlling the room temperature and the sleeping arrangements. It was late in the season and so all the hotels had turned off their air-conditioning systems. This meant the only way to cool the room was to open the window with varying results. As the concept of double beds seemed to be slow catching on in these parts, at least we were able to make independent guesses as to how much bedding we would need!
We were also surprised to find kettles and plugs in the newer hotels – as historically the Turks had little use for either. A small visible concession to international tourism!
We ate dinner and breakfast in the hotels – with a menu that showed very little European/American influence but which also often had an appetite suppressing predictability. The hotels we stayed at in Van and Erzurum were the exception to this – with buffets that invited detailed exploration. Eating out at lunch time, though unnecessary from a dietary perspective, was often the only way of sampling more interesting local foods.


And so we come to the awards for this holiday:

Best architecture: Hotel El-Ruha. Although it is a modern hotel, the exterior and interior design of our hotel in Sanliurfa was as far as you can get from “Holiday Inn”. Our room had one of the better views of the holiday, the food was good, and it was conveniently located right next to Abraham’s Pools.

Most character: The Hotel Buyuk Kervanseray in Diyarbakir struggled to operate as a luxury hotel in an old caravanserai. The rooms were small and cramped, and the shower required tricky movements in order to enter. But the hotel made up for that in the character of the public courtyard. With its colonnade, tables and plants.
The solid walls made WiFi coverage very patchy and it was hard to remember that low door lintel!
In the evening the hotel doubled as a venue for weddings, and we were there at a particularly auspicious time to get married. There was a traditional ceremony outside by the pool, and a more liberal ceremony in the interior courtyard with modern music. The ceremony involved a lot of dancing, fruit juice and no food. We watched looking down from the balcony outside our room, and some curious young girls kept coming up to dance with us!

Could Try Harder : This award clearly goes to the Simer Hotel in Kars. In fact the entire population of Kars could try a bit harder! We were lucky to have a refurbished room in the hotel (the older rooms have been graphically described on Trip Advisor). The room was small with a smart bathroom. As so often was the case there was no air conditioning, but hot water for showers and heating only came on for a few hours in the evening. Temperature control was made harder by an overnight low outside of 2 degrees! The hotel food was uninspiring and of inconsistent quality. The low spot was our second breakfast when there was nothing I found appetising!

Hottest Ski Resort: We had never stayed in a ski resort and this was certainly a hot spot – the weather in Erzurum was still too warm for winter sports. We must have enjoyed bargain off-season rates at the Polat Renaissance – but the food was better than average and it had a well-equipped gym which we used.

Hotel of the Holiday: Van Elite World
The grand foyer and lovely rooms of our hotel in Van were complemented by the best buffet food of the holiday. The only fault was that we ordered drinks expecting them to be “happy hour” prices but discovered the reduced price was only honoured if you sat in a particular bar further away!

Parting of the ways
We ended our exploration of Eastern Turkey in Trabzon on the Black Sea coast. There wasn’t much to recommend our final destination, other than the fact it had a passable hotel close to a well serviced airport. After saying goodbye to the group, and in particular to Aysel we had an early morning departure to Istanbul. After a couple of days rest Megan then flew on to Tashkent to start her next adventure, whilst Adrian flew back home.

Our verdict: Exceeded expectations on all counts!
(Except perhaps for the expected lack of variety in the hotel catering)