Hello 13/10/2011
Arrived in Erzurum under a cloak of darkness. Taxi to our hotel from the train from Istanbul. Fairly uneventful journey as I spent most of it with my head in the toilet bowel. A bad case of tummy BUG. But a few Norflaxin had me up and around in a couple of days only for Citt to be struck as well. So we spent 2 days in a quiet 5 star in Erzurum. In hindsight we were both jet lagged and down on our health so it was timely to get it out of the way. We did not eat so we enjoyed the heavily discounted Marriott.  |
| Rennaisance Hotel Erzurum |
Erzurum sits smack bang on the cross roads of trade routes. It has a violent history since the earliest man walked here in 3000BC. The sites are fewhowever there is an exceptional 12th century mosque and a Seljuk Hall.
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| Mongol Council House Central Erzurum |
The main square has a Mongol council house with no windows and a single minaret added to make it look like a mosque. True the minaret is beautiful with tiles and mosaics.
Apart from the jewel markets (a 12th century palace converted to shops.) There is little else to hold ones attention. Unless you love cakes and sweets as this town has a caveat on them. Baklava, Eclairs, Rich sponges, and ice cream to die for. There are salons where women can go by themselves and of course the guys take their girls to sit and giggle while taking photos and texting to friends and facebooking the result.
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| Tea shop |
It would be difficult for a single woman to travel here as the men are really in your face.
Visa to Iran is proving difficult as they do not seem to have the necessary documents I paid for from Tehran. So after the first call and we got nowhere decided to head out to Kars and the ancient city of Ani. Trying to not waste time waiting for Beurocrats to send a file via god knows how.
Kars is an old city standing in the road of Emporers, Kings, Despots and Kahns. It has a bloody history. Has been a part of Armenia. Russia, Persia, even the British had a go at it during the Caucus wars. I think the light brigade was around here somewhere will do some research and let you know.
Kars is dominated by a huge bluestone fort. The city is Russian built you would think you were in Irkusk or central Russia with stone houses on a neat grid with well laid out streets lined with trees. |
| Kars Memorial museum Russian house |
From here we visited the ancient 'city of Ani
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| The olive Press Ani City |
This city now derelict once housed 100,000 people It was a vital link and a major trading place on the Silk Road. It was founded in 950 or thereabouts by the Armenian Bogradite Kings who made it their capital. These guys were pretty big in those days. They did OK with some fist fights with the Byzantines and Seljuks but it all came unstuck when the Mongols came and got rid of the lot. The City was left deserted and earthquakes did the rest. It is lttle more than a heap of stones and ruined churches on the border of modern Armenia. By the way the border is closed due to a dispute so nothing has really changed.
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| Ruins |
We spent three hours at the site and it was eerie to be in houses with the evidence of fires, in shops with the Pide oven in place. Walk a cobble street where Mums would have met and spent a time gossiping The gates where the tax agent lived and stand outside the church where a bride and groom Would have started life together. Dreams and realities all dead long gone.
We left the site and retruned to Erzurum to get the elusive Visa.
Tomorrow 14th we leave for Mesopatamia. Diyabakur, Sanlurfa and Lake Van. The attraction? Hanny near Lurfa is reputed to be the oldest inhabited city on the planet. Plus Nemrut Darghi (Roman Heads) and Gobeki Tepe (10000BC older than stone henge). here Abraham was borne, this is the beggining of civilisation as we know it and it is all still standing ready for us to visit.
Are you still with us?
Let's go.
We are in search of Persia
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| The Jewel Market Erzerum |
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