Ani, Doğubeyazıt, and Mt. Ararat

Kars is on the Armenian border with Turkey and Ani is just a little drive from there. Then, turning south, you will find Mt. Ararat and Doğubeyazıt palace. Van is a little farther south closer to the Iranian border. Here's a map:

On this map Kars is the most eastern and northern dot. If you follow the edge of the eastern border you come to Mt. Ararat and Doğubeyazıt palace. Then the lıttle southern-most dot on the border is Van.

If you go to the site below you can click on each city to learn a little more.

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/Maps/TouristicMap.html


My group did not actually visit Kars much- just enough to buy some of the famous cheese and honey! Our real goal in going there was to visit Ani, which is an old Armenian city. It was a trade city located on the Silk Road. When the trade routes shifted south, the city's wealth began to decline. Today, it is possible to see some of the churches and some of the house foundations.

The city spans a large area and was enclosed by a huge double castle wall.


Now, the city is located on the Armenian-Turkish border. A river runs next to the ruins and on the other side is Armenia! Both countries have military outposts on the border and people are not allowed to travel through the border. Some people would like to open the border so Armenians can visit the city that was important in their history.

After visiting Ani, my group drove through eastern Turkey to Van. We stopped at Mt. Ararat and Doğubeyazit. There is a story that - if you look carefully - you can see the shape of Noah's Ark under all the snow on the mountain...but I couldn't see it!


Doğubeyazıt was a city controlled by many different peoples. It takes its name from a Turkish lord who built the present castle and ruled there. We had to drive through winding roads and up to a very small mountain top to see the castle. Right now there are intensive restorations going on so we were only allowed in the first courtyard - but even that was pretty big!
After we stopped to see the palace we drove all the way to Van. It was a long trip, but Van was beautiful!

...and you'll hear all about it in my next post!