Excursion Day 5

On the fifth day, our first stop was Ani, the capital of the old Armenian kingdom, situated right on the present-day border between Turkey and Armenia. There isn’t much left of the old city besides some crumbling castle walls and a few churches. The only problem with ancient ruins is you get exactly what you paid for: ruins. However, I think it’s a real testament to the architects that these structures are still beautiful a thousand years later when they’re lying crippled and broken.

I would have been a little more psyched about touring the area had the weather not decided to take a page out of Siberia’s book. Sure, it looks all sunny and nice in the pictures, but the truth is I felt like I was stranded in a desert of snow and ice—except there wasn’t any snow… or ice. But trust me, it was damn cold. Perhaps this picture will better convey my feelings about the temperature:

The Turkish-Armenian border is divided by a river that cuts a narrow, yet deep, valley through the surrounding flatlands. It was cool to stand on the absolute northeastern edge of Turkey and look out at the watchtowers guarding the border across the river.

After being thoroughly chilled to the bone and getting a white spot on my hand that I was convinced was frostbite (turns out it was dust from one of the castle walls), I happily jumped back on the bus. The next scheduled event was a quick stop at a bird sanctuary near the city of Kars.

Before we got to the sanctuary, we passed through some impressive landscapes. One mountain in the distance had a giant cloud situated on top of it. As we drove by, I noticed that the top of the cloud was especially pointy, almost as if it wasn’t part of the cloud at all, but rather the mountain’s peak. I dismissed the idea immediately, seeing as it would mean the mountain was two or three times larger than all the other gigantic mountains surrounding us. I pointed it out to our guide, thinking it was cool to imagine a mountain being that large; she promptly informed me that that was in fact the peak and that I was looking at Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat is said to be the where Noah’s Ark landed, as it is the highest peak in the surrounding region. In fact, not only is it the highest peak in Turkey, it is taller than any mountain in Europe. Its size was truly stunning.

Mount Ararat (Picture taken later that evening)

I didn't take this picture (I found it on google) but I think
it's a better representation of Mount Ararat's size.

The bird sanctuary was in a wetlands area, and to reach it we had to cross a small stream by jumping from rock to rock. The researchers stationed at the sanctuary showed us how ornithologists trap, measure, tag, and subsequently release birds; we even got to watch a live demonstration.

Since we were essentially in a swamp, there were some mosquitoes flying about. A friend and I made the most of this fact, and used a blade of grass to tickle our other friend’s ear periodically during the demonstration. He thought it was a mosquito the whole time and almost went insane trying to sprint away from ‘all the bugs.’ It turns out that playing silly pranks as if we were 5 years old is still wonderful fun.

We reached the city of Kars in the early evening. Kars is known for it’s honey and cheeses, so a few of us went to a local shop to sniff around and see what all the fuss was about. The honey, especially, was fabulous. I’m usually not much of a honey person, but I could’ve lived on this stuff. Next, we took a short walk to the Kars Castle, situated on a small promontory overlooking the city. We sipped some tea at a small café in the castle, before making our way to dinner. At dinner I ordered a lamb, chicken, cheese, and walnut wrap that was hands-down the best thing I’ve eaten since I came to Turkey. I’m not even going to try to describe it because it won’t sound nearly as good as it tasted. Moral of the story: Kars knows its food. 

View from Kars Castle

Cheese and Honey Shop