There is not much to say - İshak Paşa Sarayı speaks for itself.
Noah's Arch - opposite Mt Ararat - the authentic (real) landing spot
Ararat (big and small)
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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Iğdır - Doğubayazıt
There are days you should better stay in bed :)
İ left Iğdır around 11 after İ got some Flue medicine for free from a nice Pharmacist - Thanks!
There are two ways - the highway and the "high" way - İ wanted to go through Çilli and took a right after the Jandarma post. Unfortunately the road turned let say "bad" after the first village.
İ decided that 1000m asscend on this road will not happen and took a left into a path to save elevation. Well that İ did! :) but the path was stony to the point where you could no longer bounce form stone to stone.
Eventually İ had to push the bike to the road with a flat back and a lot of time lost...
İ checked both tyres and pulled about 30 odd thorns out of each! Normally that would mean find a car go wherever, find spares - good İ invested in good tyres!! İn the back İ found a tiny hole fixed it and was on the road again (minus one shoe though :)
500 m later the same shit! İ had a spare tube (thanks Stu!) and with that İ got the ride of my life :)
Me on the back of a motorcycle holding on to the seat with my left holding onto the bike with my right speeding up the mountain on a gravel road - Safety first!
Up İ realised my new Arkadash just dropped me and rode back down - Thanks to you man - you saved the day.
The rest of the ride was dusty as they are redoing the road and İ arrived all over in mud, dust and sweat.
But İ have a nice hotel - expect loads of İshak Paşa Sarayı pictures.
İ left Iğdır around 11 after İ got some Flue medicine for free from a nice Pharmacist - Thanks!
There are two ways - the highway and the "high" way - İ wanted to go through Çilli and took a right after the Jandarma post. Unfortunately the road turned let say "bad" after the first village.
İ decided that 1000m asscend on this road will not happen and took a left into a path to save elevation. Well that İ did! :) but the path was stony to the point where you could no longer bounce form stone to stone.
Eventually İ had to push the bike to the road with a flat back and a lot of time lost...
İ checked both tyres and pulled about 30 odd thorns out of each! Normally that would mean find a car go wherever, find spares - good İ invested in good tyres!! İn the back İ found a tiny hole fixed it and was on the road again (minus one shoe though :)
500 m later the same shit! İ had a spare tube (thanks Stu!) and with that İ got the ride of my life :)
Me on the back of a motorcycle holding on to the seat with my left holding onto the bike with my right speeding up the mountain on a gravel road - Safety first!
Up İ realised my new Arkadash just dropped me and rode back down - Thanks to you man - you saved the day.
The rest of the ride was dusty as they are redoing the road and İ arrived all over in mud, dust and sweat.
But İ have a nice hotel - expect loads of İshak Paşa Sarayı pictures.
Iğdır center square
The little detour...
The consequences...
potential dinner...
Ağrı Dağı from the southern side ...
The dusty way to Doğubayazıt
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Kağızman - Iğdır
Highlight of the day - arrival after 101 km of dusty and increasingly strong protected road . I saw many tanks again on the way - this time it the Armenians not the Kurds though - the road follows the border for quite a while. Check points turned out to be good spots to restock water - thanks to all the guys out there!
Iğdır itself is nothing special - the smog and dust hangs below the Arart and makes the scenery a bit dull - İ wonder how much for the pollution is home made and how much is from Yervan which is about 40 km Northeast.
Iğdır itself is nothing special - the smog and dust hangs below the Arart and makes the scenery a bit dull - İ wonder how much for the pollution is home made and how much is from Yervan which is about 40 km Northeast.
an "other" road - maybe next time (Lex?)
İ quite enjoyed the landscape again
İ quite enjoyed the landscape again
after about 50km - half way
AĞRI DAĞI (Mt Ararat)The view for the last 25km - İt looks higher from this side (because it is :)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Kars - Kagızman
Kars is on a big plateau - which means there is a lot of "flat" landscape around. My next destination is Igdır. İf you believe google maps there are a 100 ways to go...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.264857,43.582764&spn=0.755536,1.485901&z=10
Obviously İ stopped believing google on the availability of roads and only the brief hint of a semi reliable source made me take the road to Kagızman - which İ never heard of before :)
What can İ say - it was a fantastic choice!
The first 40 km lead across the plateau to an unnamed pass 2020m high - that bit was a bit lonely and the rather strong head wind did not make me very happy either.
The "pass" is simply the highest point on a big flat something - but then what a change - a lush green valley unfolds in front of me and the road winds down into a paradise like micro cosmos. İ stopped so many times just to look around - simply fantastic...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.264857,43.582764&spn=0.755536,1.485901&z=10
Obviously İ stopped believing google on the availability of roads and only the brief hint of a semi reliable source made me take the road to Kagızman - which İ never heard of before :)
What can İ say - it was a fantastic choice!
The first 40 km lead across the plateau to an unnamed pass 2020m high - that bit was a bit lonely and the rather strong head wind did not make me very happy either.
The "pass" is simply the highest point on a big flat something - but then what a change - a lush green valley unfolds in front of me and the road winds down into a paradise like micro cosmos. İ stopped so many times just to look around - simply fantastic...
out of Kars
a little further...
The end of the plateau (world)?
Down we go into another life
The end of the plateau (world)?
Down we go into another life
The vally İ came down
Friday, October 2, 2009
Ani
Ani is a fantastic place. True, much of the city is in bas shape but the wide openen spaces and the remaining monuments are stunning. Two things are anoying though - You still cant see everything because of the army presence, second the Armenians have the brilliant idea to run a quarry across the river which disturbes the peace of this acient place.
İ expected a nice small road and then this :)
The 45 km in the morning started with a "little" dog dissagreeing with me being there - 4 years ago İ would have died instantaniously of an heart attack... but that was the only incident and that kept my adrenalin going - well i am not a morning person.
Not much left of the bridge but keep in mind the left side of the picture is Armenia...
The Bıg Cathedral alias Fethiye Mosque
İ expected a nice small road and then this :)
The 45 km in the morning started with a "little" dog dissagreeing with me being there - 4 years ago İ would have died instantaniously of an heart attack... but that was the only incident and that kept my adrenalin going - well i am not a morning person.
The Menucehr Mosque is under restoration - the first Seljuk Mosque in Anatolia 1072
Tigran Honents Church - a little unexpected Jewel
Maidens Church - used to be off limits:)
Not much left of the bridge but keep in mind the left side of the picture is Armenia...
The Bıg Cathedral alias Fethiye Mosque
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Kars
Yesterday was a bit of a disaster. İ missed my bus by half an hour because they decided it is a good idea to move the airport 10 km behind the airport...
and ended up with a friendly band of devout Muslims...
Well to cut a long story short İ had an exiting afternoon and finally left Diyabakir 10:30 pm for Kars.
Kars is a bit of a culture and temperature shock. İ love the city but it could be warmer.
Beware there are some nasty pictures further down - so if you can't see blood don't scroll all the way down !
The City is a after all a bit rough around the edges.
Kars form the from the castle
As İ went down from the Castle İ ran into the last moments of this sheep. The family was very keen on having pictures taken of everything and everybody. Never saw that before... 
and ended up with a friendly band of devout Muslims...
Well to cut a long story short İ had an exiting afternoon and finally left Diyabakir 10:30 pm for Kars.
Kars is a bit of a culture and temperature shock. İ love the city but it could be warmer.
Beware there are some nasty pictures further down - so if you can't see blood don't scroll all the way down !
The City is a after all a bit rough around the edges.
Words - recommended literature
Kars
Kars form the from the castle
A tribute to Çay
The stone bridge to the castle
let me sleep
The view from my room
Nice architecture
The Apostles Church
My new student friends Zafer and Sezen
Here comes the blood!
As İ went down from the Castle İ ran into the last moments of this sheep. The family was very keen on having pictures taken of everything and everybody. Never saw that before... 
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