July 13 -- Kars

The Konak Hotel provided what has become the usual Turkish buffet breakfast: a dizzying selection of olives, lots of cheeses, flat bread and lots of fruit spreads, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, milk, cereal and yogurt, watermelon, and some other vegetables. Lots of honey is also produced, consumed and served in eastern Turkey. There was also a very old looking, traditionally dressed lady who made omelets. 

Like many areas in this region, Kars has been repeatedly conquered by competing nationalities, including the Armenians, Azeris, Turkmen, Kurds, Ottoman, Russians and most recently the Turks. The Russians grabbed it from the Ottomans in 1878 and created a lot of the currently existing infrastructure and architecture as well as lots of monuments. Even the local high school occupies what was once a Russian winter mansion and many of the government buildings seem to be from the Russian occupation era. Also, unlike any of the cities in this area, much of the city is laid out in a grid pattern making navigating it a bit easier.

Towering over the city is a medieval fortress that was initially constructed by the Saltuk Turks in the 12^th century.  It was demolished by Tamerlane in the 14^th century (that man really got around this region and seemed to leave utter destruction in his wake). It was actually the site of intense fighting during WWI when the Russians initially held off the Ottomans, then fell back into Ottoman hands after the Russian revolution, was conquered by the Armenians after WWI and finally fell to the Turkish republican forces in the (Turkish) War of Independence. There are lots of bullet holes and cannon ball impacts.

We spoke with hotel staff and I think they suggested that we walk to the fortress, but I decided to drive since we planned on going other places after the fortress. That was a little mistake since there was chocking traffic and it was not far. After we parked we encountered a German Turkish family who were visiting the homeland. This proved to be a common occurrence as we subsequently met several such returnees.  The teenage daughter spoke perfect unaccented English.

While it was a steep, long walk up a cobblestone ramp to the fortress, it was not the knee-jarring climb the tour book warned about. The fortress had a lot of well-preserved walls and areas. There were lots of signs advising that it was illegal and dangerous to climb on the walls, but lots of people were doing that. It afforded a great view of the town and river below, as well as the steppe in the distance.  There are also four religious institutions along the river at the base of the fortress, one dating back to the 10^th century. They are all mosques now, but two got their start as churches. God had to switch sides along the way.

We walked back down past two ruined Turkish bathhouses, Hamans, and across a 16^th century basalt stone bridge. We then went to a tea garden perched along the riverbank. It offered a shady, but windy respite from the sun. There was vitually no one there so the waiter, a young Turkish student engaged us in conversation. He never identified his nationality, but spoke about the targeted killings of groups in the region and the continuing problems that has caused. He took us into an old mill that was adjacent to the garden. It was built and operated by the Russians and seemed to have been abandoned intact. He is eager to come to America and continue his studies in zoology.

We crossed back over the river and found the tea garden identified in the book (not as nice as the one we went to) and were engaged by an older man. He spoke with great animation, but no English at all and I had no idea what he was talking about.

We then began what should have been a short trip to the Kars Museum, but I got completely turned around and wasted 45 minutes in the rain before we found the place. During that tour of Kars we did find the tourist office, and although that guide could not get us to the museum, he did give us a beautifully photographed, and well-documented book about Ani.

The museum documented the history of the city and had pictures of the ruined Armenian churches in the region. We were the only ones there.

I tired to mail some postcards at the PTT, but it closed at 5. I purchased some cherries and baklava after some negotiation with the vendors.

We attempted to go to dinner at the Ocakbasi restaurant that is a local favorite that has a cave-like dining room decorated with farm implements, but we did not account for the Ramadan rush. It was full. We were hustled next door with the commitment that it was the same food from the same kitchen. It was a good meal with white tablecloths.

Returning to the hotel lobby- we encountered a Minnesota woman who is married to a Turkish man. They have one child, a very blond boy who along with a Swedish family with 4 blond kids who were also in the lobby, made for a very distinctive color display. She said that she loved living in Istanbul, but missed her family.

The next morning we made it out of Kars without getting lost. When we stopped for gasoline the attendant saw the state of our car and motioned us over to the car wash.  The drive to Ani was a 45-minute breeze.