Kars and Erzurum: Turkey’s Eastern Corner
The beauty of Turkey is that it has an extensive and excellent internal air network. For $75 you can get a return flight that covers 1400 Km in 2hrs. Kars and Erzurum are further from Istanbul than Vienna is. When you land, you can visit the medresse and citadel of Erzurum, or the border city of Ani only 40 m from Kars. Standing on top of the castle at Kars you stare out over the barren looking plains with mountain peaks in the background. The only minor issue being that the town is at 1500m altitude! This a place of true adventure, best experienced in the winter or summer.
KARS
Eastern Turkey Tours
Getting there:
Getting to eastern Turkey is very simple. There are Turkish Airlines and Anadolujet flights three times a day to Kars from Istanbul’s European Airport. There are also Atlasjet and Pegasus flights from both Ankara and Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen (Asian) airport. Some flights are direct and some fly via Ankara.
The ‘Eastern Blue Express’ leaves Ankara and Kars every day and travels across half of Anatolia in 26 hours. Tickets can be bought online, but only 15 days in advance. In the winter, the train is absolutely packed with people who want to see their nation in the snow.
Where to stay
Kars
On arrival we stayed at the modest but very pleasant Gungoren Hotel. If you are in a group, the Hotel Katerina Sarayi, is a good choice. It is at the base of the castle. Or you can try the Isil Park Otel.
Where to Eat
Kars
Down the road from the Gungoren there is the upmarket Kars Kazevi restaurant. But Kars is packed with restaurants and cafes’ and like the rest of Turkey it is very hard to go wrong with Turkish food. The local speciality is a form of large nan bread, honey and stringy cheese.
What to see
This will be a problem, as Kars is literally packed with things to do. It is the jump off point to so many places of interest.
Ani Ruins. Set majestically on the banks of the Arpacay river, this ancient town used to straddle both sides of the border until Stalin destroyed the Armenian side of the border. Visitors now walk amongst the ruins watched by Russian (yes Russian) border guards in towers on the Armenian side. The locals will tell you quite clearly not to stray into the river for the Russian/Armenian guards will shoot to kill without warning or hesitation (Ani is accessible by taxi from Kars).
Kars Castle. Kars is dominated by a castle that was first built by the Seljuk Turks, and was then added to by the Ottoman Turks with the advent of gunpowder and breech loading arms. The Russians then took the area in 1878. They held it until 1917 when the Russian Empire disintegrated. Taken by renegade Armenians it was held for a short while until the glorious Turkish Army re-appeared. After a fierce fight, the castle was retaken by the Turkish State. The Turkish Army moved out of Kars Castle in the 1990’s when they moved to the plateau above it. In Eastern Turkey, holding the high ground is still important. For the historian, all of this is visible in the different architecture and the occasional mauser or mosin cartridge that comes out of the turf. A long walk all over the plateau is called for.
Seytan Kale. An hour and a half drive from Kars and only 6 hours from Georgia the ‘Devils Castle’ or ‘Seytan Kale’ sits in a tight valley hidden from all, guarding the pass into Georgia.
Kars Bazaar. The Carsi or Bazaar of Kars is interesting with items from the Caucasus for sale alongside local produce.
Dogubeyazit– Ishak Pasa Saray sits high above the windswept Anatolian steppe and guards over the road to Persia. Professionally restored by the Turkish government, this tiny palace /castle is worth seeing. The dusty frontier town of Dogubeyazit, just below Ishak Pasha, is also worth a visit.
