Van - Gün 3

After two days of heart-wrenching, tear-inducing interviews with local women, we needed a break. The Doctor picked us up at 10am and took us site-seeing.

Van has quite a few things nearby to see, but we only had time for Van Castle and Akdamar Island.


One of our "guides." He followed behind me as I slipped and slided over the top of Van Castle. I'm pretty sure he thought I was a stupid tourist. 'Just living up to my name.

Sharon and Lisa didn't climb to the top. It was too steep/rocky/icy for them. They were right.


An Urartian Cuneiform Inscription
Van Castle was originally built by the Urartians and the Seljuk Turks built on top of it. The above cuneiform inscription was on the mountain wall leading to the tombs of the Urartian Kings.


Van Castle with Old Van to the right, below it
Above you see a photo of the Seljuk Van Castle, at the top of the mountain. To the right (at the bottom of the mountain) you can see the remains of Old Van (destroyed during WWI). There were so many dead scattered throughout, that they just covered the land with dirt and the whole area is a graveyard for both Turks and Armenians. There's two mosques undergoing restoration there.


A view of Van from the top
Appropriately, there was a metallic modern-looking Ataturk statue (and Turkish flag) at the top of Van Castle. But above you see a view of the edge of the city.


A Seljuk Gate
Our boy guides occupied themselves trying to throw snowballs through the window to the left.


As I was getting into the Doctor's car, I saw this girl collecting sticks, and waving dandelions at me.


A line of bakkal, a quick snack before continuing our trip
After Van Castle, we were on our way. No time for lunch, but we stopped for a snack break.

We saw the road turnoff for Iran, but instead we took the road along Van Lake, which is surrounded by these gorgeous mountains...and doesn't go to Iran. By the waterside men were selling fresh caught fish, and grilling them, too.


Akdamar Kilisesi
Akdamar Kilisesi: Above you see Akdamar Church (Church of the Holy Cross), it was built in 921 along with a palace and a monastery, but the church is all that remains today. Its walls are covered in reliefs of Armenian Crosses, and bits of stories from the Bible.

Nowadays, Akdamar Kilisesi is visited by tons of Armenian pilgrims during the summer. The Turks also consider it a great picnic spot (as evidenced by the group of teenagers that we shared the island with today). Unfortunately, the church is undergoing restoration, so we couldn't go inside to see the interior frescoes. They're apparently importing matching stone from a nearby town.


Akdamar Kilisesi
Akdamar: There's a story about how Akdamar island got its name. A long time ago, a religious man used to live on the island with his daughter, Tamara. She fell in love with a [shepard?] boy, but her father forbid her to see him. So, each night the boy would swim the 3km of Van Lake. Tamara would lead the boy to the safe part of the shore with a candle. Her father eventually found out and locked her in a house. He took the candle, and led the boy back and forth across the island until he could swim no more. Finally, he drowned and his last words were "Ah...Tamara!" Over time, his last words faded into "Akdamar."


A closeup of the reliefs on the walls


Around the church is a graveyard. Many people who have achieved 'saintliness' have been buried here. We even found a gravestone from the 1800s.


Boats in Lake Akdamar


The snow-capped mountains surrounding Lake Van


Akdamar Island as we left
To get to the island, you have to take a small passenger boat out. Our captain showed us a video of the "Van Canavarı", basically a creature of the Lochness Monster type, used to boost tourism.


Look familiar? Spotted on a car parked at the dinner/restaurant
We headed back to Van, stopping for a late lunch/dinner on the way. The Doctor finally let us pay for a meal! Afterwards, we went to a carpet shop and wasted the rest of the evening there, buying kilims. They're so much cheaper in the East!

Buying a carpet is an interesting thing. You sit there, haggling with the dealer, pretending not to be interested in what you really want, drinking çay, acting outraged at the given prices, saying "I'm a student!", etc. It's a very complicated process ;)