First Gaziantep Picnic

Several of my students from last term had suggested that we get together on a Sunday afternoon. I had expected that we'd go somewhere, drink tea, and chat. However, when they came to pick me up, they informed me that we were going to the zoo and then for a picnic. I had been to the zoo a couple of months earlier. It had been a pleasant afternoon but cold and a bit blustery. This time is was sunny and pleasant. All of the animals were out, enjoying the day. When we got to the camels we found a zookeeper who was quite chatty. He got them to come over to the fence by whistling. A bit later he went and got hay to feed them. There was another zoo employee with a walkie-talkie who was full of all sorts of information. He actually accompanied us to a few more exhibits.

As you can see above, the peacocks were strutting their stuff. ALL of them had their tails fanned and were trying to get the attention of a seemingly bored group of females. The zoo also has two white peacocks (you can see them behind the fanned tail of the bird in the photo), and they, too, eventually got into the action. It was quite an impressive sight.

The Gaziantep zoo is relatively new: 6-7 years old. It's the largest acreage-wise in Turkey and appears to be well maintained. They are just opening an elephant house and are already redoing the raptor area. When Ted and I visited in February, we saw the owls and hawks. Now that area is closed and is being redone. Hopefully the raptors will soon have a nice new home.

The area around the zoo is all pine forest. There are a lot of reforestation projects in the area, and they seem to plant only -- or that's how it looks to me -- this type of sort of bushy pine. All around the zoo there are picnic tables scattered throughout these woods. We drove around until we found a suitable spot and then the students went to work.

Abdullah getting the fire started.

Nur expertly chopping tomatoes, cucumbers and onions to eat with the kebabs

Burak keeping the fire going

Eggplants grilled. These were later mashed and mixed with yogurt and some veggies. Yummy!

Mesut (in red) rolled the chickn wings in a spice mixture and cut up the chicken breasts and thighs for the kebabs

Chicken wings and a couple of onions on the grill

Photo's a bit blurry but we did have a feast! Looks like Mesut is in the background, hunched over the grill.

Mali trying out the hammock

Van Day 3

The famous Van Breakfast -- and they hadn't brought the pita bread yet!

When you tell someone you're going to Van, the first word out of their mouth is "breakfast." Van is famous throughout Turkey for its breakfast. Actually, our hotel had almost the same thing, but we decided to try one of the local breakfast establishments. There were the usual tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. But there was also a special Van cheese made with herbs collected in the mountains, a local version of kaymak, skimmed off the top of yogurt made with whole, (I'm assuming unpastuerized) milk, tahini (foreground) that you mix with a sweet sauce made from grapes, a kind of "cream of bulgur" fried in butter, other cheeses, fried eggs and sausage, etc.etc. We had a marathon day in front of us and didn't actually eat again until we were on the plane home.

It was Easter Sunday. Our route was to take us east and slightly south of Van to visit two castles. The road took us by this beautiful lake, actually man-made as the river had been dammed up. Gorgeous day.

The first castle, apparently the most photographed in Turkey, was Hoshap. The photo above certainly isn't prize-winning, but I chose it because if you look at the hill to the left, you'll see the remains of a watch touch. Actually, if you click on the photo, you'll see the remains of walls that we built as a first line of defense. The original structure was built by the Urartians, but what remains today is mostly Ottoman.

I liked this picture of the entrance. We were the only ones there. There is a watchman who will let you in for a small entrance fee -- I think we paid 5 TL for two. The iron doors are original.

The entrance is the only part of the original remaining. Strange to think people went up and down these stairs for over 2,000 years.

A view of the road leading to Iran, taken from the castle

View from the back side. The entrance is on the right side.

We were stopped at a military checkpoint coming back from Hosap castle. These Kurdish women, who were traveling to a wedding were stopped too. They actually went through our luggage. There's a lot of smuggling across the Turkish-Iranian border, mostly unleaded gas and heroin. We took the opportunity to get a picture.

From below Chavustpe castle looks just like any old ridge. However, there were actually two fortifications here. You see one on the knoll to the right. However, there is a "lesser" fortification on a knoll to the the left -- out of the picture.

View from Chavustepe across very fertile plain into the snow-capped mountains.

The winding canal to the right of the road is the original Urartian canal built to bring water to Van, about 50 km away. It's about 2,500 years old!

Mehmet Kushman, the caretaker at the site, lives in a nearby village. He was hired on during the original excavations and ultimately taught himself to read Urartian. He's one of only 38 people in the world who can read that language. All of his children are university educated and his son studies archeology and is planning to follow in his father's footsteps. Mr. Kushman also showed us with great pride an invitation to a conference in Los Angeles to which he was invited and which he attended. He said he's been involved with Chavustepe for 49 years! He has carved the Urartian alphabet and numbering system into a basalt plaque, which he sells.

Above left is the god Haldi surrounded by the Urartian numbers. On the right is the Urartian alphabet.

The inscription Mr Kushman is reading refers to the reason for the building of Chavustepe. It was built between 756-730 BC by the Urartian king Sarduri II. In this inscription he recounts the greatness of his father, Sarduri I. He says he knows that he is now king because of his father. Sarduri II tells how he found this plain without fruits, without vegetables or anything needed to survive. He was determined to recreate a wonderful place for his people to live and he was doing it in honor of his father. He also notes that anyone who might try to interfere with this place would lose the favor of Haldi, the chief god in the Urartian pantheon.

The little circles are the tops of buried storage jars. They still contain wheat.

Carbonized wheat taken from the storage jars

One of the reasons I wanted to travel to Van and the reason I chose the Easter weekend was Akdamar church, on Akdamar island. It is a former Armenian cathedral, the Church of the Holy Cross, built by the Armenian King Gagik between 915-921. It was actually part of a whole complex out on the island. You can still see the graves of the monks who lived there. There were terraced gardens below the church, on the side facing the mainland; the terraces are still there. There was also a palace, although we didn't see any remains. That doesn't mean they aren't there, however.

Church from below, walking up from the ferry dock

The entire church is wrapped in bas-relief. There is a kind of border with botanical images below the roof line. Some say it depicts flora through the seasons. Below that there are larger-than-life scenes from the Bible, like Adam and Eve eating the apple from the tree of knowledge, Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac on an altar, etc. They are quite amazing.

David and Goliath

Story of Jonah and the whale.

Of course, they had never seen a whale so they had to imagine what one would look like. The head's a bit strange but otherwise they weren't too far off. The interior was once covered with frescos. Quite a bit remains but there is still room for restoration. What I had hoped to do and was able to carry out in a modified way was to play some sacred music in the church on Easter. I took along my iPod and battery-powered speakers. After consulting with our guide I set them up and started playing the Kyrie from John Rutter's "Mass for Children." Of course, the guard came running, but was assured by our guide I wasn't doing anything "religious." However, we were also under time pressure as we had to catch a ferry back to the mainland and then get to the airport by 3 PM. So I could play as much as I wanted. But at least the sacred nature of the church was "recognized" on Easter -- even if just a little bit.

Not certain but it may be the ascension as well as Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

Crucifixion

Parting view -- the church against Mr. Artos with the almond trees in bloom

Van: Day 2

Saturday was to be our long day. We drove northeast along the edge of Lake Van, headed toward Ishak Pasha Sarayi, not far from Mt. Ararat. The scenery was stunning and there were sheep everywhere. Apparently, livestock was a very big part of the economy until the fighting broke out between the Turkish army and the Kurds. It's referred to as a war, actually. It sent thousands of Kurdish refugees into the cities, particularly those of eastern and southeastern Turkey. This particular shepherd had been a long-haul trucker before retiring to his farm. He actually invited us to come to his house to drink tea, but we had to get back on the road. This wasn't the last stop we made to take pictures of sheep.

Our first stop was Muradiye Falls. As it's prime snow melt time, they were really roaring. Actually, we stopped a bit earlier at a much small water fall, really water rushing through a gorge and under a bridge. It was here I spotted what I think was a White Wagtail.



From the falls to Caldiran, locate on the edge of a beautiful plain ringed with mountains. Actually the plain is famous for a very famous battle that took place between the Persians (speciffically the Shafavid Dynasty) and the Ottomans in 1514. The Ottomans beat the Persians decisively, thereby gaining control over Eastern Anatolia. We stopped there for tea -- tea breaks are very Turkish. Actually, it was good to get out of the car. There was some sort of celebration going on -- political in nature, but we never did find out exactly what it was. Then we drove across a pass. For what seemed like quite a while we drove through lava beds that reminded me of the Malpais in New Mexico. As we went over the pass we got a good view of the volcano Mt. Tenduerek. It was beautifully clear. Interestingly, when we drove back later that afternoon we encountered snow flurries.

As we came down from the pass, there was a view of Mr. Ararat across the valley. Unfortunately, all we could see was the base of the mountain. However, living with the comings and goings of Mr. Rainier, I'm used to that. We drove on the the Iranian border crossing where we got a look at Little Mt. Ararat.

Little Mt. Ararat. The Big Mr. Ararat is to the left, mostly hidden in the clouds.

Turkish and Iranian flags at the border.

This is probably as close as I will get to Iran. If you click on the picture and look in front of the red bus, you'll see the face of an Ayatolla -- they said Khomeini but I don't think that's correct. Actually, one of the reasons we made the trip right to the border was to get into the Duty Free Shop. In theory, on those who have come across from Iran and not yet passed the last Turkish checkpoint can shop there. However, our guards drove right around the checkpoint. Unfortunately, "we" weren't able to buy anything, because the person on duty said they were being watched for just such activities. I use the term because it was really our guides who wanted to pick up some stuff from that store.

From the border we drove back to Isak Pasha Sarayi (castle). They have just finished a major renovation. Sadly, the Russians burned it during the First World War. The portal was gold plated -- and is now on display in the Hermitage. They also took all the books out of the library. Since the roof burn, the castle was exposed to the elements until fairly recently. As you can see from the photo below, they have built raised roofs with clerestory windows over the exposed areas. These window let in a lot of light.

Isak Pasha Sarayi from above

The castle isn't that old, by Turkish standards. It was built in 1785 and not completed until sometime in the 19th century. The builder, Isak Pasha, was a local chieftan of either Kurdish, Armenian or Georgian decent. Actually this was more of a residence than military installation. The Russians burned the castle during the First World War. The portal was gold plated and can now be viewed in the hermitage. And the took all the books from the library as well. Don't know where they are.

The dining room in the palace. Notice the roof. It really does let in a lot of light without distracting. Very nice approach to the restoration.

One of the fourteen bedrooms, each with its own fireplace and fabulous view of the valley below

Of course, Isak Pasha was not the first to build on this site with its strategic location the silk road. Across a small gully from the palace you can see a mosque built by Selim II, who defeated the Persians in the decisive battle at Chaldiran. You an also see the remains of a Urartian fortification.

After what had been a long day, we had a late lunch in Dogubeyazit. They had regular tables but we chose Turkish style. One of our guides said he had just such a table at his house.

Driving back to Van we spotted this next from the road. We drove into the village and sure enough, there was a stork in it. What fun.

Almost back to Van we stopped at a place where you could by salt "distilled" from local water. It turned out the proprietor was busy grilling pearl mullet, a kind of fish that lives only in Lake Van. It was quite tasty. It turns out to be pearl mullet season. One of our guides had stopped and purchased some for his father from a roadside merchant.


Our last stop for the day was Van Castle. The original Old Van was on the back side. It was razed by the Ottomans during World War I, ostensibly to keep the Russians from getting it. Actually, the poor city had changed hands between them several times. I always feel sorry for the citizens when empires clash.


This is one of the gates into the old city through what remains of the original wall. In the background is one of two remaining mosques. This one has been painstakingly restored. The other is locked up and is apparently just a shell.


On the right you see all that remains of what was once an Armenian church. I have been told that "Van" means city in Armenian. The Van basin was the center of an Armenian dynasty, the Atzruni dynasty. At the time of its demise, this walled city housed about 80,000 people; the rest of the population lived on farms and orchards outside the walls. It must have been lovely.



My artistic picture, a ray from the sun setting over Lake Van -- taken from the portico of the restored mosque. A great way to finish a great day.

Van: Day I

View from what's left of Old Van into the mountains behind the city. The look much closer in real life.

Van, located in eastern Turkey not far from the Iranian border, had been on my list of sites to visit from the very beginning. I'd seen pictures of Van Lake and the surrounding mountains and found them quite inviting. Also my sister and brother-in-law inherited a cat they believe to be a Van cat, very special indeed. I just had to go check it out. Finally, that part of the country is more unknown to westerners and hence more mysterious. So when spring arrived, I bought myself a plane ticket, booked a hotel room, got the name of a guide and took off. Fortunately, one of my colleagues heard I was going and decided to come along.

My first impression after getting out of the plane was awe. The mountains seemed so close. It was much more spectacular than I had expected. My traveling companion was actually coming on a plane from Istanbul, arriving a couple hours after I touched down, so I took a taxi into town, checked into the hotel and started exploring. The old city of Van was actually razed by the Ottomans during the First World War. They had been fighting with the Russians over it's possession, and the city actually passed between them a couple of times during the early 20th century. The old city had been located at the foot of Van Castle, right on the lake. The new city was built a few miles inland. Architecturally, it's not at all interesting, mostly four or five story square buildings. But the streets are mostly laid out in a comprehensible fashion and are broad enough to accommodate traffic. There is also an energy and openness around the city, something you can really feel.

We called the guide after getting settled into the hotel. He and his partner came to the hotel to discuss what we'd be doing for the next couple of days. The one thing I wanted to do that afternoon was to visit a weaving cooperative I'd read about. It is a charitable trust set up to aid poor village women by paying them a fair wage for their work, and the profits go to a community health care project. I had been wanting to by a Turkish rug but had no idea how to do it without having to deal with the rapacious rug merchants. This seemed like the perfect solution.

The two guides decided they would accompany us since they hadn't heard about the place and wanted to check it out. It turned out to be difficult to find and when we got there it was closed. Someone went and got the key to let us in, but it appears that the coop might be closed for a couple of months. There was one spacious, well-lit room with probably a dozen looms set up. Most were empty but some had works "in progress."

A rug on a standard loom. Note the CD player on the left.

The loom is strung and ready to go. All the yarn is colored with natural dyes.

Having had no luck at this cooperative, our guides took us to another rug place that has EU support for teaching young village girls both rug making and life skills such as basic hygiene, child care, etc. They had room after room of rugs, both the woven kilims and the knotted rugs.

This is just one room. They had just about anything you could possible want in any shape and size.

Above is one of the students at the school. Notice that she has a knife in her left hand. After tying a knot, she expertly swings that knife out and cuts the threads so quickly you hardly realize she's done it.


And I did get to see Van cats. They are special for several reasons. First, they like the water. Also many, but not all, of them have one blue eye and one black eye. And because it gets cold in Van in the winter, they grow a large ruff around their necks. There is actually a Van cat institute at the university there. That's where most people go to see them. However, I got to see my cats at the rug place, so we didn't need to make that stop.


That night we had dinner in our hotel, Otel Tamara, in case you hadn't guessed. It's a famous Ocak (pronounced Ojak) restaurant. An Ocak is simple a grill in the middle of the table. It looked to us like the fuel for the grill was hazel nut shells. You pick out your meet from a cooler. We selected lamb shish kebabs, little lamb steaks and chicken shish kebabs. They also bring sliced tomatoes, onions, stuffed mushrooms, and green peppers (the hot kind) to grill along with the meat. Of course there is bread, meet and salad. We actually spent two lazy hours at the table. There was traditional music playing on a bandstand and we just went very slowly. Great way to end the day.