Buyuk Asur Van

... as though the smoke was movıng behıng thıs huge black mass. There ıs no buıldıng that tall ın that dırectıon and ıf there was I would not have a clear vıew of the mountaın. It could be a spotlıght doıng thıs but there was at least a lıghter shade of smoke can be seen where the 'mass' ıs. It contınued for about half an hour and then the mass dıssapeared and I could see ...

... started in the 13th century BC, when the kingdom of Urartu (Ararat in the Bible) set up its capital here, so there should be enough to see in and around the city for our 4 days there, but the trouble was, not all the places where we wanted to go are readily accessible. Public transportation to areas outside the city is spotty at best, since locals do not travel a lot, and there is only a small number of outside visitors in ...

... objective of the following morning was to visit the Akdamar Island with another of the iconic sights of Turkey, the 10th century Akdamar Kilisesi (Church of the Holy Cross). I first wasted some time looking for a mini-bus stand at which the LP book indicated transportation could be found. But I couldn't find it. And no one I questioned seemed to have any firm knowledge either. So I did what I should have done in the first place, just go to the otogar and take a major ...

... left at 11pm that night – a 9 hour wait! That left us with no choice but to return to the main road and wait for the next bus bound for Van.

(Sim)

As we left Diyanbakir the land was dry, barren and rather nondescript. Seven hours later, as the first siting of the lake came into view, the scenery had changed dramatically. Rolling green hills and sharp craggy mountains (with a few still snow capped) surrounded the enormous glistening blue lake. Wild ...

... sn't routınely cleaned. I was on the top floor, whıch only had my room and a large dorm. I saıd hı to the guys hangıng out and learned they were from Iran. They were extremely frıendly and ıt was a posıtıve, hopeful experıence to meet them as Obama attempts to navıgate a dıalogue wıth Ajawhateverhısnameıs before Israel does somethıng sılly. The followıng day I met Hyun, who was travelıng wıth her mother from Korea. We arranged to have a guıded tour of Van ...

... by earthquakes, sometimes bending them and stretching them into long strange peaks and canyons. We drove along Lake Van and around the mountains before turning south and stopping outside the town of Hosap to camp for the night. There was a strong military presence because we were only 100km from the Iraq border. The night got very cold very ...

... wall. I didnt know why there was so much military presence. Were we in Kurdish territory. If so, were they looking for Kurdish extremists. Was it because we were not too far (but yet not too close either) from the Iraqi border. Was this a common road for opium to cross through from Afghanistan - via Iran (apparently it is the season). I had no idea so I was forced to come up with my own conclusion. I guessed it had to do with drugs as they were ...

... that we found one company that still had a bus going to Van at 130 pm - less than an hour's wait for us. Perfect! We bought our tickets and headed for the bus. I was surprised to see that we were issued seats 1, 2 and 3. Did this mean that there would be no one else on the bus? When I got there, I realized that we were. I had never seen this before. However, we did notice about 6 older Turkish men loading the luggage compartment and the inside of the bus with candy ...

... 1086;ри облек 83;ата на женит 77;) в сравн 77;ние с околн 80;те градо 74;е и прови 85;ции. .. to be continued