Dear users of Turkishclass,
Is anyone of you intersted in visiting Erzurum?
I want to go there for many years but cannot do it alone.
I´d be happy if someone has some intention: we probably can go together??

Visiting Erzurum in the middle of the summer? You must really have a reason to do that. It is sad but we usually do most of our travelling in West and South Turkey. Erzurum is not the best place to go unless you like high altitudes and cold weather. It is also a bit far from Istanbul (1224kms).

The people of Erzurum are known to be conservative. As far as I know, they do not welcome different points of view either. At least, that was the case when they beat my brother to a pulp some 15 years ago. He briefly attended a university and gave up on it when people around him did not welcome his liberal way of thinking.

Maybe a lot has changed since then but I would advise caution especially to a young female like you. If you must go with a big group and avoid dark alleys.

I arrived in Erzurum from Barhal and caught the bus straight out again to Kars. What is there there that is particularly interesting?

Erzurum was an important city in the past, so it still has a bunch of old buildings laying about. I guess that anybody who wants to visit the place is interested in history. But keep in mind that the number of old buildings is limited because of armed conflicts in the past that have left a lot of damage. I guess Erzurum is a one-day-visit city. Erzurum is not a city that is often visited by tourists. It will be hard to find somebody to go there with. To be honest, I would go there too perhaps but only after improving my Turkish A LOT and after I can also understand the Eastern Turkish accent

 Dear ValeriYa,

I send you private message and my contact info.

Lets discuss in msn your idea....

From wikipedia which gives some interesting bits:

The city was conquered by the Russian army in 1829, given back to the Ottoman Empire with the Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne). The poet Alexander Pushkin accompanied the Russian commander-in-chief, Ivan Paskevich, during that expedition and penned a brief account of the campaign. The city was again assaulted by the Russian army in the last Russo-Turkish War in 1877.

The province was the site of the major fighting during Caucasus Campaign of World War I between Russian and Ottoman forces including the key confrontation of the campaign, Battle of Erzurum which resulted in capture of Erzurum by Russian army under command of Grand Duke Nicholas on February 16, 1916. It was returned to the Ottomans with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918. Erzurum was also a main Turkish base during the Turkish War of Independence. It was declared a province of Turkey in 1924.

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Interesting history-but didn´t look that great when I passed through.

I believe it must even be more interesting for a Russian.