Here is a review of one of the area's I have been to in June 2006.

Ishak Paşa Sarayi is a recent renovated castle at 6 kilometres from Dogubayazit in the north east of Turkey. This castle could just have escaped from the tales of 1000-and-1 nights. It is on the mountain slope with a wonderful view at the everlasting snow of Mount Ararat. The castle is more than 300 years old and has been built during a period of more than 100 years, so many different styles are used like the Seljuk, Ottoman, Georgian, Persian and Armenian. At the court yard you will find the – closed – tomb meant for the original habitants. Next to it something a lot of people think it is a dog house. But no, it is the ‘air-conditioning’ to prevent the air down insides rots and smells awful.

The golden doors between the first and second entrance have been removed during Russian occupancy and they are now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Several spaces for the three women of the pasha and their families are close to each other, all with views to the inner yard. Different opinions of the so-called kitchen do exist. The number of square meters does it make reasonable to believe but the depth of the ‘washing’ place does suspect there was a private hammam once. In the basement there are rooms for staff, the stables and prisoner cells. Finally a historical building without a lot of dirt and graffiti.

The view from the palace is stunning and breath taking. A little below one of the windows there is a carved statue presenting a human, a lion and an eagle. Absolute worthwhile to take a picture from.

In Uzengeli, a small village at the foot of Mount Ararat there is the believed Ark of Noah. The oval fossil stone on the green covered mountain slope is said to be the left over of the biblical Ark of Noah. Several websites (e.g. www.anchorstone.com) do tell about this stone. American archaeologists did research during the eighties and claim that it is genuine. Believers of the bible do accept this claim, very often there are groups of Christians (mostly Americans) visiting it. Next to the Ark there is a visitors centre. Here you can see pieces of fossil stones, pictures, newspaper articles in many different languages. Hasan Ozar is the property keeper, he also sells postcards and drinks which gives him a bit more salary than his pension from the government does.

35 kilometres east of Dogubayazit you will find the small frontier village of Gürbulak next to the Iranian border. According to the Turkish government the hole in the ground here is made by a meteorite in the 1920’s. That hole is approx. 30 meters wide and 30 meters deep. The Turkish government says it is the largest meteorite hole in the world, except for just one in Alaska. Other people think it has nothing to do with a meteorite but it is just a geological aberration, ground water did disappear, the solid ground went down and there you have your hole. Taking pictures in this area can be dangerous. Heavily armed soldiers will follow you on every step you make and are very suspicious of you not photographing the Turkish-Iranian border, which is strictly prohibited.

At 51 kilometres west of Dogubayazit there is the village of Diyadin. This small town has natural sulpha springs. Outside you can see small geysers coming up. The rocks behind the bathing buildings are covered with sulpha, like they are polished. There are two bathing houses, one for men and one for women. Besides those common baths you can rent a private bath, 3 by 3 meter, for you and your company. The costs will be about 15 YTL per hour, but they do not count that strict. If you are lucky you can use the private bath one and a half hour for the same price. The water in there is hot, about 40 degrees Celsius, for those who have been to Japan, it feels a bit like a Japanese onsen.

To Mount Ararat (over 5100 meters high) I have not been to, I just looked at it. First because I am not that sportive and they say you need quite a good trekking condition to do the 4-day trip and second you’ll need a special permit to go on the mountain. That permit you will have to apply for at least two months before climbing.

This area of Turkey is definitely worth a visit of at least two days. I can recommend it to everyone. You can get there by bus from Erzurum/Agri (6 hours), Van (3,5 hours) or Kars (3 hours). In Dogubayazit are several hotels, see the topic ‘Off the beaten track’ for reviews. The city also has several restaurants and pastanesi of which I do recommend Manoliya Pastanesi in the main street for its künefe and ice cream and Murat’s Camping restaurant (at only a couple of hundreds metres from Ishak Pasa Palace) for its views and friendly owner Sayim.