Van

Last weekend (May 17-20) was my last ARIT trip.  If you have read any of my other travel posts, you have probably read about ARIT (American Research Institute, Turkey) before.  This organization, the trips it makes and the people I have met through it have been a major highlight of my two years in Turkey.  I have had the chance to get off campus, to see remote, off the tourist track places with people of varied backgrounds, experiences and interests.  I have been exposed to (I can't honestly say learned) a lot of history and culture that has enriched my time here.  ARIT will be one of the things I miss the most when I go home.

We had a three day weekend due to the Sports Bayram and ARIT took advantage of that to plan a trip to the far eastern side of Turkey, less than 50 km from Iran, on the shores of lake Van.


You might remember hearing about Van because just 18 months ago they had a major earthquake (7.1) on Sunday October 23rd, 2011, oddly enough while I was on my very first ARIT trip.  As you can see from the map above, it is pretty much as far away from Istanbul as you can get and still be in Turkey and the flight takes just over two hours.  I flew out of Sabiha Gokcen Airport on the Asian side on Friday night and was delighted to discover that two of my ARIT friends were on the same flight.  Flying was easy, landing was good and the taxi to the hotel was quick such that we were almost in time to join the rest of the group for dinner at the hotel.

I wasn't sharing a room, so I got to watch TV (there was only one show in English: A Perfect World starring Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood, 1993). It is interesting that the censors block out any cigarette shown on TV.  But they block it out with a cigarette shaped picture.  It still emits smoke and goes back and forth to peoples mouths.  It is clearly still a cigarette.  Kim bilir.   Being all the way on the other side of our time zone, the sun set almost an hour earlier and rose earlier as well.  I was up early, feeling good and ready to go.  There is a restaurant near my house called Van Kavalti, "Van breakfast" so I was wondering what breakfast would be like if I was actually in Van.  Mostly it was a typical Turkish breakfast, tomatoes, cucumber, honey, eggs (both hard boiled and scrambled with tomato called menemen) dried fruit, olives and lots of bread.  There were a couple of new things, however.  Firstly there was a new type of kaymak (roughly clotted cream).  It was flat and circular, like a crepe, but much more delicate.  I wouldn't have even tried it if someone hadn't told me what it was.  Secondly was two different varieties of pastes.  One was made with flour and butter and egg (at the 1 o'clock position on my plate below) which, when mixed with honey was ok.  The other was made with corn meal and something else (unidentified) (the brown puddle in the middle right hand side of the plate) when mixed with honey and eaten with bread was really rather good.

Van Kavalti in Van!

 We saw all sorts of new construction in and around Van.  Apparently most of the traditional Van houses (made from mud brick and with flat roofs) were damaged beyond repair in the earthquake.  We saw some temporary housing and lots of new apartment buildings.  Right outside our hotel they were working on the road.  This road is paved with bow tie shaped concrete pavers, which makes it very convenient if you just need to get under it to lay a pipe.  Workers were in teams of two, with one person on a long pipe, levering the pavers out of the road.  (The pavers are so tightly locked, but not cemented, that the whole road would lift up a little until one block could be pulled out.) They only had to bring up one column of blocks, then lay the pipe and put the blocks back in, all of which they did over the course of the weekend.  What an efficient way of doing construction.

prying up the street one block at a time.

This vegetable was for sale all over the place.  Laurence pointed it out to me and the guy selling it let us try a piece.  You break the stem and then peel back the fibrous coating to reveal a juicy, crunchy core that is quite sour.  I don't remember what it was called, and I can't find it on Google images, so I don't have any more information.  

 Our first stop was an Urartu ruin, Çavuştepe Kalesi.  The Urartu lived in the Van region in the 9th -6th centuries BC.  Other than the pyramids, these are the oldest ruins I think I have seen.  These were an iron age people, but they apparently didn't have boats (there is no record of them having boats, nor no word for boat in their language) and they didn't have pulleys.  This means that they could build with stone that they could quarry and shape, but they could only build as high as 2-3 men could lift the stone, or about three blocks (2 m) high.  After that it was all mud brick.  Unfortunately for the modern archaeologist  mud brink doesn't hold up against rain and wind very well over millennia. 

This canal was built by one of their kings (he wrote his name periodically along its length so you wouldn't forget (but of course, I did), so this canal has been around for more than 2600 years.

You can see how high they could make the walls here. 

Geoffrey, our guide, shows us some of the cuneiform writing that gives the dedication of the temple

This was the drain for the blood and water for clean up time after the animal sacrifices.  

Notice the guy on the left side of
the roof with a stick and a rag.

Our next stop was another castle, Hoşap Kalesi a much more recent (1600s) battlement.  we stopped to take a panoramic picture across the street from a police station.  They tried to keep us from taking pictures, but I think it was just them that they didn't want photographed.  I am not sure if this had anything to do with the guy on the roof of the police station waving a stick with a black rag on the end of it.  Maybe he was trying to keep birds away? but this seems like a losing battle.  

Hosap Castle

 The castle was being restored so some parts of it looked very nice.  Our guides on these trips always have something to say about how things are being restored.  It is always a toss up between doing it poorly and not doing it at all (no one seems to do it well enough to satisfy the archaeologists).  On one hand it is preserved, but perhaps not in an intellectually satisfying way - but this likely only matters to the academics, or it stays unpreserved, unvisited, but not falsified.  Can you ruin a ruin by trying to unruin it?  I tend to like it when places are easy to get to (by the use of stairs or ramps that might not have been original) that are visually pleasing (statues put back together, facades recreated) and functionally obvious (walls standing up, structures in place) so I am in favor of restoration and I must have lower standards than my archaeologist friends.  I am sure I would be upset about a display or exhibit that glossed over some aspect of science that I knew to be false, but then I do that all the time, it is called teaching high school.

These guys didn't seem to mind the reconstruction, they did mind us and disappeared lickity split after I took this photo.

A clearly reconstructed wall/entrance to the castle.  

The wild flowers were spectacular and more colorful than the rocks. 

Did I hear correctly that these were Russian build walls from the 19th century?  Made out of mud brick, they have partially dissolved back into the earth whence they came.  

Which way to Iran?  Oh, yeah, just down the street and turn left.

After the castles we went to the shore of the lake for lunch.  We were offered the lake fish (inci kefali, or pearl mullet), the only fish that can live in the very alkaline water, but we were warned against it and when Tulin offered to share the 'extra' portion and I had a chance to try it, I was very glad I had ordered the Adana kebab.  It was still a hazy gray day and the water wasn't much different color from the sky, but it was warm enough to eat outside and take some pictures.  

Chatting by the lake.

The Van cat is famous for its white fur, different colored eyes and deafness.  There was one at the restaurant and we all got a chance to take its picture.  I got to hold her as well and she seemed quite happy to be the center of attention although she didn't look like the healthiest cat.  

The paparazzi with Tulin holding the star attraction.  

Unripe almond tastes kind of
like unripe plum, very tart

From the restaurant we took a ferry boat (meaning a regularly traveling boat with other people on it) to Ahtamara Island the lake. It seemed quite popular with the locals who were picnicking and picking the unripe almonds to eat directly off the tree, green part and all.  The attraction of the island for us was an Armenian church of the Holy Cross.  It was built in 915-921 but has had several additions up through the 19th century.

Armenian Church of the Holy Cross

What is particularly interesting about this church are the carved decorations on the outside of it.  There are many depictions from bible stories as well as people from church history.  They were clearly carved before they were placed in the building and some of the juxtapositions don't make a lot of sense.  We were provided with a guide to the images from this website which has quite a bit of information about this church/monastery complex.

The bottom sequence is the story of Jonah.  First he he fed to the lion headed whale/fish, then he is spit out by it, once it has wings and he lands in a bush.  Just above the center fish is Jonah again, talking to the King of Nineveh (seated next to him) while four inhabitants of Ninevah play Hollywood squares near by.  Four unrelated prophets hover above.  

This reminds me of Shaun from Wallace and Gromit

This is the biggest moth I have ever seen in person.  it was easily 6 inches wide.  

The inside of the church wasn't as cool as the outside.  

On the way home I tried to capture the many shades of gray.  I am not sure if I got to 50.  

Our last stop for the day was the kale (castle) of Van.  Our goal was to get there for the sun set, which, chronologically we did, but it was so over cast that we didn't think we would be able to see it.  Built on an isolated limestone outcrop on the edge of the lake the ancient site of Tushpa (named after the Hitite storm god) was the capitol of the kingdom of Urartu. Because the rain was threatening and dark was descending, we made a direct line for the tomb built into the cliff face.

Van Kale in the mist and descending darkness.

The pat to the tomb was a bit sketchy.  I was glad for the iron gate on the outside of the stair case.  It didn't seem too sturdy, but it was better than nothing.  

On the cliff wall on the way to the tomb was an entire wall inscription in cuneiform writing.  If I remember correctly it is an account of the king who is buried in the tomb and all the cool stuff he did.  It was huge and very impressive. 

I don't think we saw the inscription by Xerxes mentioned in the materials that Geoffrey gave us, a 5th century BC trilingual inscriptoin in Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite.  It  praises the great god Ahuramazda who created the earth and Xerxes, the king of all kings.  We did end up seeing a bit of sun set as we walked down the fortress along the foundations of the original walls.  

A bit of sunset over the lake along the side of the kale.  

This is a reconstruction of the traditional Van housing, mud brick and flat roof, which was in the entry area of the kale.  We expected to see many more as we went into the surrounding villages, but almost all had fallen down during the 2011 earthquake and were being replaced with modern construction. 

Back at the hotel we had a reservation at the other restaurant, a grill your own place called Ocakbaşı.  It was fun and tasty.  The only down side was that the music was so loud, it was hard to hold a conversation.  

We had a more leisurely morning on Sunday and after breakfast headed directly to the lake.  We got on a boat at the same dock that the train ferry comes to.  It was weird to see train tracks go off the end of the pier (and on to a waiting ferry).  We had over an hour on a private boat to an uninhabited island not too far from another edge of the lake.  Lake Van is 119km across at the widest point and is as deep as 450m.  It is 1640m above sea level and has an area of 3755km2.  (Lake Michigan 58,000km2, Salt lake 4600km2, Lake Tahoe 496km2 for comparison).  It is surrounded by mountains which were still covered in snow in mid May.  The air is dry and cool and the water is basic and cold.  

Mt. Sipan?, the third highest in Turkey

Carpanak Island in Lake Van.  The home of an abandoned Armenian church and monastery and a million angry birds.

One of a dozen nests we came across, just sitting on the ground

 We docked at Carpanak Island and were first assaulted with gnats or midges.  They were just along the beach, so when we walked inland a little bit, they left us alone.  Of course they were replaced by the birds.  The island is a seagull and heron sanctuary and we were disturbing their peace.  I happened to be first off the boat and I led the hike on to the island, walking through the thigh high grasses and wondering about snakes.  I didn't wonder long before I saw a nest with three seagull eggs on the side of the 'path.'  This not only answered the question about all predators, but also why the birds were so upset.  Over the time we walked, I came across at least a dozen nests, just lying on the ground, with no parent bird obvious.  Geoffrey thought that the real trouble was keeping the eggs cool rather than warm and if it got too hot, we would see the parent birds standing over the nest to shade the eggs rather than sitting on them to keep them warm.  He also said it was a good thing we were there then and not a week or two later when the eggs hatch, because the parent birds become even more aggressive in protecting their chicks.  We set our lunches and bags under this tree to go look at the church, leaving one or two folks to act as scarecrows.

A great shady tree for eating lunch under.  Reminds me of the Andy Panda? children's books of my extreme youth. (When I went looking for an Andy Panda website it is not at all what I am thinking of, so I am not sure what it reminds me of any more, except that there were talking animals who ate lunch under a tree (weeping willow?) that I always thought would look like this.  

 The church was in pretty bad shape, probably not used for 100 years, but it had really cool crosses carve into the outside stones.  Apparently when pilgrims would come to this church they would carve a cross and a prayer as a tribute to commemorate their journey.  The crosses were really cool.  They were all different (as far as I could tell) and all made with interesting patterns and geometrical shapes.  They were well done so it is hard for me to believe that an average Joe pilgrim could have done it so well each time, perhaps there was someone at the monastery who could be commissioned to carve something on the pilgrim's behalf.

 

Inside the church, some graffiti that Geoffrey thinks is a retelling of the Gallipoli battle 

The design above the door to the church.  This motif is very common in mosques, but I am not sure I have seen it in a church.  

While exploring the church we were dive bombed by the birds and Laura's mom got hit in the head by a bird.  After lunch under the tree and when we were hiking up to the top of the hill and I got hit by a bird as well.  One woman who wasn't wearing a hat got hit hard enough that she had an inch long cut in her scalp that bled and bled.  I was helping her clean it and didn't think I could ask if I could stop to take a picture, so there is no photographic evidence, but she will have the scar to prove it.  The other serious danger on the island was allergies.  Both Laura and I got hit, but I recovered almost completely once back on the boat.  Poor Laura was still in bad shape even after a shower and a new set of clothes.

We came back down the hill to get away from the birds and see how the swimmers were getting along.  I decided not to go swimming because pH 9.7 doesn't seem like a good idea.  The three folks that went in didn't seem to suffer any ill effects, so I did roll up my pants and dip my feet in it for a picture.

My feet didn't dissolve in the alkaline water, but Chris did report that it tasted nasty.

 The bugs stayed with us on the boat back to Van, which was the only down side of the the beautiful afternoon on the lake.  We had the opportunity to go back to the kale to see the rest of the structure that we missed the night before.  The clouds and the views were striking as we hiked up to the much more modern Ottoman construction of the kale.

Modern Van in the valley under the kale.

The foundations of the ancient city at the very foot of the kale can still be seen from above. 

These girls really wanted a picture with us.  This seems to happen from time to time.  I don't understand it, but it is easier to play along.  This time I gave my camera to one of them to get a picture for myself as well.  

As we were leaving the castle, I noticed that there was a rainbow, all 180 degrees above the horizon.  We weren't that far from Mt. Ararat, the 'historical' site of the end of Noah's 40 days of flooding and the rainbow of the covenant. 

 On our way back to the hotel we passed this Armenian wedding celebration.  They really know how to do it!

Ayanis - an Urartu Fortress being excavated. 

 On Sunday night we were on our own for dinner and a small group of us went out for pide and some really tasty stewed figs.  On Monday we packed up and loaded the bus before stopping at two Urartu sites.  On the way to Ayanis we were supposed to see the traditional Van houses, but all we saw was modern construction.  I guess it is good that they are rebuilding, and with solid materials, but it is too bad that the tradition is lost.  The fortress we went to see was still waiting to be excavated, but there were some stone walls and we could see the mud bricks that were left as part of the hill.  Geoffrey told us that more than 8 million mud bricks were used and it was at least three stories high.

Stone walls only went as high as 2-3 men could lift a stone, then it was mud brick after that.  In the 6th century BC they didn't even have pulleys.  

Cricket? Grasshopper? Who knows, but well camouflaged. 

 We were looking at the palace area at the top of the mound when I noticed the rainbow around the sun created by ice crystals high up in the thin clouds.  Read more here.

Rainbow halo around the sun.

More cuneiform writing on the temple wall. The angle is bad because there were boards in front of the writing for protection.  

More wildlife I found.

Group shot under the Turkish flag.

Lunch before getting on the plane to return to Istanbul. It was very tasty, cubes of beef with peppers and tomatoes - a Turkish fajitas.  

 The last story from this trip comes from the airport.  I had collected a water bottle of Lake Van water, I was interested in testing its pH and other properties but I didn't check a bag and all I had was my school backpack.  I thought I was flying to Attaturk and I gave the bottle to some friends who were checking their kitchen sink through, but when I got to the front of the Ataturk line, I was told, I wasn't on that flight, instead I was going to Sabiha Gokcen (SAW), on the Asian side.  I guess it was cheaper.  I quickly recovered my bottle before they checked their bag and got in the other line.  None of the group going to SAW was checking a bag, so I decided to just take it and see what would happen.  I had two bottles with me, one in my backpack which was full of water mixed with juice and the one with lake water and rocks, which I put in my back pocket, hoping they wouldn't notice if it didn't go through the xray machine.  I am just through the metal detector when someone calls from behind me to alert the security guy that I have water.  I take it out of my pocket and hand it to him.  He is telling me no, but Catherine, who was ahead of me in line, turns around and explains to him that it is for science.  I try to help by saying I am a chemistry teacher.  Oh, in that case, it is ok, he 'says' and hands the bottle back to me.  So much for security.  Thanks very much to Catherine.  (no one even commented on my water/juice in my back pack.)  It should just be my mantra from now on "it's for science!"

The flight was uneventful and I caught the bus quickly, but it didn't travel very quickly.  After more than an hour, I got off at 4 Levent and got a cab the rest of the way and thus ended my last ARIT trip.

I highly recommend the group to anyone staying/living in Istanbul for any length of time.  Great people, great trips, lots of learning and the chance to see/do things that the general populace doesn't get access to.