Van Favorites

Favorite thing: Vatan means state. What the other world is on that mountainside (on the picture) I don't know. But this is a common sight, at least in Eastern Turkey. You will see the cresent and the star of the Turkish flag and some words written in white on a hill or mountainside.

Favorite thing: Van has an old history. Once it was the capital of the Urartu empire (the name was then Tushap). Later it was one of the biggest cities in the Armenian kingdom. Then the Persians, Byzantines, Seljuk and Ottomans came. During WW I the old town was levelled to the ground during fightings between Ottomans on one side and Armenians and Russians on the other side.
The new city is built some km east of the old city. Here you find most shops, banks, restaurants and hotels along Cumhuriyet Caddesi and Kazim Karabeki Caddesi. In the evening there are quite a lot of people walking up and down the streets, very often three or four in a row.

Favorite thing: From Lake Van area comes the special Van cat. It is a white cat with one blue and one yellow eye. There are not too many of them in Van today so you might not see one. The only Van cat I saw in Van was a big white statue on the road out of Van. The Van cats I saw in Turkey was in Kas and Istanbul.

Favorite thing: Van Gülü is Turkeys largest lake and one of the worlds higest lakes on 1650 meters above sealevel. The road around the lake is 332 km.
There is no outlet so there is a high concentration of minerals. It is extreme alkaline and it is said that you can wash your cloths in the lake without using soap.
I didn't go for a swim in the lake but just dipped my feet along the shore of Akdamar Island. The water leaves a smooth feeling on the skin.

Fondest memory: Ahtamar, an island in lake Van was once the capital of the kingdom of Vaspurakan.

On the outside of the church , you still may see some great ornaments - in former times the church had golden ornaments and a golden dome

next to the main-road you may find boats that take you to the island.

Favorite thing: Take a boat out to Akdamar Island - unfortunately, we came at the wrong time of year, so the fishermen quoted us US$30 for the short trip and we refused. When i go back to Turkey, this is one of the things I must do...

Fondest memory: Eating breakfast on one of the fishing boats looking towards Akdamar. It was bitterly cold, but the sun was shining, and we had a great view of the lake and the island...and the tea was the best tea I had tasted for a long time...well, I suppose anything would taste great after the night we'd had...se below!

Fondest memory: These are my two daughters the physical one Didem and the adoptive one Daisy(Only visible when you click on the picture due to her black short hair fur)

Daisy has some cleptomania for bracelets , napkins , candies

Favorite thing: If you are going to Van or the area and would like to know more, just drop me a line.
Scott