Day 9 - Ani (May 1, 2009)

May 1st is known as Worker's Day in Turkey. It has traditionally been the holiday that supporters of communism would take to the streets and protest on. Other protests are often led on this day as well. For this reason, I was slightly sad about not being in Istanbul on May 1st. If I were, I totally would have gone down to Taksim to check things out. It turns out that the protests this year were much milder and safer than in years past. In several cities in the southeast, there were pro-Kurdish protests as well. We had actually decided to go from south to north on our trip because we did not want to be in southeastern Turkey on May 1st. Kars was incredibly quiet.

The big trip we had planned in Kars was a half trip to Ani. Ani is an amazing place to see and was once the capital of the old Armenian empire. Today it sits right on the border of Turkey and Armenia. Due to political issues between the two countries, there are certain places you cannot access because the guards on the Armenian side may think you are trying to spy in their country or get too close to the border. You can see the guard towers on both sides, which I thought was pretty neat.

We drove up to the entrance and our driver gave us some information about the history of the Armenian civilization, the Armenian genocide and what happened afterward. It was a nice little talk. Then he told us a bit about Ani, which was the capital city of Armenia.

We walked around the place, which featured Armenian churches, the walls, and pretty much all aspects of Armenian life. The site was very large. It was amazing to see everything...even though they were in ruins. I wish I could convey it in words...but I really can't. It was sad to see the disrepair of the site though. It is trapped within a military zone in Turkey. There are some parts that one is not permitted to access because it is too close to the Armenian border, which is a river in a canyon below the city.

We returned to Kars and found a bus to Trabzon, our next destination. Unfortunately, there was no direct bus so we had to settle for a connection in Erzurum, Turkey's highest and coldest city. After a short wait there...it was on to the Black Sea and the coastal city of Trabzon!