Our last stop in Turkey was Dogubayazit, a
border town close to a pair of amazing tourist attractions: the Isak
Pasha Palace and the beautiful, snow-capped Mt. Ararat, supposed
resting place of Noah’s Ark.
The 2 hour mini bus from Van was relatively easy to arrange, and the
views on the way were awesome. The road winds around Lake Van for a
good while before the landscape changes to stark mountains dotted with
shepherds tending their flocks of sheep. When we got into town it was
raining, so we decided to take it easy and planned on getting up early
the following day to hopefully catch a glimpse of Ararat and to see the
palace.
The main reason to come to Dogubayazit is to see the Isak Pasha
Palace, a 17th century structure that has been a palace, a fortress,
and a mosque. It sits up on the rocky slopes a few kilometers out of
the modern town. If you are lucky you can catch a glimpse of Mt. Ararat
before the clouds sweep in and cover the summit.
We woke up early in the morning to get our sightseeing taken care of
before catching one of the last minibuses to Van. First we walked out
of town to see Mt. Ararat, and indeed we got lucky. The summit was
unobscured by clouds, framed by a pristine blue sky. It dominates the
surrounding mountains, and has supposedly been part of legend and myth
for thousands of years.
The next mission was to make it up to the Isak Pasha Palace, the
last spot on our itinerary and probably the place we’ve been most
excited about for weeks. Seeing the palace was the main reason we set
out this far east - everything else was just a bonus. We paid a minibus
driver 10 lira to take us up, and when we got there we couldn’t have
been more pleased. Almost no one else was there; we had this
immaculate, elegant palace/fortress/mosque perched on a rocky hill with
a commanding view of the surrounding mountains and countryside to
ourselves to explore. We took tons of photos and video, which will do
it more justice than words here. Our trip to the edge of Turkey was
definitely worth it.
After that we made it back to Van, chilled out, and flew to Istanbul the next day. Next stop: Cairo.
