Overnight stops (in date order): Lake Çıldır; Dogubeyezit; Lake Van; Malabadi Village
Back in Turkey,
our plan was to visit places we had missed on our last time here in 2020 – starting with the south-east corner. We spent our first night on the shore of Lake Çıldır at an altitude of 2,000 metres.
We passed through a region known for its colourful volcanic rock formations,
on our way to Doğubayazıt where we spent three nights in the shadow of Mount Ararat;
Turkey’s highest mountain – famous for its role in the story of Noah.
Some believe that a nearby naturally occurring rock formation (a ‘doubly plunging syncline’) on the slope of Mount Tendürek, less than two miles from the Iranian border, is in fact Noah’s Ark.
It attracts the attention of film crews and content creators
and of investigations, partly funded by an American organisation whose stated goal is to prove the biblical story of Noah.
Due to its location, Doğubayazı has an extraordinarily complex and turbulent history involving Armenians, Persians, Byzantines, Seljuk Turks, Mongols, Ottomans, Russians and Kurds. All made their contribution to the now-ruined fortress,
but, the town’s most famous attraction is the Ottoman-period Ishak Pasha Palace.
