By deserted ruins of Ani kingdom - Part 3

TURKEY WITHOUT TOURISTS. Such things happen? (Continued, part 3) The reason I came to Kars, was certainly not my inexplicable desire to "sow" glasses and certainly no desire to expose his reputation at risk. These were the churches and ruins, which I would like to look at. The next day I went on an excursion to the ruins of the ancient city of Ani, which was once the largest city and capital of medieval Armenia. Now it is Turkish territory. I will not specifically apply, you can see in the photographs. I will cite only a few brief facts. During the heyday of Ani population of the city ranged from 100 to 200 thousand people. Ani kingdom resisted Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. In those days, the wealth and grandeur of the city has reached such heights that Ani was referred to as the "City of 1001 churches". But with the Mongol invasion a mass exodus of the population, and by the mid 14 th century Ani has ceased to be a shopping center, the main trade routes changed their route and were already much farther south. Tamerlane (again, he!) Captured Ani in the late XIV century, when the Armenians took the decision to move its capital to the city of Yerevan. In essence, Ani has become a ghost town that was abandoned and forgotten for hundreds of years. Nowadays, Ani has been three hundred years it is uninhabited, he, like a desert island, standing in a Turkish military zone on the border with Armenia today. The recent history of Ani is composed of a succession of events, each of which only exacerbates the destruction of the city. Lack of attention from the authorities, earthquake, cultural cleansing, vandalism, quarrying, inept restoration works and excavations - all this has caused irreparable damage to the monuments of Ani. All my efforts that I have made to get here, were not in vain. The ancient cathedral of Ani in the bus, which was about 12 Western tourists, I talked with a young guy from England. He struck me as a lover of adventure, because I get to Turkey by train from Vienna. It was unusual to talk with my fellow countryman, having met him so far from home (which I can not say about the Dutch ubiquitous!). We have started to make fun of each other and eventually went to explore the ruins of Ani together. The town, situated on a flat hill, was protected on one side of a deep gorge, on the other - a river. We wandered along the narrow bumpy trails, looking at the ruins of medieval churches with beautiful frescoes anything unprotected, at churches, split in half by powerful aftershocks, and guard towers of castles, Seljuk mosque and fortress walls, towering above the current river far below. I liked it, looked like the ruins of Ani, where almost not carried out restoration work, but at the same time, I was worried that vandals and neglect may be the reason why we lose this ancient city ever. Ani - the victim of ruthless time a few days I spent in the town of Kars, especially without doing anything. I gave myself something like a vacation from their vacation program. Recently I arranged themselves such a break more often. Probably affects the emotional satiety crossings and new places. In general, I am another Englishman and another guy from the Czech Republic climbed the walls of the castle, which offers excellent views of the city, and tried to imagine how this all looked about a hundred years ago, when this city was part of Russia. In Kars, an interesting story. Turkish nationalists seized the town in 1920, but the city was originally built by Russian, so that today it looks quite different, as other Turkish cities. There are many mosques and several churches and everywhere sounded frantic call to prayer. Imagine that with five different minarets of the speakers in the same time begin to broadcast muezzins (servant of the mosque, calling the faithful to prayer, approx. Perevi.). Cathedral of St. Gregory in Ani I still could not decide on a Turkish massage, which I did at the hotel. In the end, I managed to restrain himself, came up with a statement that the massage - it's just like fighting with a massage oil. I bought tickets for a musical festival "Spirit of Burgas", which was to be held in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Promised to come back well-known musicians such as Prodigy, UNKLE, DJ Shadow and Gorrilaz. I need to listen to normal music, as during his travels around Australia I am so anything worthwhile and not heard. However, prior to the start of the festival remained not so much time to see the other attractions of Turkey, but I decided that I should not hurry. Better get back here again. I wanted to get to Istanbul as soon as possible, so I bought a plane ticket. Within two hours I arrived in the ancient Istanbul-Constantinople. Muslim architecture in Istanbul, I will not write about my stay in the city. Come and look it up yourself at him! Here is an interesting mix of Eastern and Western cultures, but also a lot of tourists. I can not even remember where I last saw so many tourists at once. In addition, there are too many shill who seek to cash in on tourists and drag everybody into their damned carpet shop. But the overall mix of styles the Ottoman Empire, Ancient Rome and Byzantium in the modern bustling city was very interesting. It was very hot and humid, so hot that the back and forehead became wet after a few minutes after you leave the hotel. And it is at 9 am! Around the crown were constant skirmishes with the hotel staff at the expense of the air conditioner. But I still managed to get to know different people in the cheap lodging-house. For example, Dan. Him to 49 years, he was a former alcoholic. Operates a graphic designer and lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He now travels around the world. Last year, his wife also traveled around our "ball." We are together with him several times went on trips to the mosque, the market Kapali bazaar (the largest indoor market in the world, approx. Perevi.) And just had fun. I also made friends with the 21-year old Dutch women from Utrecht with amazing American accent. At age 14, she converted to Islam and is now ready for the post during the holy month of Ramadan. Interesting. Dan and I on the background of the aqueduct Velenta in Istanbul In the end, we got Dan to the bus station, where our paths diverged. Start material: See also other materials about the ancient ruins: A reminder of bygone power of Persia Jam - ancient impregnable fortress in North Africa as we conquered Europe with Sea Pompei - The Legend, covered with ashes Delphi - the religious center of ancient Greece's Rock-of-Kashel - ancient symbol of the Irish State largest complex of Roman temples built in the 3000 km from Rome Flooding is useful ... the eruption the Temple of Skulls - a symbol of the kingdom of the dead, ancient building, the name given to the whole country A lonely wanderer in Baalbek, Appetizers, and locks the biblical stories about the places of worship of the ancient sacrifices Tribal Stone miracle of southern Africa country, where the two calendars and two ways of calculating time Great restaurants and inspiring ruins of strange dreams about ancient cities ruins of Hampi, injustice and thick beggars