More stories from the Wild East

Leaving Mount Ararat behind, we headed North. Initially we followed the Iranian border, then the Azeri one and finally the Armenian one. yes, we do love these kind of things. The omnipresence of the Turkish army with frequent roadblocks makes this area also probably safer than Liechenstein! (Driving though Northern Wisconsin during hunting season is definetly more dangerous!) The biggest danger indeed is food poisoning...we were warned not to eat any meat or milk products which leaves one with bread and hot, very hot peppers!

We finally arrived in Kars, another one of these lovely frontier towns that give you the chills even in the midsummer heat. Our only reason to stop here though was to get all the necessary permits to visit Ani (you need only three of them...). Ani was the premier Armenian city in the 9th century equalling Istanbul in importance. Earthquakes and the Mongols have changed that. Furthermore, Ani has the (mis)fortune to lie exactly on the border between Turkey and Armenia (which was in the former Soviet Union) and was therefore for most of this century in no-man's land which helped its' preservation. And it is beautiful!!!

Imagine driving for an hour through a highland-like landscape to arrive on wheatfields with the ruins of a city of 100'000! No pictures allowed (or picnic for that matter...) with this being the border. But you do get the special tour by a fully armed Turkish soldier! He more than compensated his lack of English with a very animated mix of basic Turkish and sign language. He especially loved to use his weapons as stand-in objects for what he tried to demonstrate!

This was a truly magical place though and one of the highlights of our trip so far!