Van is the cat's pjamas

Van has a short list of things it is famous for, in order of appearance: the Van Lake Monster, breakfast, a castle, and white cats with one blue and one yellow eye. No one may believe me, but I could have sworn that in the dawn hours of our overnight bus ride from Mardin to Van, I saw the shifty shape of a sea monster slowly swimming alongside our bus. Van was the only place on our tour to have a Fulbright teacher, which meant we had a local guide who spoke impeccable English. This particular teacher is a tall blonde chap from Arkansas, so needless to say he attracts a lot of attention on the streets of Van. The restaurants, grocery stores, and dolmuş routes he frequents are filled with people who recognize him. He also had such insider knowledge as how to easily to avoid the 3TL entrance fee to the grounds of Van Castle. Van Castle usually has an admission fee, but not if you're a Van insider...

Van Lake at sunset as seen from the castle.

Unsatisfied with only Van, however, again we took the better part of an afternoon after our Van kahvaltı to take a 3 hour jaunt yet further east, to Doğubayazıt. This jaunt was worthwhile for so many reasons: one, Ishak Pasha Palace is beautiful, two, we were able to see Mt. Ararat, that famous mountain of Biblical lore, and three, we were able to marvel at the Turkish military presence near the border of Iran. Many of the mountainsides around the town have Ataturk quotes emblazoned upon them in towering letters, “Ne multu Türküm diyene” being the most common and famous (“What happiness to be a Turk”). We were told that this is to “inspire” the many troops there, but the quote I mentioned especially is often used as a conversational ultimatum by way of answering The Kurdish Question (to simplify: it sometimes is seen as calling out Kurds in their dogged determination to not embrace a Turkish identity). Generally the East is both distressing and beautiful.
The former dining room of Ishak Pasha Palace was one of my favorite parts, but the mosque was also stunning.


The next morning after a rest in Van we headed to the island in Van Lake which boasts an Armenian church and stunning views. Due to happenstance and warmer weather, a large group of Fulbright teachers had descended on Van (9 to be exact), and we had an impromptu picnic of sorts on the island. Usually the ferries don't leave the dock until they have what the captain deems to be a profitable number of people on board, and in this case the sudden presence of 9 Americans and a handful of Turks meant that we didn't have to wait long for departure.


The carvings on the church are remarkable. It was an excellent end to the weekend and a picturesque last glance at Van Lake before the assembled Fulbright crew all headed back to their respective Turkish hometowns.