The two-lane highway to Erzurum twists and turns along side the ancient Euphrates River. On the way to Erzurum, Armen wanted to find the ruins of an Armenian church in a small village and take photographs. We drove off the highway and followed a dirt road for several kilometers. We finally found a village on the outskirts of Erzurum and Seljuk parked the van. The shabby rough stone houses were surrounded by rubble.
Inside, the dirt floor was dug-up and full of holes and mounds. Over the years people dug up the earthen floor of the churches looking for the “treasures” of the church.
Again, charming, smiling children congregated around us as soon as the van stopped.
The houses immediately around the church were in ruins or reduced to rubble. There had been wars and fighting in the region since the 1850s. During 1915, Armen said, 10,000 Armenians had been killed in this region.
Roseanne’s guidebook told about a unique Muslim woman’s cover-up which is only worn in this area by some women. It was described as a coarse-fabric brown “gunny sack”. It seemed to be one large square piece of fabric wrapped around, and entirely covering, the woman.
We finally arrived in Erzurum. This was the most exotic city of the entire trip, so far. As we drove into town through the people and vehicle-clogged streets, I was reminded of one of the Star Wars movies.
Erzurum looked like the scene in Episode I: The Phantom Menace when Ani and Liam Neeson rode their spaceship into a strange new busy city. People and congestion were everywhere.
Erzurum is the largest province in Eastern Anatolia and is located on a high plateau, 6,400 feet above sea level, and surrounded by mountains. It is 300 miles east of Sivas. The history of the capital city extends back to 4000 BC and has been a major crossroads since antiquity. Erzurum was captured and ruled by many different nations throughout history, including the ancient Armenian Kingdom. The region is known for its local black stone, jet, which is a velvet-black mineral mined from local quarries. Jet is carved to produce beautiful jewelry, pipes, and boxes.
Seljuk carefully maneuvred the van through the busy streets and parked in front of the ancient Medrasah. This is the name for a religious school, usually part of a mosque complex, to teach young boys to read the Koran.
We walked up the street to see the inside of the Medrasah, and learned that it was built in the 13th century. There was a small park in front of the school with benches. Many men sat on the benches and stared and leered at us as we walked past them. For the first time on this trip, we did not feel safe. All the women cousins, asked CeeGee to stay close to us.
I walked up the steps of the Medrasah and when I turned around Francoise and Nicole were talking to a clean-cut young man. My first thought was, “walk away!” I continued walking slowly, keeping an eye on them. When they got closer, I realized they were all speaking French. I went over to them and when I was introduced as an American cousin, the man switched to good English. He said he was born in Erzurum, and had attended school at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Albany, in New York.
The young man said he knew Erzurum very well and if we were interested, he could show us some interesting sights. He said that behind the Medrasah was the old original Armenian and Greek neighborhood which was very interesting and historic. We had been warned not to mention that we were Armenian in Erzerum because of very strong nationalist Turkish sentiments among the majority of the residents in the city.
He said that he knew the owners of a 400 year old house and for a few lires, we could see the inside of the house. The people were elderly and poor and could use the money, he said. Armen joined us and said he thought it might be interesting.
We followed the young man and walked up the hill to a rather large brown house that we recognized as Armenian architecture. He knocked on the door and a middle-aged Turkish woman answered and she invited us inside. The entry room was dark with huge stones on the floor. We were led into another large room which was the kitchen and dining room.
We took photos and looked at the neatly arranged cups and plates which covered most of the walls. In the center of the high ceiling was a skylight which was built with alternating beams of wood arranged in descending sizes. Armen said it was a very old Armenian style ceiling called, “hazarahshen”, which means “1000 built”.
After about 20 minutes, the young man suggested that we should leave and give the woman a donation of 5 Turkish lires each. That is about $3.00 each which we felt was an outrageous price to see one room in a house! None of us complained and we thanked the woman and left.
We walked across the street to see the unusual structures in a small park and learned that they were ancient tombs. One of them was built in a Mongolian style with Mongolian symbolic images on the outside. The others were built during the height of the Ottoman Empire in the Seljuk architectural style.
Finally, the young man suggested we visit his uncle’s carpet shop down the street. We walked into the shop and began to look at carpets. The young man’s uncle had an impressive collection of carpets from all the neighboring countries.
He began to unfold carpets and placed them on top of each other on the floor. Some were old and some were new. He described each carpet by the village or country where it was hand woven. All of them were different and all were beautiful.
We asked prices and Roseanne indicated some interest in one of the carpets. It was a beautiful hand woven Persian carpet with a delicate floral pattern. ‘Barganing’ is an art raised to a high level in the Middle East and there are certain social rules. Once you begin the bargaining process you have to continue to a satisfactory conclusion, so you have to choose the item carefully. The purchase could take hours and often includes cai (tea) and much conversation. The purchaser has to insure that the seller does not ‘lose face’ or is embarrassed in any way, so it is a dance of words and gestures and bluffs and facial expressions. I wished I had a video camera to tape the process!
The dealer started at 860 Turkish Lires. Roseanne countered strongly with 200 TL. I don’t have time or space here to recount the entire bargaining saga, but after Roseanne walked out of the shop and into the van, she was able to purchase the carpet at an excellent price. Roseanne can bargain like a native and it’s fun to watch! :-)
Erzurum from the Van – Bags of Potatoes
Afterwards, we drove a bit through the streets of Erzurum and left the city at sunset. The road follows the Arax River and we passed a 13th century bridge spanning the river.
We had expected to stay in Erzurum and were surprised to learn when we were driving out of the city and that we were going to Sarikamish, two hours to the east.
We drove in pitch darkness with hardly any other vehicles on the road. When we reached the hotel and stepped out of the van, the air was actually cold!
To be continued…….