Van is a modern, chaotic city rebuilt after the 2011 earthquake which damaged much of it. Despite the charms of the lake, it’s three kilmetres inland. It has several attractions.
First, the cats. Van cats – now very rare – are white and have one blue and one gold eye. On behalf of one of our loyal blog followers (Lexie), we went to the Van Cat Research Centre which is trying to breed more. We searched around the enclosures, looking into the eyes of the cats and eventually found one who met the description:
The others had mysterious eyes but were not quite so clearly heterochromatic:
Apparently they like swimming too! They have been adopted as the local symbol (hence the cat on the coffee cup on yesterday’s post) and appear on the sides of buildings and on buses:
Second, Van is famous for its breakfasts which are now copied all over Turkey (our breakfasts have been fabulous). Van has an entry in the Guinness book of records for providing 55,000 breakfasts in one day. There is a breakfast street and we went this morning but, to be honest, it was the worst breakfast we’ve had so far which just goes to prove that the original is not necessarily the best. We’ll include a picture of one that’s up to scratch when we find it.
Third, Van is famous because the Urartian Kingdom was centred on Van (then known as Tushpa) between the ninth and the seventh century BCE.
The Urartian territory was enormous including parts of Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria:
The Urartians built forts on naturally defensible rocky outcrops and many dozens have been discovered, though most are unexcavated. These were not only forts but also palaces, workshops, storage depots and temples.
The Urartians also built lots of dams and irrigation channels, some of which are in use today. They are supposed to have discovered wine (where have we heard that before?) and planted many vineyards. They were always in battle with the Assyrians and eventually the empire went into decline at the start of the seventh century.
We climbed up to a Urartian fort (later occupied by just about everybody – Persians, Arabs, Ottomans – the lot) that lies just above Lake Van and overlooks the razed Armenian city of Van (in 1915 – see the previous blog).
The strategic location was obvious (note the snow-capped mountain in the distance):
The fort was made of mud with stones as far as we could see:
We followed this up with a visit to the museum which was stupendous, full to overflowing with Urartian treasures. We were most struck by the stelae of which there were loads. They were found by accident in 1998 in Hakkari, a city way down in the south-east near the border with Iraq. There were eleven in all so here are three men – notice the daggers and jock straps:
And one woman: – somewhat plainer. Typical!
Love the stelae although they all look somewhat perplexed. Also, spectacular lake photo- bravo Miriam
Their expressions look anxious to me – but then who knows the perils of being an Uratian ( not confident this is the correct adjective) warrior? Women of course I expect to look anxious/ disappointed etc. The lake photo was taken on MY phone so I claim some spurious associated credit – it is a beautiful image.
This is all,fascinating! Don’t those carvings remind you of the pre Colombian statues in San Agustin?
Yes, they absolutely do! Those round, recessed eyes are very reminiscent of San Agostin – no signs so far of birds eating snakes ( or whatever that image was)….
Just been to see all the gold stuff in Tbilisi- also reminiscent of the gold in Bogotá. So many connections!
Sadly when we were in Tbilisi, the best gold stuff was being exhibited at the BM! But yes, the links again to Colombia definitely there..
Cats’ heterochromatic eyes are not reminiscent of David Bowie – before anyone suggests it. His eyes appeared that way due to an injury. When he was a schoolboy, there was a fight over a girl and his lifelong friend, George Underwood, punched him, leaving the pupil of the left eye to remain large, and giving the appearance of being a different colour to the right.
I’m sure all blog followers wanted to know this, apart from Jens, who will already know.
Thanks for that Tash – has increased my Bowie knowledge by, mmm, 90% ( though am struggling to remember the other 10).
That’s a fantastic opening photo of Miriam’s – probably what Hokusai would have done if digital photography has existed in 18th century Japan.
Yes and, as pointed out above, the pic was taken on MY phone! I love the dark lines across the waters of the lake and of course the floating mountain.
how fantastic all of this is!
are the stones rosy? that’s how I recall Armenian rocks.
Do you plan to reach Yerevan?
Sadly, relations between Turkey and Armenia continue to be on a frosty/ frozen/ downright hostile basis with the borders firmly closed so no, no Yerevan for us! And yes, the rocks are rosy, sometimes striped and often beautiful.
Me me! I’m going to Yerevan.
Of course you are! Enjoy, enjoy!
Shame the breakfast was disappointingly bad after all the hype.
Well, often the case in my experience- and nice to correspond but are you someone I know?
I’ve been thinking about these cats all day! 🤍🤍🤍
Well, of course you have, dear L! You were the main reason we went to the research centre ( ‘ Lexie would definitely like to know about these cats – they’re white, they swim in ponds, they have weird eyes – Lexie will love them’)…