The flight to Van had a boarding time of
0600. The locals said that we should depart the hotel at 0500 – something
making us a little nervous considering it took us more than an hour to get to
the hotel last night. But it was agreed, and wake-up calls were ordered for
0430. It was clear who had set their own alarms, as they were the ones ready to
depart at 0500; the calls never came in. Delayed we left the hotel at 0515, and
this time it took less than half an hour to get back to the airport. A little
confusion about where to be and a few moves from counter to counter later we
had checked in our luggage (again) and were ready to go to security. Stressful
moment (“go to gate” when entering security, a couple of minutes later when
having completed security “last call”) but we made it to the plane in time. The
flight itself was (surprisingly) eventless.
Arriving at Van the two lost pieces of
luggage hadn’t shown up but the rest of us received our bags without any
issues. We also got to meet our local guide for the first time.
Bus app. 4 hours to get to our hotel in
the village Dogubeyazik, and after check-in we had lunch followed by
sightseeing the old palace Ishak Pasha located overlooking the town. It was a beautiful
view of the surrounding area.
We came back to the hotel, relaxed a
little were briefed on the next couple of days and went to dinner where we got
back together with the two guys who lost their bags who had spent their
afternoon on replacing most of the things.
Back at the hotel we went to the roof
where we enjoyed a drink while having a closer view of Mt. Ararat.
Weird standing in the hotel room and seeing a sign pointing towards Iran.
Police car parked down town.
Ishak Pasha.
The view of Mt. Ararat from the hotel roof.
Sunset over Dogubeyazik.
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