Great Journey 🏍 Day 336
Erzurum: never heard of this city. Yet it is the "boss" of the largest province of the same name in eastern Anatolia.
I quickly look up what Erzurum has to offer. A ski resort, aha, wrong season. An Atatürk Museum, an Ethnological Museum, mosques worth seeing and a fortress with a lookout tower. Oh, and several Seljuk and Ottoman buildings. Well, we can make something out of that.
At breakfast, I only talk about the small Atatürk and Ethnology Museum. I don't want to scare Gerd off right away. Once he's here, we'll see what else can be realised from my little tourist tour.
In the end, everything. A nice city with many beautiful places, all within walking distance. Atatürk only appears visually, as there is only Turkish information. In the Çifte-Minare-Medrese, we learn a lot about religious education. Ancient jewellery, clothing, weapons and kitchen utensils are also on display. A nice all-round look into the past.
We stop in front of the big mosque. I see that there is a small side entrance for women only. I am unsure. An older gentleman comes up to me, sees my hesitation, asks us both to enter the mosque through the main entrance. We take off our shoes, I put my shawl over my head and shoulders and we enter barefoot on the soft carpeted floor, marvelling at everything. A few men are praying, a phone is ringing incessantly in some pocket and there is soft whispering. When we have had our fill of the beauty and the enchanting characters, we leave the building on quiet soles.
The fortress turns out to be a mixture of excavation site and construction site, we cannot tell whether it is being preserved or demolished. Our enthusiasm is limited.
We continue through the city, our next stop an old tea house. Here we sink in, chat, plan and just enjoy a normal Sunday afternoon.
#Erzurum #AtatürkMuseum #ÇifteMinareMedrese
