Ani, the City of One Thousand and One Churches, is why we came all this way to eastern Turkey. Ani was a city on the Silk Road that reached its peak of influence around the turn of the first millennium. At the time, it was noted to rival Constantinople and Baghdad for splendor and strength, which would be like rivaling New York and Tokyo, today. It was the size of Venice, and several times larger than Paris. Now it is a beautiful ruin in the steppe, and a reminder that things come and go and are forgotten. The place itself has been inhabited for untold thousands of years, as attested by the archaeology museum in Kars. Ani as a city rose to prominence in the 5th through 11th centuries, and was a capital of various Armenian kingdoms and empires over this time. A series of conquests and reconquests led to a general rerouting of Silk Road trade, and Ani was essentially abandoned by the time some Italians started poncing around acting like they were the second expression of classical Greece and Rome. Then it was forgotten. But it is still there. It's about an hour car ride from Kars, and costs 5TL ($3) to see. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Arches integrated with the walls of the city. Steep canyons protect 3 sides of the city. You can see the remains of a cave village in the facing canyon wall. There are 2 types of rock used for building, here, it seems. There is red rock, and black rock.
Church of St. Gregory, Ani. It is actually a pretty safe bet with any church here to guess "St. Gregory." There are several. This is the most intact one.
The canyon that forms the border between Turkey and Armenia, with the inner castle of Ani atop the hill on the right. You still aren't allowed by the castle, which is under military control.
Some of the stonework on Ani Cathedral (or, Church of the Mother of God).
Church of The Redeemer, Ani. One half of it was destroyed by lightning in the 1950s. This is not something you see every day.
Some frescoes. These are very different than any I've seen before: Medieval Armenian, I guess.
Convent of the Young Virgins, overlooking the canyon.
Bird singing and sitting on some ruins with Ani Cathedral in the background.
Hawk sitting on the city walls.
Armenian crosses carved in red and black stone facade.
The caravanasery (left) and another church of St. Gregory (right). A caravanasery is a place where caravans on the silk road could stop for rest and protection. Apparently there was a rule: 3 days were free lodging, but after that you had to pay.
Panorama of the site of Ani.
One last thing: Did you know the silk road was actually a road? There's a bridge at this place and a segment of the road that comes up from it to the city. It then continues out the gates on the other side of the city.
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