Lake Van is massive and so stunning

8.9.21

This morning John went for a swim in Lake Van. Not feeling so brave I opted for a cold shower and hair wash although John said the lake was warmer.

John went off with a large bin bag and did some litter picking. I’m sure it’s an excuse to find any stray nuts, bolts, clips or other tat. If he found any he didn’t say.

I took this opportunity to sort out my eyebrows before I get selected for the starring role in the next Recep Ivedik movie.

We said goodbye to Haydar and one his boys, the others were tucking into their breakfast, and headed off to the Sanay – a Turkish place where a variety of mechanical businesses are based.

200tl later we had lovely new hoses and a much better handbrake. The heater isn’t important right now. The bad news is they gave John back the bits he used to hold them together. Back in the tat bag they went.

Next we went to the Van Cat house at the University. Van cats are famous for being white with one blue and one yellow eye.

Just 2.5tl to go in and 10tl to get a sachet of food and be able to feed some. Silly question to John.. Do you want to feed them?

Of course John got scratched and bitten, but not badly.

It was a great place but would benefit from some info about what research they’re doing.

I’d like to research why cats rub themselves all over you, demand attention, wag their tails and then bite.

Our next stop was Van Castle. It was very steep to get up there but worth it for the views.

Top tip, don’t wear flip flops.

There was a traditional Van house that we wandered around too.

As we left the castle a young couple were being photographed. Their clothes were beautiful, we wondered if it was a wedding, or maybe for a historical programme. I asked to take a photo and was then invited to join them, no, no it’s ok.. John thought it was hilarious that I pretty much ran away!!

By this time we were starving, we’re not good at eating before we start driving. John suggested a couple of things but having a traditional Van breakfast was a must do.

By the time we arrived at one John picked online in Edremit it was 4pm. The staff were lovely and took the time to describe and translate some items we didn’t recognise. Even after all that one of the things made no sense, eggs mixed with cornflour. It looked a bit like mashed swede which put me off immediately. They didn’t mind that it was 4pm.

I was thrown out of school dinners at Junior school for refusing to eat mashed swede. To be fair it was the final straw for the poor school dinner ladies. Anyway, unlike mashed swede it had no taste whatsoever and a horrible texture.

One of the other items was roasted wheat. A dark brown almost like a sour digestive biscuity sort of paste. Not sure about that.

Everything else was really tasty and very plentiful.

We decided to drive to Tatvan, a bustling waterside town.

On the way we stopped to take photos of beautiful Akdamar island.

The Armenian style church can just about be seen above, below is an online detailed photo.

There were several small boats moored up which do trips over to the island. The sun was setting by now and not sure dogs would be allowed anyway.

We stopped again shortly after for more photos.

It’s an incredible, beautiful lake, you can’t really get your head around the size of it and I keep thinking it’s the sea. Definitely worth visiting.

Not long before we reached Tatvan there was a very long, steep hill, the first hill for Naz since her new pipework. Fabulous, no problems. 😍

We have been through several Jandarma check points today, some where I.D was checked, some just waved through. The increased security is very noticeable. One, two and at one check point even 3 armoured vehicles and most have personnel holding machine guns. At one check point they even checked our baggage store at the back.

Thank goodness they didn’t ask to look in Johns tatbag.

There were loads of people walking by the lake, restaurants, cafes, a huge long park, it reminded me a lot of Fethiye Kordon. We parked in a lay-by not far from a lakeside Jandarma check point, but were later asked to move. We had just heard the call to prayer which was so close we had decided to move anyway.

We are now settled in a car park further along. It was busy when we arrived but now we’re the only people left and apart from the occasional cruisers with their stereos full blast it’s lovely.

We played Phase 10 this evening, John won of course and we also planned our next route. We have a special photo-shoot planned..

Our location still blows my mind 😳

More adventures tomorrow.