Syria

[Heresson]

Bitlis. Perhaps not the nicest town, but very friendly people

[Heresson]

Ahlat, the cementary
Ahlat was, I believe, a city built by Arabs as their base in Armenia.

[Heresson]

Ahlat cementary once again. Notice how beautiful the graves are, and the mighty Nemrud mountain in the background

[chequita guevara]

I see no frogs here.

[Heresson]

perhaps the nicest of Ahlat's tombs

[Heresson]

Ihlasiye Medresesi in Bitlis, perhaps the nicest thing there. there's also a castle, but I won't post a pic of it.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I see no frogs here.

be patient

And now - mountains over Van lake next to Akdamar island

[Heresson]

Akdamar armenian church. Notice the sculptures!
It's on UNESCO list

[Heresson]

view on the island from the highest point. When Arabs came, the king of Armenia sheltered on this island. There used to be a palace and a monastery here, but were destroyed. I believe that until the great massacre, one of the armenian katolikoi used to reside in Akdamar. I am not entirely sure, though

[Heresson]

Van castle. Not a nice pic, but You can see some Urartu stonework here; on the black rocks there are ancient inscriptions, was in 600 or 900 BC

The connection in this internet cafee is hopeless. i will post the rest later on if it continues

[Heresson]

Here is a snake that came from under my legs to that place

[Heresson]

Here You can see the most interesting part of the castle. The oldest part of it is almost 3000 years old, I don't know if it applies to this strange, Timbuktu-like part on the top. It looks completely different from the rest of the castle.

[Heresson]

it's almost the same pic, but here You can see how hard to get is the castle from the other side

[Heresson]

the castle is even bigger than that, it streteches at least twice as long as that, but it can't be seen here

[Heresson]

it's just a simple field next to Van lake, but I find it lovely