Van City Travel

Van city, with a great history that goes back up to 5000 B.C. Where the first settlement begins with Urartus 9.Th Century B.C. During that era, the name of the city was Biane Or Biaina where the area was ruled by the Medes, Persians, Parthians / Parthia,  Byzantines, Sasanid Empire, Seljuks, Karakoyunlu, Ak Koyunlu / Aq Qoyunlu , Turkmens, and Ottoman Empire. Those gave a great history, artifacts and many other pieces of arts / history and culture which makes the city quite rich in history and a harmony of culture.

The city was conquered by the Russians during the World War I. and was liberated in 1918, and turned into a city during the declaration of republication of Turkey.

The natural beauties, cultural and historical works / artifacts that covers plenty of food prints from many great civilizations, transportation resources, and regional traditions and customs it plays a great role on the tourism of Turkey and  is a great potential of tourist destinations.

Traditional Van Houses are a must see in order to get a better idea of the architecture structure of the city in a better way. The old Van City , stone streets, bazaars, Turkish Baths / Hamams, and with many other historical and architectural constructions makes the city one of the best example of the ancient architecture sample and displays a great architecture of the Ottoman Empire for those to visit, or to live.

Van , improving hunting with a great range of animals, and sportive fishing, mountaineering / mountain walking , hiking in Suphan Mountain, natural walking and outdoor sports are quite popular in the area.

Van Cat, and the Kilims of Van are only some of the values of this city which makes it a world wide famous hot spot, especially with the Cat of Van City, that has different eye colors on each (sometimes one blue, the other one green) and this takes attraction of tourist, and gets a lot of local and foreigner tourist in the location.

Places to visit in Van City.
Van Museum was firstly  began to construct  in 1932, and was completely  opened  for visits in 1972.
It is possible to see archeological pieces, ethnographic arts and works, and many of the proofs, works, documentaries and other pieces that proves that actually the Armenians were the  ones who made the genocide on Turkish People , which is an important witness to history. 

Van Lake is a sophisticated value of the city as being the biggest lake of the country, and also the biggest Soda (Mineral Water) Lake of the World which gives the name to the City as Van.

The Van Lake has 4 islands on it, as having a plenty salted water with soda, that makes it possible to use it as a cleaning / washing material clear without using any chemical materials.

The biggest of those 4 islands on Van lake is the "Akdamar" Island that is being memorized with the Akdamar Church which was constructed with a great stone architecture work and displays a splendid example of the stone work in early 900's.

The Lake gets a different color in different seasons and days of the year, it even has different colors in different hours of the day, with a great view of sun set and sun shine is also worth to pay visit with the pure bays and shores in Van Lake.

Van Castle / Fortress is a construction of Urartu from the 9th century in Urartus Era, Castle of Hosap was built on the arduous stones next to Hosap Water,  Agarti Fort, Kef Fortress, Delicay Fort, Lamurkesen / Zernek Castle, Amik Castle, Muradiye, Zarnaki Hill Fortress, Beyuzumu and many other small and big fortress and castles  , makes the city as a "Castle City" in another term.

Churches; Akdamar Church that was established on the biggest islands of all 4 on Van Lake, and the Adir Church.

Historical Mosques; Husrevpasa Mosque 1567, Kaya Celebi 1597, Kizil, Ulu Camii / Grand Mosque, Suleyman Han, Abbasaga, Horhor and Gevas Izzettin Cir Mosques.

Madrassah (A complex usually built right next to the mosque); Hosap Hasan Bey Madrassah, Husrev Pasa and Evliya Bey Madrassah.

Domes / Tombs; Aliyar Dome, Ercis Anonim / Zortul Domes and Gevas Halime Tombs.

Bridges;  Kirmizi / Red Bridge, Bend-i Mahi Bridge, Zeril, Catak, Seytan, and Hurkan Bridges.

Menua Canals / Semiramis - Samran Water Canals that was built during the Urartus Era is a wonder of engineering is totally worth to see and is still active.

Edremit with shores, beaches and beauties of nature , Gevas with shores / beaches and recreation spots, Lake of Van with the shores / beaches and Amik with fruits garden are some of the recreation spots that reflects and displays of the natural beauties.

Provinces of Van.
Bahcesaray, Edremit, Baskale, Gevas, Caldiran, Gurpinar, Catak, Muradiye, Ercis, Ozalp and Saray.

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