Eastern Anatolia

Arriving in Eastern Anatolia, the first thing that registers is the scale. The plateau stretches between ranges of jagged mountains under a wide sky, the air thin and sharp, especially in the spring months when snow still clings to the high passes. This is Turkey's largest and highest region, a landscape that has shaped the character of its people as much as its history.

The Land and Its Scale

Mount Ararat rises at the border — a symmetrical double peak, the highest in Turkey, visible from many directions across the plateau. Between the mountain ranges lie broad valleys, glacial lakes and rivers that carve deep gorges. Lake Van, one of the largest soda lakes in the world, sits at the eastern edge, its mineral-rich turquoise waters ringed by volcanic hillsides. The altitude means cool summers and cold winters that arrive early and stay late. Villages cluster in sheltered valleys, their stone and timber houses built low against the wind.

Layers of History

The region sits at the crossroads of ancient Anatolia and the Iranian plateau, and the land carries the weight of many passages. Rock reliefs carved by Hittite rulers stand near mountain roads. Medieval Georgian churches, some still in use, rise from valleys near the borders with Georgia and Armenia. The stone caravanserais that dot the plains speak to centuries of trade between Persia and the Black Sea coast. In Doğubayazıt, Ishak Paşa Palace sits on a hillside — an eighteenth-century Ottoman outpost with elaborate stone carving, its domed interiors looking out over a sweeping valley.

The Taste of the Plateau

Food here is shaped by the demands of altitude and hard winters. Pastırma — paper-thin slices of heavily spiced, cured beef — originates from this region, as does sucuk, the garlicky dried sausage spiced with cumin and fenugreek. In the markets of Kars and Erzurum, pastırma hangs in long rows, the air dense with its particular cured-meat scent. Tea is poured at every opportunity, from small glasses, and ayran — the salted yogurt drink — accompanies most meals. Flatbreads baked in clay tandır ovens are thick and chewy, built to stick with you through a cold day. In Erzurum, the local cağ kebabı — meat carved directly from a rotating spit onto bread — gives a straightforward taste of the grill culture of the highlands.