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We had an early start to get a bus from the centre of the city to the Otogar, or bus station, which is on the outskirts of Erzurum. The hotel owner kindly put a pin on my phone of where to walk, so off we went.

Buses around every half an hour, but we timed it perfectly and only had a wait of around three minutes. It was cold out, which suited me perfectly, but the bus was warm. We were delighted to find that the bus tickets were easy to acquire, as they were contactless so we could pay by card when boarding. Some other locations perhaps need to catch up with this technology.

Safely at the bus station after a thirty minute bus journey. Some people try and walk to the bus station, but it would be a walk of getting on for two hours and it would be entirely unpleasant because of the lack of pavements in some places. And, at this time of year, it would be nearly impossible because of all of the snow.

The online reviews of this bus station are quite negative, with unclean and chargeable toilets, ants everywhere and insufficient seating. However, it all seemed comfortable and clean to me, with everything feeling logically laid out.

Jonathan pondering the various locations that could be visited in Turkey.

Looking towards the entrance.

Ours was the 11:30 service (the one without the platform number) which would take us to Hopa which is a town on the Black Sea coast in the north east of Turkey.

Jonathan wanted a morning snack and these were some of the options available.

And the hot options, although Jonathan went for a bread option.

We found a place to sit and then waited for our bus, but more of that in the next riveting instalment….

In numerous areas across Erzurum, there were bits of pavement that were closed off. This was because of the ever threat of icicles and I saw a couple of near misses, and there were some property owners warning of the danger from these potentially highly damaging spears of ice falling.

I wouldn’t want to be standing underneath one of those…. I had a look on Google and there have been some serious injuries in this area of Turkey over the years. Anyway, that’s the end of my health warning….

I know I’m easily pleased by things, but this did surprise and delight me. The traffic pole and the surrounds have lights attached so it’s very easy to see when the signals change. I’m sure that this is common in many places around the world, but it’s the first time that I’ve seen it.

And a red light version, it’s visual and makes it safer for pedestrians to see when to cross. I should probably get out more…

For our evening meal in Erzurum, we opted for a fish restaurant as Jonathan’s vision of trying some sort of fatty lamb dining option (a local delicacy, but seemingly all those restaurants sell) seemed just a little too decadent to me as I don’t like fatty food and I don’t usually eat lamb.

As an aside, it was a beautiful walk to the restaurant. The Google location was slightly wrong and so we thought we had got muddled up, but it transpired it was just one street over. We arrived at the restaurant and there was a friendly welcome and we were shown to a table immediately.

It was a cosy and warm environment, despite the snow outside. It was also relatively busy, with a large group in the centre of what is effectively a posh marquee.

This was the free meze selection that is placed down at the table, it’s really rather agreeable.

I went for the sea bass which had a pleasant and slightly sweet flavour, with a peppery coating from the seasoning, with the meat being tender. It went well with my lemonade, especially since I put a fair amount of lemon on the fish (from lemons, not the lemonade). Jonathan went for meatballs which seemed to surprise and delight him in a positive way.

We had the desserts of the Kabak Tatlısı and the Güveçte Tahin Helva. The first, on the left, is the pumpkin dessert which had a slightly firm texture and the nuts added extra texture, with the whole arrangement being sweet. The second, on the right, is a hot halva dish which was very sweet and quite rich, it’s apparently usually served after fish dishes and so that felt appropriate.

The exterior of the restaurant and the area where nearly everyone was seated is in the area to the side on the right. The main part of the restaurant wasn’t used, I think that they rather liked the cosiness of their marquee arrangement.

This was a pleasant visit, it was a vibrant and welcoming location and the prices were moderate. The staff were polite and helpful, speaking decent English which made ordering much easier as our Turkish isn’t exactly fluent at the moment. It offered something different to kebabs and there was a wide range of fish available to choose from.

Located at the Çifte Minareli Medrese, this is an imaret boiler from the sixteenth century. It’s from the nearby Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque which was constructed in 1562. The boiler was likely used to cook food, likely wheat soup or pilaf, which would probably feed travellers, the poor and students.

In itself, this is perhaps just a routine exhibit in a museum, but it has a deeper significance and that’s why I’m treating it to its own blog post. There’s a human connection here, this would have been used to be a public good to feed those who needed help at a very different time in history. At some point in time, there would have been someone in need looking at this boiler with hope and excitement.

Erzurum had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1514 and so this boiler was likely from not long after that. This was a period of great Ottoman power, something which lasted ultimately until the First World War, and this simple boiler is some connection with that vanished world.

This is the Çifte Minareli Medrese, built in the late thirteenth century as a theological college. Over the centuries, the building transitioned from a centre of religious learning to a gun foundry in the seventeenth century and an arsenal during the nineteenth century Russo-Turkish Wars. Following a comprehensive restoration completed in 2016, the madrasa now functions as a free museum.

The interior of the building, which the Russians have attacked on more than one occasion and some of the treasures of the structure remain in Russian museums to this day.

The grand arch that is the entrance.

There are nineteen of these small rooms on the ground floor, they would have been used as student accommodation or for classrooms. They are now museum rooms and there might now be a few posts about some of the exhibits that I thought were particularly interesting.