Ani

4.00 Zoe United States - 06-Apr-25

I visited Ani in April 2025 so I thought I would give an update on the site now :)

Getting to Ani was very easy. There is a small bus that will take tourists to the site everyday at 9am starting at Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Konağı. The shuttle stays at Ani until 12:45, when it departs back to the same location. Here is the site that lists the updated minibus times, in case they change in the future. The drive is about 50 minutes, and you can pay with credit card or cash -- 100 tl per person. I found the ~2.5 hours at the site more than enough to explore everything and take in the beauty of the natural landscape. Ani accepts MuzeKart if you have it; otherwise, the foreigner price is 8 euros.

Sümela Monastery (T)

Zoe United States - 26-Mar-25

I visited Sümela Monastery in fall 2024. It is possible to reach it via tour from Trabzon, although you can also drive yourself, if you prefer. The walk inside involves a lot of steep stairs up and down -- keep that in mind when choosing your shoes! You can also explore a lot of the rooms, which involves ducking and squeezing into various corners of the monastery. Unfortunately, a lot of the wall art is vandalized and you can find a lot of graffiti where ever you go on the site. There are not any plaques explaining what you see in depth, only some sparse signs that say what each room would have been used for. However, I think with the addition of signs that explain the historical context, the site would be greatly improved. The price for foreigners is steep

Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens

2.50 Zoe United States - 30-Mar-25

This site covers a lot of ground and is hard to get a feel for on your own — just the walls of the city themselves are the 2nd widest and longest complete defensive walls (after only the Great Wall of China)! However, I found that visiting the Diyarbakir Archeology Museum first gave great contextualization for the rest of the city. Price is 3 euros for foreigners in Spring 2025.

Across from the museum, you can walk along a portion of the wall by climbing some steep stairs to reach the top. You can also get a view of the Hevsel gardens in the distance

Odunpazari Historical Urban Site (T)

Zoe United States - 16-Mar-25

Odunpazari is a picturesque neighborhood of Eskisehir, a mid-size city easily accessible by train from Ankara. It is very walkable once you arrive, and you can wander around the colorful houses, eat ciborek, and buy handicrafts. There are a lot of museums in the area; I visited the glass arts museum, hamam museum, OMM (modern art museum), and the meerschaum museum. I would recommend spending half a day here and checking out the rest of Eskisehir after. 

Arslantepe Mound

2.50 Zoe United States - 26-Mar-25

I visited in Spring 2025. There are extensive renovations going on currently, so I would estimate only around 30% of the site is available to view currently. In addition, the Malatya archeology museum is also closed, so you can't go to see the artifacts that were discovered at Arslantepe. I am not sure when both the museum and the site will be fully open again. 

To get to Arslantepe, I used public transportation. Good news -- as of recently, you can tap on with any contactless credit card, so you don't need to buy a pre-paid Malatya card! I used the Moovit app to plan my trip but there may be a better option out there.