Day Trip to Ani: Remanent from a Glorious Past

As said, the first and foremost reason foreign visitors would want to travel all the way to Kars is to visit the ruins of the ancient Armenian capital of Ani. Located about 60km outside of Kars, the impressive early medieval ruins of Ani are situated on a steep ridge, overlooking the deep, curvy ravine of the Akhurian River, which also acts as the official border between Armenia and Turkey.  
Since there are no public transport between Kars and Ani, one needs to get a taxi from the town centre in order to visit the ruins. A taxi normally costs 90-100TL, the taxi driver would pick you up from your hotel at the arranged time, drive to Ani, wait for you outside the entrance gate for 3-4 hours while you visit the ruins, before returning to Kars. 

The city of Ani was the capital of the Armenian Kingdom, which once exercised control over a vast  stretch of territory, including much of present-day Armenia and parts of eastern Turkey. During its heyays between the late 10th and early 11th century, Ani  became a key stop of several trade routes due to its size and importance. The city boasted a population of some 100,000 - 200,000 people, and rivaled Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo in terms of importance and splendour of its architectures. The city was known as the 'City of 1001 Churches', thanks to the numerous (for its time) technologically and artistically advanced churches, religious buildings and places of worship within the city's limits.

Kars: Going up the Kars Castle

Most of the visitors come to Kars because they are on their way to the ancient Armenian capital of Ani. Admittedly there are not many things inside the town of Kars itself which are of interest to the ordinary tourists, but there is always the imposing Kars Castle perching on the top of the hill overlooking the entire plateau, where  on a clear sunny day, one could take really good photos of the town.

The view of the whole centre of Kars from the Kars Castle.

Kars: the Snow City and Turkey's Gateway to the Caucasus

Kars is very much a border town, and it certainly feels like it has been in the wilderness for a long time. Strategically located at the far-eastern end of Turkey's vast territory, Kars is virtual gate of entry into the mountainous terrain of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Its strategic importance means Kars was a place repeatedly fought over by the great powers - most notably the ambitious Russian Empire and its successor state, the Soviet Unions. In the 19th and the 20th centuries, several military campaigns were waged by the Russians against the ailing Ottoman Empire, as a result of which Kars and its surrounding region (including Ardahan) were occupied/annexed by the Russians on several occasions.

After several changes of political ownership between Russia/the Soviet Union on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire/Republic of Turkey on the other, the political status of Kars and the neighbouring provinces of Ardahan and Igdir were finalised in the Treaty of Kars in 1921 between the Soviet Union and Turkey, when both sides agreed that these three provinces would remain part of the Turkish Republic.