2/5 – Jim decided we needed a day off before crossing the border, so we had today to explore Erzurum. Our first order of business was to find a barber (berber), as Jim has been looking for a haircut for a while. This would not normally be a blog worthy event, but the barber did something we hadn’t seen before. After cutting Jim’s hair, he lit a torch and burned the little hairs out of Jim’s ears! It was thrilling to watch, and Jim didn’t scream, so I guess it’s a viable way to get hair out of your ears…

Erzurum had a substantial snow before we arrived, and the streets were in various states of packed ice, slush or mud, which made walking hazardous. The temperature was in the 20s. We only had a mile to the city center, but it was treacherous going all the way.

Here we are sliding down a street full of wedding shops and jewelry stores.

Erzurum is known for wedding shops.

Our goal was the Citadel, a twelfth century fort with a tower that afforded an overview of the city. The fort was mainly walls covered with snow.

The views from the tower – beautiful mountains all around!

There is also a mosque here, famous for its unusual minarets. They must be refurbishing them this winter.

We stopped for lunch at a tavuk doner (chicken wrap) shop with only two tables. Our last doners in Turkey!

The wraps were delicious, but the little shop had no sink. When we were done, I watched the proprietor wipe off our table with a rag, take our plates outside, wipe them with the same rag, then put them back on the stack of clean plates! There are some things we are better off not seeing…

Tomorrow, Georgia!