If you need a local guide in Kars for nearby Ani, then Celil is your man.
Fluent in English and incredibly knowledgable about the local area, Celil is one of the best Guides I’ve come across in many years of travel.
Contact me if you want his phone number or get it from the Lonely Planet guide book.
Some times we pre-book our accommodation, other times we just turn up and find a place. Tonight the ‘just turn up approach’ left us looking for a room at 10.30 at night in a town we’d only been in for an hour.
The first two hotels were booked out. The third had one room with twin beds and is so small, you can’t swing a cat. The shower, with the broken door, is down the hall.
Given how late it was, we took the room. The silver lining is the forty lira price tag, which is cheap.
As for the photo, it is the forty watt light bulb above us.
Good times.















