Ani
UNESCO World Heritage Site (Archaeological Site Of Ani, 2016); Medieval Armenian Bagratid Capital On The Akhurian Gorge · Ocakli, Kars
Ani was the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom and, around the year 1000, one of the largest cities in the world - a hundred thousand people on a triangular plateau above a river gorge, with so many churches that the standard description was the city of a thousand and one of them. The Mongols sacked it in 1236, an earthquake finished the job in 1319, the trade routes moved, and it was simply abandoned. What is left is one of the strangest sites in Turkiye: a walled plain of grass and wildflowers with half a dozen enormous buildings standing in it and nothing else at all. The cathedral was finished in 1001 by Trdat, the architect who repaired the dome of Hagia Sophia, and its pointed arches and clustered piers look like Gothic two centuries before Gothic. The gorge below is the Armenian border, closed and visible, which gives the whole place its particular weight. Kars, 45 kilometres west, is the only base.
Ocakli Koyu, Ani Oren Yeri, Kars Merkez, Ocakli, Kars, Turkiye
Open daily with longer summer hours and a much earlier winter close. It is an open plateau with no shelter, and heavy snow or extreme cold can close the approach road in winter. There is no public transport - a taxi or tour from Kars, 45 kilometres away, is the normal arrangement. Check locally in winter.