From Hasankale to Oltu, the Eastern and Northern Road of Erzurum

Begin the day in Pasinler, east of Erzurum, at Hasankale on the steep crag that rises above the district. According to the guide of the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the castle stands on a steep hill in front of Mount Hasan Dede, thirty-six kilometres east of the city centre. The castle also gave its name to the district; the town of Pasinler was long known as Hasankale in Ottoman records and among local people. Approach the castle from the west, because the dirt track leading to the gate of the inner castle is on this side. As the guide notes, the castle was built on such steep rocks that in the past it could not be reached even with pack animals. Today's track was opened when the castle was later used as a stone quarry; so the slope you walk up is itself part of what happened to the castle. Take the climb slowly, because the ground is stony and loose in places.

At the top, first try to read the plan of the castle. According to the English Wikipedia article there are three rings of walls on the hill, and the outer two end at the sheer rock face without forming a complete circuit. The gatehouse lies in the western part. The guide notes that the columns, arches and inscription of the inner castle gate, once built of regular and decorated stones, are no longer in place, and that the gates of the outer castle have collapsed and disappeared. Castles.nl writes that no buildings have survived inside the inner castle; what you see here is therefore not a group of buildings but a line of defence seated on the rock.

The history of the castle does not fit into a single period. Inscriptions and stonework from the reign of the Urartian king Minua are reported among the remains, and the hill is considered to have been a defensive site since the Iron Age. Castles.nl reports that in 1048, during the war between the Seljuks and the Byzantines, the castle here was captured by the Seljuk commander İbrahim Yınal. There are, however, differing accounts of who founded the present castle. The historian Naima attributes it to Uzun Hasan, ruler of the Akkoyunlu; İbrahim Hakkı Konyalı instead credits Hasan Bey, son of Emir Hacı Togay of Ilkhanid descent, and dates it to the years between 1336 and 1339. In the Ottoman period Suleiman the Magnificent is known to have had the castle repaired and strengthened.

Then stand on firm ground and look out over the plain. This spot commands the whole Pasinler Plain and for centuries was an important military base watching over the road that came to Erzurum from the east. The wide plain below is the upper basin of the Aras, and the road to the second stop of the route also crosses this flat land. For photographs, look for angles that take in both the plain and the town from the level ground outside the walls. Another feature of the castle is the water tunnel that runs through the rock down to the stream below; be content with seeing its mouth from a distance. Do not climb onto the ruined walls and do not move loose stones. Since it is hard to find shade, bring a hat and water on summer days. After the descent you can, if you wish, also stop at the Pasinler hot springs, which the provincial guide says have been known since Roman times. Then set off east across the plain towards Köprüköy, some eighteen kilometres ahead.

Source: Erzurum İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Turizm Rehberi; Castles.nl, Hasankale Castle; Wikipedia, Pasinler Castle.

The second stop is the Çobandede Bridge over the Aras, just east of the centre of Köprüköy. The bridge is closed to traffic today; the highway crosses on a parallel bridge about five hundred metres to the east, so you can see the historic structure on foot and in a quiet setting. First look at the bridge from the bank, from the side, because all of its arches can be read in one frame only from a distance. The Culture Portal states that the bridge is 128 metres long and 8.5 metres wide, that its largest arch spans 13 metres and that its highest point reaches 30 metres. The bridge was built with seven arches; because its first arch was closed during repairs, you see six today. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam reports that this arch probably collapsed in a flood and was walled up during the repair of 1872.

Then go closer and look at the colour of the stones. The arches are built of black, red and grey cut stone, and the colours change as the light shifts through the day. According to a local tradition these stones were brought from a village about six kilometres away. The Culture Portal notes that juniper timbers were laid beneath the piers to keep the bridge from sinking, and that voids were left between the walls to lighten the load. The pointed cutwaters in front of the piers and the semicircular buttresses on the opposite face are the most striking details of the bridge. Angular half-turrets were built on top of these projections and covered with conical caps in the shape of half pyramids. What these kiosks were for is debated; some researchers think they may have sheltered guards, while others argue that they were simply ornaments enriching the appearance of the bridge. On the eastern face, look above the piers for reliefs made of geometric knots and chain patterns. Masons' marks are also reported on the parapet stones; if you look carefully you may spot one shaped like a bow with an arrow.

The date of the bridge is uncertain. The Culture Portal and the provincial guide write that it was commissioned in 1298 by Çoban Noyan, emir of the Ilkhanid ruler Ghazan Khan. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, however, notes that the repair inscription is badly worn, that there are only legends about its founder, and that judging by its architecture and decoration it may have been built towards the fourteenth century. The bridge takes its name from this Emir Çoban tradition, and the district in turn is named after the bridge. For centuries it was where the roads from Erzurum towards Muş, Erciş and Van crossed. Evliya Çelebi saw the bridge on his journey in 1647 and likened it to a rainbow; a miniature of the bridge also appears in the campaign book prepared by Matrakçı Nasuh in the sixteenth century.

The bridge stands where the waters of the Kargapazarı and the Aras meet; watch the two streams join from the middle of the bridge. According to Wikipedia the flow reaches its highest level in August, and over its history the bridge has been damaged by floods many times. When walking on the bridge, keep away from the edges and keep children close. If you go down to the bank the ground may be slippery, so do not go too near the water. From here return to Pasinler and head north onto the Narman road.

Source: Kültür Portalı, Çobandede Köprüsü; TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Çoban Köprüsü; Erzurum İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Turizm Rehberi; Wikipedia, Çobandede Köprüsü.

The third stop is the fairy chimneys on the Narman-Pasinler road, seven kilometres south of the centre of Narman. The Culture Portal places the site at the seventh kilometre of this road; so if you follow the road north from Pasinler, you reach the stop before arriving in the district centre. First stop at the viewpoint by the road and see the valley from above. The 2020 announcement of the Governorship of Erzurum reports that a two-storey facility for visitors was built by the road and that the site is reached on a road of about three and a half kilometres. From here the red bluffs, pointed peaks and narrow valleys come together in a single view.

Knowing where the colour and the shapes come from changes the way you see the landscape. The redness comes from the oxidation of iron in the sedimentary rocks. The shapes emerged as wind and water wore away the sandy soil over a long time; water first carved out hollows, and wind then worked these hollows into different patterns. Sources give different figures for the age of the formation. The Culture Portal and the provincial guide write that the fairy chimneys formed 2.5 to 3 million years ago through the erosion of material deposited in a sedimentary basin, while the Governorship's announcement mentions a much older date. Locally the place is known as the Land of the Red Fairies, and the Culture Portal compares the valley to the Grand Canyon carved by the Colorado River.

The path down into the valley is the best way to see the site from inside, and most of the time we allow for this stop goes to it. The Governorship's announcement mentions a walking trail of about one hour. On the way down the ground is sandy and slippery, and grip can be poor even in dry weather; wear shoes with firm soles. After rain the sandy soil turns to mud, so check the weather before you take the path. As you walk, do not climb onto the tops of the fairy chimneys or the edges of the bluffs, because the eroding soil breaks away easily. The way back is uphill; pace yourself accordingly and bring enough water.

This landscape is a protected area. The Culture Portal states that the fairy chimneys were declared a natural monument in 2018 and are protected under national park principles. According to the Governorship's announcement, the site has also been placed on the World Heritage Tentative List by the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO. The same announcement says there are twelve separate valleys in the area; in other words, the view you see from the road is only a small part of the whole site. There is little shade, and a hat is essential on summer days. Because the midday light is harsh, focus your photographs on the shaded bluffs and the textures inside the valley. Wikipedia notes that festivals are held here in the summer months; you can find out in advance whether there is an event on the date of your visit. For those who wish to come by public transport, the Culture Portal points to the Narman minibuses departing from the west district terminal in Şükrüpaşa Mahallesi in Erzurum, but this route as a whole requires a car. After the fairy chimneys, continue north through Narman to Oltu.

Source: Kültür Portalı, Narman Peri Bacaları; Erzurum Valiliği, Erzurum'un Kırmızı Periler Diyarı Jeopark Olacak; Erzurum İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Turizm Rehberi; Wikipedia, Narman Peribacaları.

The last stop of the route is the castle in the centre of Oltu. It stands on a steep but not very high crag, at the point where the waters coming from Narman and from the Sivri Stream join to form the Oltu Stream. In the words of the provincial guide, the castle sits inside the bend drawn by the Oltu Stream, and as you enter the town you see it on top of the rock in the middle. The entrance to the inner castle is on the south side, and you climb to the gate by a flight of steps. Take the steps slowly, and when you reach the top, first walk once around the castle.

The part still standing today is the inner castle; the outer walls that once encircled the town's neighbourhoods have not survived. The inner castle follows the shape of the natural rock beneath it, and its perimeter is strengthened with high, thick walls and towers. The Culture Portal writes that the castle was built over an area of three thousand square metres and constructed of cut stone. Pay attention to the towers and boundary walls in the northwest; the sources note that this section was evidently far more imposing in the past. In the inner castle, look for traces of the cisterns and of the quarters used by the castle guards.

The date of the castle's construction is debated. Some sources say its architectural features go back as far as the Urartians; Wikipedia instead reports differing accounts and notes that Georgian inscriptions were seen in the castle in the nineteenth century. The Culture Portal writes that the castle was repaired in the Byzantine, Seljuk, Akkoyunlu, Karakoyunlu and Ottoman periods, and that in the Ottoman period it was also used for a time as a caravanserai. According to Wikipedia, the castle passed to the Ottomans in the middle of the sixteenth century and then became the administrative centre of the sanjak of Oltu. After the war of 1877-1878, Oltu remained under Russian administration for a time. The castle was most recently restored and consolidated in 1998 and 1999.

One of the most interesting details of the castle is its link to the water. The provincial guide writes that the castle gate and its tunnel face the Oltu Stream; the Culture Portal also mentions a hidden water passage running down from the rock to the stream. At the eastern foot of the inner castle there is a bathhouse whose origins go back to the Seljuks and which was connected to the inner castle by clay pipes; look at it from outside on your way down. From the edge of the walls, look over the Oltu Stream valley and the two sides of the town; Wikipedia reports that the town spread along both banks of the stream. Do not go near the high, unrailed edges.

Oltu is the home district of Oltu stone; when you come down from the castle you will find workshops in town where this black stone is worked. The stone's journey from quarry to counter is the subject of a separate trip and blog post of ours. If you are arriving in the last hours of the day, find out the castle's current visiting conditions in advance and do not linger too long in Narman. The Culture Portal states that Oltu is one hundred and eighteen kilometres from the city centre; set off on the way back before dark.

Source: Kültür Portalı, Oltu Kalesi; Erzurum İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Turizm Rehberi; Wikipedia, Oltu Kalesi.