Turkish Delights, Part II: What can be found in a Turkish Salt Mine?

After the wonderful archeological adventure at Ani, followed by an amazing dinner in Kars, we continued our journey with a drive to Van. All of us were looking forward to finally catch a glimpse of the legendary Mt. Ararat that was on the agenda for the day. What we did not know was the surprise detour that our guide was saving for us. As we all sat in our minibus, we could not take our eyes off of the beautiful landscape. The rugged mountains seemed to never end, offering new impressive shapes after each turn of the road. Villages with thin long minarets dotted the valleys and the sky was blue without a cloud. And then our guide and driver conspired, mischievously smiling and discussing directions in Turkish, and took us to visit what seemed like an abandoned mine. Curious, we got off of our bus and probed the muddy entrance of the mine with our shoes. Then, two men materialized from the inside, we later found out they were geology professors from Ankara. They looked very happy and after talking to them, our guide grinned and rushed us back to the minibus. But instead of turning away, the driver dove right into the depths of the mine. We were confused but delighted by the adventure. After a few minutes of wandering trough the labyrinth, we saw the light. There it was, in all its unexpected glamor, a coffee house inside the mine! I thought of Ali Baba inside Mt. Sesame as I stared at the gorgeously upholstered big chairs and sofas, booths with plush pillows adorned with chains of flashing lights and water pipes on the tables. This was positively the most bizarre thing I have ever found inside a mountain. Chai?, asked our guide. Chai!, we answered in unison. And that is how, inside a Salt Mine, we established a tradition that lasted for the rest of the trip. Cup of hot tea, anywhere at any time of the day whenever the opportunity presented itself, although to our chagrin, it was never inside a mine again.

Don’t ask where this Salt Mine Café is, the guides have too much fun thinking about how to best surprise you.