Travelling during covid19 is very different and many of us may have already got used to the new way of travelling.
Following my New Year’s Eve in Istanbul, I welcomed 2021 with lots hope and positive thinking for the future.
I wasn’t aware prior to planning my trip to Van, that Turkey would go into a national lockdown from 9 pm on 31 December 2020 until 5 am 4 January 2021. This lockdown was different to a curfew, which was already in place in the evenings everyday.
Turkey already had the strictest covid measures in place in Europe and people seemed to follow all the rules strictly.
The country previously tightened COVID-19 measures at the beginning of December 2020. The Authorities have imposed a 2100-0500 curfew nationwide on weekdays; a weekend curfew is in effect from 2100 each Friday until 0500 the following Monday.
Basically, all non-essential shops had to be closed, while essential shops were open, and restaurants only open for take away.
While locals were only allowed to leave home for work or other essential reasons, it did not apply to international tourists.
During our visit in Van, it seemed like as if we were the only people travelling there. Van looked like a ghost town with very few people passing by. Most of the time we came across someone was when we were stopped by police who checked if we were locals or visitors. When police realised we were tourists, they looked very surprised, but smiled and usually laughed.
This didn’t mean that visiting Van wasn’t fun! Not seeing many people around and enjoying the sites for ourselves. The only bad thing was that most if not all attractions were closed so we couldn’t enter Van Fortress, or take a boat to Agdamar church (the main symbol of the city).
Nevertheless, it was interesting to explore Van during the national lockdown.
Van is definitely a hidden gem for travellers who want to experience culture with nature (mountains). The city is historically home to Armenians, Kurds, but also Turks.
Despite the region’s difficult history (concerning Armenian genocide), the place still retains various parts of heritage from Armenian times and locals are looking after these.