Close to the Iraqi Border, İshak Paşa Sarayı is Truly on the Edge
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Turkey Get Started Planning Guide
The following are our top recommendations for Turkey:
We’ve found the best accommodations in Turkey can be found on the Booking.com website.
The Best Sightseeing Tours in Turkey are:
*Best of Istanbul Day Tour ($64)
*Hot Air Balloon Flight over the Fairy Chimneys of Cappadocia ($115)
The Most Important Items to Pack for Turkey:
*Worldwide Travel Adapter and portable battery charger
*Scarf for wearing in mosques
*Fodor’s Essential Turkey Travel Guidebook
Pashas, sultans, belly dancers, Scheherazade, and visions of 1001 Arabian Nights danced in my head as we headed to this palace in the farthest reaches of Eastern Turkey. The İshak Paşa Sarayı is just not a place many people go. It’s located tucked up in near the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
Really the only way to get there is by car, and you know we love a road trip! This one was dusty and dry, but at the same time new and exciting. It’s trips like these that make us feel like bonafide travelers, so as we drove the winding road to the top of the craggy mountain we were sitting forward in our seats, taking it all in.
It was a hot Turkish day, probably well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We really weren’t prepared for the blast of heat as we exited our air-conditioned jeep. We’d been driving for a few hours, stopping occasionally to take photographs, enjoying the June wildflowers, the many beekeepers, the goats, donkeys, and children that are ever present in this landscape. So, when we had parked the car, gaping at the tall, intricately-carved stone gate, we forgot how hot it was.
The sun was blinding, but it didn’t stop us from admiring the mix of architectural techniques, the ornate decorations, and the majesty of the site on which the palace was built. It was obviously a great strategic location, a bastion of safety for the many caravans of the silk route that the Ottoman sultans and pashas wanted to protect. It signified wealth.
The İshak Paşa Palace is a place of dreams. Hardly anyone visits; the interior is all but empty, and the harshness of the weather coupled with its remote location all work against it, but if you have a chance to visit, go!
Here are some more photos to enjoy.
Would you like to visit the İshak Paşa Sarayı?
Author Bio: Corinne Vail is a travel photographer, food lover, and a perpetual traveler who has been travel writing for over 14 years. For many years she lived overseas in Germany, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, and the Netherlands teaching the children of the US. military. She’s visited over 90 countries, and she’s not stopping anytime soon.
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budget jan
Tuesday 30th of August 2016
Yes, we've been but it was cold when we were there and there was a sprinkling of snow the night before we visited. It was very beautiful and we loved looking over the Biblical landscape. We stayed in Dogubayazit for a few days.
Corinne Vail
Wednesday 31st of August 2016
Jan, I feel that Dogubayazit is such a dusty little city. It was hot and miserable when we were there. It was probably nicer when it was cool.
Rhonda Albom
Tuesday 2nd of August 2016
A very interesting and far away place. The history and tales of went on inside the walls would be fascinating.
Corinne Vail
Tuesday 2nd of August 2016
Rhonda, That's what I like to ponder. What did go on behind the walls?
Anda
Tuesday 2nd of August 2016
I wanted so badly to visit other parts of Turkey after seeing Istanbul, but now I'm afraid I am a little late. There is too much turmoil there. İshak Paşa Sarayı looks like such a strange and mysterious place!
Corinne Vail
Tuesday 2nd of August 2016
Anda, It is! I agree, though, it might be one of those destinations that has to wait a little.