Far Northeast

From the windswept ruins of the old Armenian capital Ani to the haunting shells of medieval Georgian churches and impossibly perched clifftop castles, Turkey's far northeastern corner is a spectacular compendium of the multiple cultures that have trodden this frontier region over more than two millennia. Seljuk and Ottoman palaces and mosques, the Russian architecture of Kars and the occasional ancient Zoroastrian fire temple are set amid stunning landscapes that transmute from deep green river valleys to high pastures, snowy passes, arid steppeland and the majesty of Turkey's highest peak, 5137m Mt Ararat.