Lake Van ferry terminal Population: 66,000
On paper Tatvan has everything going for, what with its location on the shores of Lake Van and its mountainous backdrop. Close up, however, its charms tend to evaporate like the waters of the lake on a hot summer’s day. For whatever reason, the town has quite literally turned its back on the lake. The crumbling waterside promenade is bereft of alluring cafes and restaurants, their place taken instead by a large and unattractive military base.
For the time being Tatvan’s single most spectacular sight is the noisy coming home to roost of the town’s many thousands of jackdaws who hunker down for the night in the trees right opposite the high-street shopping centre and around the military base facing the Kardelen Hotel.
Despite its drawbacks Tatvan is still the best kicking-off point for an excursion to the local Nemrut Dağı with two wonderful crater lakes taking the place of the tumbled Commagenian heads on the better known Nemrut Dağı near Adiyaman.
Don’t leave town without:
- dining on tasty büryan kebap, a local pit-baked kebab usually only available until early afternoon. You’ll see it hanging from hooks in restaurant windows.
Sleeping
Kardelen Hotel. Tel: 0434-827 9500
Hotel Dilek. Tel: 0434-827 1516
Transport info
Buses travelling between Diyarbakır and Van pass through Tatvan; you can pick them up in the high street in front of the bus ticket offices.
Dolmuşes to Ahlat and Bitlis leave from in front of the high street shopping centre.
There are daily TCDD trains to Tatvan from Ankara. Indeed, the train services provided the main raison d’etre for the town’s expansion in the 1950s and ’60s. The trains are meant to connect with ferry services across the lake, offering a 4.5-hour mini-cruise covering the 90km to Van (or vice versa). In the past it was notoriously difficult to find out when these ferries would actually sail. I’m now hearing that they are timetabled to leave for Van at 8am, noon, 4pm and 8pm although have yet to confirm it. I’m dying to do this trip.
Day trip destinations
