Van Fortress is a massive stone fortification built by the ancient Armenian kingdom of Urartu during the ninth to seventh centuries B.C. and is the largest example of its kind. It overlooks the ruins of Tushpa, the ancient Urartian capital during the ninth century which was centered upon the steep-sided bluff where the fortress now sits. Successive groups such as the Medes, Achaemenids, Armenians, Parthians, Romans, Sassanid Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks, Safavids, Afsharids, Ottomans and Russians each controlled the fortress at one time or another. (from Wikipedia)

I can’t remember why I didn’t try to get a better perspective than this; maybe there was none since the two pictures I have from here have the same kind of distractions. I seem to recall that it was closed to the public in those days.

Street life in Van, posted earlier: