The city of Ice: Kars

Kars province is located in eastern Anatolia and seeks to promote tourism to the province by migrating bears living in the forests of Sarıkamış district. In search of food and shelter and return to Sarıkamış to spend the winter period there, later each of Italy and Turkey signed a joint cooperation for the protection of wildlife within the framework of the study of wild Anatolian wildlife and protection, and began to provide special courses and training for the people of about 10 condoms To increase awareness of the local population and make them benefit from bears in tourism.

Kars enjoys its stunning beauty in its own right, a transit point between Anatolia and the Caucasus, and has many archaeological structures intended for visitors, especially in the city center, which is unlike any other city center in what appears to be a century older.

The magnificent Russian-style buildings built during the occupation, are stacked on the sides of wide streets intersecting each other in a distinctive addition to the architectural heritage of the city.

Some of the most important places to visit in the city include:

1- Sarıkamış Ski Center
Surrounded by pine forests, it is a 45-minute drive from Kars city center. It is open to skiers from November to April each year, and is characterized by the quality of its crystal snow that is similar to those on the Alps in Switzerland. It has 5 ski slopes with a length of about 12 km.
If you do not want to ski, you can go up and down by cable car to enjoy the charming view from the top with a fee of only 15 TL, while the ski fee is 40 TL per person.

2- Çıldır lake
Çıldır Lake is one of the first Turkish tourist destinations in winter, and is located on the borders of Ardhan and Kars. It is the second largest freshwater lake in eastern Anatolia with a total area of 123 square kilometers and a depth of 42 meters.

Thousands of foreign and local tourists arrive every year in winter for horse riding, snowboarding, winter games and competitions. They are used as a pedestrian road during the winter months.

3- Kars Çayı River
Do not forget to visit the hiking trail on the banks of the famous river, and learn about the historical and archaeological sites on both sides, such as the Kümbet Mosque, the Church of Havariler and the Mosque of Evliya.

4- Kars Castle
It was established in 1153 AD in the Seljuk period. When visiting this castle, do not forget to climb to the summit to see the city of Kars from the top with a wonderful view as you sip hot tea from one of the cafes at the top.

5 - Taş Bridge 
It is the first landmark to notice when watching the city of Kars from above. It was built by the Ottoman Sultan Murad III in 1579 over the Kars River. Built entirely of basalt stones, it consists of three arches and was restored in 1725.

6- Kurbanağa Cave
Located in the Aladağ Mountain, the Kurbanağa Cave rises 2,000 meters above sea level. The drawings reveal that the cave dates back to the ice and bronze ages. The cave is 11.3 meters deep and 8.60 meters wide, and its entrance width is 4.5 meters.

7- The Ani Tarihi Kenti Ruins
These monuments are located in a rural area of Kars, about 48 kilometers from the city center of Kars on a plateau bordering the Armenian border. It dates back to the third millennium BC. It embraced 23 different civilizations, the most important of which were Sasanian, Byzantine, and Seljuk, and were distinguished during the period of the Land Silk Road, and were of great importance for the Armenian Bagrat kingdom, the Byzantine Empire and Turkish history. It has been listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site.

Also, Koyokuk Lake is home to 200 different bird species, which come to it during the spring and autumn migration seasons for feeding and nesting. Made with Kassar cheese with delicious honey, the city has a ski center with huge hotels protected in pine forests with stunning views, the ski season lasts 120 days during the year, the place is suitable for skiing on the Alps.

The city of Kars is characterized by its humid continental climate, with a clear difference between winter and summer temperatures, day and night, due to its location far from large water bodies, where converging the Caucasus mountain range of the Lesser East Anatolia Plateau, summer is short with cool nights, and winter is very cold with Many snow lasts in the city for 4 months, the average summer temperature is 26 degrees Celsius, winter is -16 degrees Celsius and may reach -35 ° C.

Kavkaz University is a state institution of higher education and a member of the Association of Caucasus University, founded in Kars on July 11, 1992 in eastern Anatolia.