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deserved to be honoured with a visit , before its definitive death .
After the night spent amongst bugs of every size , we decided it was time to leave , sad and warm like hell , heading to Van Lake . After passing Batman ( yes , it ’ s a city ) we continued on a plain road until Baykan , where finally road started to climb .
The yellow barren desert gave way to a bucolic landscape , and , beyond
Bitlis , the view of Van Lake opened ahead of us with all its vastness . The air was pleasantly cold at 1600 metres making everything better , the engine had found a new lease on life .
We were in the mood to have a swim but needed to go beyond the large military base of Tatvan to reach the shore , so we decide to visit Ahlat cemetery first .
This cemetery has thousands of lava rock tombstones from the Seljuk era carved with intricate motives and inscriptions . Raised one by one in a thousand years , they ’ re carefully watched by crows perched on them and turtles lazily climbing among the ruins . Their skyline gives a mystic mood to all the atmosphere . While the sun is starting its descent on the other side of the world , we started our search for a good camping spot
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