Ani

The ancient city of Ani was built first by the Armenians in the 900's, but then spent the next 1100 years or so changing hands between collections of Armenians, Turks, Mongols and Russians. I fail to see how 100.000 people once lived here as the books claim, but perhaps, if one uses one's imagination, 100.000 people could have lived there....

As a modern geopolitical sidebar, the site remains on the exact frontier between modern Turkey and Armenia. But because of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in neighbouring Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia have no open borders nor diplomatic relations. In the past, visitors to the site needed to jump through hoops just to get there: One needed police permission, one needed army permission and only certain things could be photographed. Now, however, things are much more relaxed and it comes as somewhat of a surprise that one can actually throw rocks into Armenia from Turkey (ummm... theoretically of course). On the border of Turkey's biggest mortal enemy there is no visible troop presence; but on the border with Bulgaria, a country Turkey actually halfways gets along with, the fences and the police checks abound for miles around....

A River Runs Through It: On the left bank, Armenia, on the right, Turkey. The River Aras (glorified stream?) separates the two.

The Cathedral/Mosque. Built as a cathedral, it has been changed into a mosque and back again several times

The earthquake happened, but no one bothered to put the pieces back together again