Visitors throng frozen lake famous for sleigh rides

KARS

With the start of the touristic Eastern Express, an overnight passenger train that runs from the capital Ankara to the eastern province of Kars, Lake Çıldır, famous for horse-drawn sleigh rides, has started hosting its visitors.

Tourists throng the frozen lake, located between Kars and the neighboring province of Ardahan, with some joining sleigh rides and some taking photos while walking on the ice-covered parts of the lake, which looks like glass since it has not snowed yet.

Lake Çıldır is the second-largest lake in the region. Its surface gets completely covered with ice during the winter months. Taşbaşı village area in the Arpaçay district of Kars has partially frozen as the air temperature decreased to minus 10-12 degrees.

“Look at the [natural] beauty. I am so delighted to be here,” Meral Dalay, a visitor from the northern province of Samsun, told İhlas News Agency.

“I will walk around the lake. I pray to God that it won’t break. I do not know how to swim,” she said while laughing.