It may seem odd, but this is the picture that I’m most proud of from this trip, partly because the thing was so difficult to find. With the 300mm lens and perfect light, I was pretty happy with it. The Van castle was probably first built by the Urartians in the 9th to 7th century BCE. The inscription in the picture was commissioned by King Xerxes in the 5th century BCE, and is a trilingual inscription in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian. I had to walk around the entire citadel to find it, but I was determined to get to it somehow. It was a beautiful morning and the fields below the citadel were filled with lush grass and the ruins of old mosques. A wonderful morning. Later in the day, I hitch-hiked to Igdir, where I caught a minibus to Kars.