Lake Çıldır

Against the stunning backdrop of Lake Çıldır's frozen surface, a team of 38 artistic figure skaters from Istanbul mesmerized onlookers with a captivating ice dance performance.

By the time Kısmet the horse sets off, Orhan Göller's bare fingers have turned blue from the freezing temperatures. But the pure white surroundings and the echo of hooves are enough to delight his customers in eastern Turkey.

A new bird species, smew duck, was spotted in Lake Çıldır in eastern Turkey.

A team from the Turkish conservation society Kuzeydoğa Association spotted the duck in the Taşbaşı village in the eastern Kars province.

Emrah Çoban, the coordinator of the association, told Anadolu Agency that their regular birdwatching bore fruit.

Turkey's winter tourism hotspot, the eastern province of Kars, which is known for the famous Orient Express, is dealing with a tourism setback amid the coronavirus pandemic. The tourism income of the city has decreased by 80 percent.

In Çıldır Lake, a part of whose surface is frozen now, visitors started to take sleigh rides on a glass-like ice where fish and algae are visible as there is no snow.

While people in big cities welcomed the new year of 2020 with parties, concerts and fireworks, dozens of others opted for a 24-hour journey to one of Turkey's easternmost provinces.

Tourists visiting eastern Turkey has stopped by the famous Lake Çıldır and enjoyed a hot cup of tea in the freezing weather, on the frozen lake. 

An Eskimo-style fisherman in northeastern Turkey has caught the biggest fish of the winter season - a freshwater carp of 5.2 kilograms as the fishing season kicked off in Lake Çıldır.

Click for a selection of pictures from the frozen Lake Çıldır, Turkey’s winter wonderland near its borders with Armenia and Georgia. Visitors can enjoy authentic horse-drawn carriage rides and fish for “sarı balık” [yellow fish] over the frozen lake