Erzurum, or Artsn or Karin or Theodosiopolis or Karnu-Kalaki or Kalikale, from the minaret in the citadel, the Kale (cf Qalat, in Erbil). This is history on a whole nother scale: Artiaxid kings, Romans, Umayyads, Byzantines, Saltukids, Armenians, Selcuks, Mongols, Ottomans, the Crimean War, Russia, Ottoman-Russia-Ottoman, the Armenian Genocide and Atatürk and the Turkish War of Independence.

There are 40,000 students here, and a ski resort. Some 12th century Selcuk architecture (the Kale, medreses and mosques), Ottoman houses in extreme disrepair (pics on flickr) and a mishmash of scruffy blocks otherwise. I like.