Lake Çıldır ready for horse-drawn sleigh races on ice

The second largest lake in eastern Anatolia, Lake Çıldır, is getting ready for an annual international winter festival as the lake turns into a natural ice rink in winter, ideal for ice sports and nomadic sports like sleigh, javelin and archery races.

The Çıldır Crystal Lake Winter Festival has invited international ice skaters to the entirely frozen-over lake for a competition on Feb. 4. "The festival offers a visual feast for guests and fierce competition between the groups," said Mayor Kemal Yakup Azizoğlu.

Being Turkey's only natural ice rink, extending across an area of 123-square-kilometers, Lake Çıldır is an iconic symbol of eastern Anatolia. Every winter season, exclusive tours are organized to the region to experience the landscape's beauty.

While the snowy and cold weather negatively affect daily life elsewhere in the region, sleigh riders that organize tours on the lake in winter in Ardahan's Çıldır district have a wholly more enjoyable experience. It offers a scenic winter landscape with its famous horse-drawn carriages and ice-digging local fishermen. With temperatures plunging to minus 25 degrees Celcius, the lake becomes completely frozen and local fishermen go there everyday to make their living from the lake.