Going to Ishan

The going rate for a taxi to and return from Ishan is 100TL. It being a slow day and late in the afternoon, we were charged 80Tl. Ishan is 29 Km away, off the main road between Kars and Artvin, onto a turn off and up a dirt road. It's impassable in bad weather. It was quite a climb up the mountains passing some spectacular views of a very rugged countryside. It's mind boggling to think how the monks could build such a beautiful church at Ishan. It's hard to imagine, going up those rugged mountainside that there is this beautiful village up there next to this gorgeous church. I was a little scared as the taxi began the climb, not knowing what to expect. All I read was there is this gorgeous church there and it was well worth the effort to reach it. That was all I had to go on and that was really all I needed to know.