The city of Ağrı with the eyes of pilgrims

Travelogues, also known as travel writings, are memorabilia written in order to record the information, experiences and impressions obtained about the visited regions, and the landscapes worth transferring. The fact that the travelers wrote down their observations, experiences and information on the structure of the period in various ways, provides a lot of information about the region and period in question.Therefore, the examination of travelogues is important in terms of obtaining information about the research areas from the opinions of the travelers. The aim of the research is to obtain information about the physical geography and socio-cultural situation of the region in the old times in the light of the travel books of the travelers who visited Ağrı and its surroundings in different periods and to recognize the perspectives of the travelers towards the region. For this purpose, sixteen travelogues translated into Turkish or English by the travellers who visited Ağrı and its surroundings were evaluated as samples. These travelogues were handled with qualitative research methods and examined with document analysis. The most popular Mount Ararat and its surroundings formed the backbone of the study by determining the areas in which the travelers visiting the region showed great interest. In addition, by making coding, the observations of the travelers about the period such as Mount Ararat, topography, climatology, cultural features and economic features were handled separately. As a result of the evaluations, it has been determined that although the travelers who visited the region came for different purposes, the aim of the non-Muslims was the desire to see the remains of the Prophet Noah's ark by climbing the Mount Ararat, which they consider sacred. Within the results obtained from the travel books, it has been determined that societies with different ethnic origins have lived together in the region for many years, it is a rich region, commercial activities are intense, agricultural production and animal husbandry are carried out, and the diversity of biodiversity varies considerably in the process. Keywords: Traveler, Travelogue, Ağrı, Culture, Mount Ararat, Turkey.