Day 35 - Vancouver

We made it back of course!















I won't bore you with any more ramblings about Turkey, Syria or Amsterdam, but here's a map of the areas that we covered!

Day 34 - Amsterdam

How could I forget about our 9 hour layover in Amsterdam?

A month ago, when we laid over on the way to Turkey, it was cold and rainy in Amsterdam. We were tired from our 8 hour flight from Vancouver, and it was a fairly miserable experience that culminated in eating a horribly expensive and terrible tasting hamburger.

This time it was different. When we stepped out of the train station it was bright and sunny, and the morning still had its cool air. Not much was open for us to see and do, so we waited for a restaurant to open up for breakfast, and then we walked to a park and slept under a tree for a few hours.

It was the best layover ever, and it made it much easier to handle the long flight back to Vancouver!

Day 33 - Istanbul

Our last day in Istanbul, and the trip is nearly done. Farhad has a flight at midnight, Leah and I fly at 5am and Leila leaves at a very reasonable time of noon tomorrow.

All four of us hopped on the ferry to Heybeliada, an island just off the coast of the city. We rented some bicycles and rode around for a couple of hours through the quiet, pretty and hilly island roads.

That evening we packed up our things, said our goodbyes and caught the flight home.

Day 32 - Istanbul

We're making lazy starts these mornings, I guess from all that crazy traveling we are finally relaxing. So breakfast at 10am, and we start walking around by 11am. We started the day with a quick visit to the Spice Bazaar, and we bought tons and tons of Turkish delight.















We took the train to Beyolglu, a more modern and trendy party of Istanbul. We grabbed the historic underground Fenicular to Tunel - this is an underground cable car built in the 1800s. From Tunel we admired Istiklal Caddesi and walked to Taksim Square.















We checked out the military museum, which had loads of armour, swords, as well as early and modern guns and rifles. Outside the museum was a huge cannon that could spin to fire in any direction. But the real reason we wanted to go to this museum was to see the chain of Constantinople, that for many years was the city's most important defensive mechanism. It was a huge chain that could be pulled across the entry of the Golden Horn (a waterway that enters into the Bosphorus) making a naval assault on the city very difficult. Unfortunately (for Constantiniople) the Turks did something unexpected, and pulled their ships overland on logs all the way around the city and the chain, only to drop back into the water and took the city by surprise in the morning.

That evening Leah and I met with Serhat, his girlfriend and their friends for drinks and dancing. We didn't get home until 3am!

Day 31 - Istanbul

We took Farhad and Leila to the Grand Bazaar, but we were all pretty disappointed because the bazaar is much better in Aleppo, Syria. We knew this, because Farhad was saying how Turks will go to the Aleppo markets to buy stuff, and resell it in Istanbul for a huge markup.















Nonetheless, the market is right beside a bunch of other things to see so we just kept on moving. I had marked a few things in our book that I figured would be neat to see, so this is what we did. As we were wandering we found this little restaurant that really sums up the Turkish cheap-dining culture, cafeteria style food and a huge bucket of deliciously fresh bread right in the middle of every table.

We went to the Rustem Pasa Camii, and the Suleymani Camii, both built by the (historically) famous architect Sinan. Unfortunately the more magnificent Suleymani Camii was under wraps due to a huge restoration project, so we didn't really get a chance to see it.

We also visited Yeni Camii (New Mosque), which the Lonely Planet cheekily points out is 400 years old.

We checked out the Aquaduct of Valens, which brought water from 18km away in the Belgrade forests to the Basilica Cistern in the heart of Sultanahmet. Funnily enough, Serhat didn't know this structure by this name, so when I told him where we were to meet him he had to google it! He says they just call it 'the arches' - which is a somewhat appropriate name considering.

Serhat took us on a tour of his University, made up of buildings that were once a tobbacco factory. There was an interesting photo exhibit on Afghanistan, and a museum showing lots of really ancient pieces.

Serhat had to leave us to meet his girlfriend in the early evening, but we invited them to our hotel for drinks later. We made a good spread of Raki, cheese, bread, crackers and beer.

Day 30 - Istanbul

After another night on the train we finally arrive in Istanbul. We've managed to arrive in the morning and are fighting our way from the train to the ferry so we can cross the Bosporus to where we plan to find a hotel. The ferry is jam packed with people, and our big backpacks are making it a bit difficult. We decide to let them all leave the ferry before we get off, so we don't crash into so many Turks.

The hotel we had a reservation for wasn't ready for us to take a room, so we just left our bags and started to hunt for a cheaper place. Eventually we did manage to find a place that looked like good value, only the manager seemed a little crazy. Since we are crazy too this seemed like a good place for us, so we went to fetch our bags and moved in.

In the evening we met our friend Serhat at the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet, but we were too tired to do much else but shake hands and promise to meet another night.

Day 29 - The train to Istanbul

The train ride through Turkey was gorgeous! We slept through the night and in the morning the train was trundling through the mountains, and I mean through. The Turks don't mess around when it comes to trains and mountains - they just go through them. For quite some time we were in tunnels more than we were outside, and when light did come in through the windows it revealed magnificent, steep, craggy valley walls, and the sun was so bright it made every green surface glow! But then only for a moment as we are plunged into the darkness of the mountain again.

A note on the delay

Oh hi!

I've put off writing these last entries because we're actually home now, but I figure it will be good to finally get them posted. So expect a few entries to trickle in until I get to the point at which we're finally back in Vancouver.

Day 28 - Adana

It is difficult to mark where one day ends and another begins because we really didn't get much sleep on that train.

Adana is a really lovely town, clean and quiet after the noise and heat and dust of Aleppo. We dropped our bags at a hotel and walked around. My Turkish SIM card is still not working, and it seems as if it will no longer work in a foreign phone. We took it to several shops and it worked in a Turkish phone, but not mine or Leah's.

We walked around a few parks, got a little lost and then we had to catch the 2pm train to Istanbul. We wanted a sleeper, but all the compartments were booked for the next two days so we just grit our teeth and take the standard seats. At any rate the train is much smoother than the bus, and since we can easily walk around we are pretty comfortable.

Day 27 - Aleppo

Farhad must wake up early to apply for his visa if it is to be ready for our 9pm train from Syria to Turkey. Leila also doesn't have a visa but it is easy for Russians to get this at the border. So Leah, Leila and I sleep in and we prepare for our last stab at the market before we leave. After all is said and done we meet Farhad and Leila at the aged Baron Hotel and we catch our train out!

It is allegedly a new train, but as the car looks like it was designed and upholstered in the 70s my guess is that it is the schedule that is new. The carriage feels like an antique, with a well used mosaic tile floor and beaded shades swinging from ornate metal light shades. The rails are uneven and the train lurches just a bit too much for comfortable sleep in the chair.

Additionally we've unintentionally befriended a very chatty old American guy who has been travelling for over two years in Africa and the Middle East. I get the feeling that he's got an incredible story built up within him, and he hasn't had much of a chance to talk to people about it so we're getting a rambling and unedited version of his dialog on history and life in the world.

At the Syrian border we are awoken from whatever sleep we could have been having, and the engine detaches from the carriage. It is worthwhile to note that the engine is carrying only two carriages - ours and a dining car that only serves tea. Eventually another engine is attached, and I watch this process from within the train. This happens again at the Turkish border so I suspect this is an engine used only to shuttle carriages between borders for some weird visa regulation reason. We have a minor problem as we did not receive an exit card when we entered Syria, but when the officer learned that we crossed at Bab Al Nawas he understood, apparently regulations aren't always followed to the letter at that border crossing. I think in large part to Farhad's Arabic influence we get a warning instead of a fine.

The transfer engine detaches at the Turkish border and we must all leave the train to get our Turkish stamps. While we're doing this, another engine is attached to the train and we head off again - to arrive at Adana at 5.30 am.

Day 26 - Crac de Chevaliers

Today we caught a bus to Hama, and then paid a driver to take us to Crac de Chevaliers - an ancient castle that was used by the Crusaders, and Saladin in the time of the Crusades. The deep history of the place is unmistakable despite all the fairly obvious reconstruction. The castle has never been taken by force, surely in large part due to the many defensive measures that still remain; deep apses for arches that allow both a wide field of view side to side, and extending to the floor so an archer can shot downwards too. There is a long snaking walkway with many side rooms perfect for little ambushes, and of course holes in the ceiling that both allow light and an entry for boiling oil. Lastly, the castle has two defensive walls - the outer wall is the oldest.



There is a church and a small mosque, and many strangely shaped rooms built within rooms. Altogether the castle is in great shape compared to what we have seen in Turkey, but still there is the silence of all this stonework where once it was full of soldiers!

Day 25 - Aleppo

In the morning Farhad's mother and sister (and maybe Leila and Farhad too) prepared a traditional Aleppo breakfast for us. We had pancakes with sugar and nuts on top, cake, and many things to dip bread in. It was delicious!

We have a plan. Farhad and I will go to get his Turkish visa, see about renting a car and maybe use a bank machine. Unfortunately Syria is a land of changing regulations, and now only Syrian nationals can rent a car - Farhad does not have his license as he is living in the UAE so we are out of luck. As well, travel agencies are no longer allowed to handle the submission of passports for a visa application, so Farhad must apply in person in the next morning. To top it off I can't find an ATM on the Plus network, probably because I'm distracted by Farhad's dialog on Arabic history.

Leah and Leila have more luck shopping; Farhad and I bump into them as we pass through the market on our way to the hospital museum, as I wanted to confirm my memory of the place before I led everyone else there. So the rest of the day passes in a relaxing way, and we had dinner at the very classy Sissy house restaurant.

Day 24 - Aleppo

This morning Leah is at 80%, so we think we can visit Farhad's house, and hopefully leave for some adventures outside of Aleppo tomorrow. Today is Friday, the Muslim holy day so many of Aleppo's shops are closed so when Farhad and Leila arrive we go check out the train times to get to Turkey, and explore the city a bit more. As Friday is a holiday everyone is outside enjoying the warm night air. It seems like there must be a festival happening with families eating ice-cream in the dim light of the park lights but Farhad assures me that this is an ordinary Friday night.

In the evening we slept at Farhad's house, a large ground floor apartment. We stayed up late talking about travel plans and laughing about our experiences so far.

Day 23 - Aleppo

This morning Leah had some serious stomach pains and general sickness - but since we ate a variety of suspect food the night before we're not able to nail down the culprit. Thankfully I am fine so Leah just laid up in bed all day.

I met a Tunisian/Belgian man that morning and we walked for lunch. I led him to the restaurant where Leah, Leila and I had so much fun and enjoyed the food but for some reason he was really miserable about the whole thing and was quite rude to the staff. I made a mental note not to become friends with this man, but he is to lead me to an ancient medical/mental hospital museum so I can't extricate myself just yet.

The hospital is very peaceful, and it is full of descriptions of historical Arabic scientists and philosophers. They have quite a few examples of early medical tools, but without descriptions in English or Arabic we can only guess at what some of the pieces are for. The corridors are very high and narrow, and despite the brutal heat outside the air here is cool and comfortable.

By the afternoon Leah is feeling 50% better, so this is good news. I have a few beers with an Englishman, and Dane and the Tunisian and we talked about politics, travelling and pretty much everything.

Day 22 - Aleppo

We were planning to meet with Leila today, but as luck would have it she had some food poisoning so we were without our fun guide for a couple of days. Nonetheless she dragged herself to our hotel and aimed us at the Christian district to explore, and then went home herself for rest.

Leah and I wandered around old churches and through markets but this only takes a couple of hours, and without a guidebook we don't know what we're missing down the narrow streets. We walked to a huge park and relaxed on a bench, but somehow as we left the park an 8 year-old boy started to follow us from here. Everytime we turned a corner he was right there, 3 meters behind us. When we would stop suddenly he would either stop right beside us, or continue for about 3m past us and pretend to look into a shop window. Eventually we get back to the Christian district and we bought some ice-cream for ourselves. The kid sat at a bench about 10m from us, but before long he has moved to a bench right beside us.

To me, this means this is no longer some secret agent game - he is angling for some kind of attention from us. Instead of giving in I decide to outsmart him and we lose our shadow in a crowd of tourists. A few tiny alleys later and we've lost him - I win the game!

Lots more aimless wandering around Aleppo and that is our day. But all the time we keep looking back, thinking that we heard the shuffling feel of that kid.

Day 21 - Aleppo (Halep)

The Turkcell SIM card I have bought isn't working here, I guess the card isn't allowed to roam in Syria so we're just making due with our Canadian roaming plans.

Leila joined us in the morning and we walked to the Omyiad Mosque. Leah and Leila have to wear funny robes but as I'm a man I'm okay with pants and a T-shirt. In our bare feet the stone floor is really hot from the sun, and we try to avoid the hotter black stones. The mosque sports an unusual square minaret at one corner, and some sections of the mosque are closed to either men or women. Of course I blunder and am pushed away from the Ladies hall. We actually get to see the man singing the call to prayer, which is neat as this is usually blared out of loudspeakers on the minarets, but we never knew if it was a person or a recording.

Later we walked through the markets, and we're all immersed in the smells and sights of the place. We pop out into bright sunlight and we're at the Citadel, a huge Muslim castle. It has a huge moat, sloping walls pierced with narrow vertical windows for archer placements, and a long and narrow entry bridge into the castle.


The castle door is at 90 degrees to the bridge, a defensive measure to make it difficult for elephants to bash in the doors. Above are round holes in the roof, apparently portals to pour boiling oil on attackers. Many narrow windows line the walls, flat to the outside but apses on the inside to protect the archers, but also allow them a wide range of attack.

Once through the citadel walls things get more jumbled. Leila explains that there are so many layers of history buried here that in some places archeologists are unwilling to destroy valuable upper layers to expose the lower layers. We're in the sun again at the top of the castle and we stop for water at a little cafe. From here we relax and look out upon massive Aleppo, its name comes from the white stone that makes up most of its building material, and you can really see it as the city stretches for miles and miles from up here on the Citadel.

We go inside the castle walls again at stumble upon a very impressive royal chamber, with very beautiful and intricate woodwork. I say we stumbled upon it as there is no signage, and another couple we met actually missed this section entirely. We follow what was once a secret passage for the royals into a defensive chamber above the main entry hall. Here we can look down through holes into the hall, holes through which boiling oil may once have passed.

We eat a late lunch/early dinner with Leila and puff away on the nargileh (water pipe, or hubbly bubbly in the Aleppo tourist lingo).

Day 20 - Syria?

Today we plan to enter Syria, but without visas we know that there is a chance we will not be allowed to enter. If this happens, we will go to Gaziantep because there is a Syrian consulate there that might give us a visa, but right now we think our best bet is to go to the border as some people have been successful this way.

Before we leave, we visit the Hatay Archeological Museum. There is a lovely white marble sarcophagus here, and the preserved/restored bones of a man, a woman and a young girl. The museum has a huge collection of beautiful mosaics, some are so finely crafted they actually look like paintings from a distance.

So now we want to go to Syria. We get our bags from the hotel, and sweat our way to the dolmus stand to Reyhanli, a Turkish border town that doesn't have much to captivate a traveller. From there, we pay a dolmus driver 20 Lira to drop us off at the Turkish border. Now we get an offer from a taxi driver to take us to Aleppo for $100, but this seems steep to us. We think there must be a bus, or dolmus or at least a cheaper taxi at the Syrian border so we decide to walk. As the Turkish border guard stamps our passports he tells us it is 5km to the Syrian border crossing, but now it is too late to go back as he has already stamped us. So on we go in the baking sun.

At least our water bottles are full, we start walking. At about the halfway point a truck driver feels sorry for us and takes us the rest of the way to the Syrian border where we jump out. A guard directs us to an administration building a few hundred meters away. The heat is stifling.

When we enter we are relieved to be out of the sun, and we mentally prepare ourselves with our plan to get visas. The official rule is that if Syria has an embassy in your country, you're supposed to get your visa there - since Canada does have a Syrian embassy in Ottawa we're prepared for this eventuality. We plan to explain that Ottawa is very far from Vancouver, and we also have a letter from Leah's Syrian friend inviting us to Syria and a photocopy of his passport; but we will only use these tactics as a last resort - our primary plan is to just ask and be polite and hope they don't notice we're Canadian.

We're not looking forward to walking back to Turkey if we're knocked back from Syria. At the counter we are directed to a side office but when we arrive there is a big scene, and two men are led out in handcuffs. We hope we don't share their fate. After sitting in the room for a few minutes they shuffle us out into the foyer again and we're told 'six'! We don't know what this means, six minutes, six hours? Six o'clock, or are we 6th in line? We do as we're told and we sit down on a bench to wait.

After an hour and a half, six o'clock is approaching. Many men have come and left, some shouting, some pacing and many plain-clothes men going in and out of the offices. I talked to a Turkish man who was also awaiting a Syrian visa, and he assures me that soon it will be time; but he has no room in his truck for us to get to Aleppo.

Finally around 6.30pm the Turk and I enter the office again and we make our applications. I hand over our passports, and give the names of our parents, then we're instructed to pay so we run down the hallway to pay our $56 each and we run back to the visa counter with the receipt to get our stamps. We're questioned in more detail about our jobs, and where we are staying in Aleppo. We say we're staying with our friend Farhad, and the customs agent has the same last name! He thought that was very funny, and when customs people are happy I'm happy.

With visas in hand we can now give some more thought to how to get 100km to Aleppo. As we approach the baggage inspection area a stone-faced Syrian man holds up his hand and says (shouts) 'Open ze bags!'. So we put our bags down on the stone bench and open then, and almost immediately we hear 'Close ze bags!'.

Here is a video of the border guards!

And so begins the next two hours, quite possibly the most fun I've ever had at a border crossing. Our predicament is that there aren't any major towns between the border and Aleppo (a city of 7 million) and this is 100km away. There is only one bus a day that runs in the morning. We're still hopeful (hope is all we have at this point) that we can catch a ride with someone or a taxi somehow, so instead of rushing things we just sit down and have tea, coffee and laughs with the border guards. They give us our first few Arabic words, and around 9pm they find someone who is driving to Aleppo for us.

Some memorable moments are the moustacioed Abu Faris, his facial hair the butt of some gentle ribbing. We talk about Canada and try to describe how huge it is - this is probably difficult for Syrians to imagine as they can drive across their country in 5 or 6 hours.

Almost hilariously to us, the driver picks us up and then stops about 100m past the border, gets out and leaves us there for about ten minutes only to return with two more people for Aleppo. Finally in Aleppo we meet Leila, and she takes us for dinner and to our hotel.

Day 19 - Hatay

Today we plan to leave Urfa for Hatay, to position ourselves for crossing the border into Syria. As we're exploring we bump into Ali and Onur (our Kurdish Urfa friends) and they join us on an excusion to buy bus tickets, and then to buy a fancy nargila (water pipe). We grab a 4pm bus and arrive in Hatay at 10pm.

Day 18 - Urfa

We walked to the prophet Abraham's cave, where he was born and spent the first 7 years of his life. Apparently King Nimrod feared he would eventually be usurped by one who was newly born had all babies in the region killed. This was not very rewarding, and a little uncomfortable for us as it is an active place of worship for Muslims, so there were many many people jammed into this tiny space as we both felt (separately as men and women have different viewing rooms) very out of place. You don't actually enter the cave, but a tiny room with a window into the greenly lit cave. The little room has a tiny door that essentially forces you to bow as you enter, and some of the men will back away through the door as they leave, apparently so as not to show their backside to the prophet Abraham's birthplace.

We climbed the stairs to the Kale (citadel, or castle) in the burning sun. There is a fantastic view of Urfa at the top, but only two huge columns remain of the citadel interior. Everything else is buried under centuries of silt and ancient rubble. Once again we are struck that so much of Turkey's history is still hidden beneath tonnes of dirt!

We decide to catch a dolmus to Harran, an ancient madrasa - the University of the ancient world. We were able to check out the mosque only from behind a fence, due to archaeological excavations, but I have to respect this. So little of Turkey actually gets excavated that when they finally get to it I think it is a big deal.

There are some traditional 'bee-hive' houses that are still maintained for tourists, although modern life has the locals in the usual square houses. These bee-hive shaped houses are built in rows, with each little bee-hive having a door to the next chamber. The conical tops allow warm air to escape through a hole right at the peak so despite the beating sun outside it is cool and refreshing inside.

Harran also has a big citadel, and it looks like they're preparing an excavation project here too as they have just erected a fence to keep the goats out, but thankfully we're able to go in there and explore.

Day 17 - Sanliurfa

We missed our 7.30 am bus this morning, so the driver kindly offered to drive us to Kahta for the same price as the bus - 10 Lira. A couple more busses and we are being slowly cooked alive in Sanliurfa.

As we walk around Urfa, sweating profusely, we bump into two young Kurdish guys who join us for drinks on the condition that we speak English with them. So goes our evening.

Day 16 - Nemrut Dagi

This morning we caught a bus from Malatya to Nemrut Dagi, so we left a voicemail on the driver's cell phone telling him that we're staying at the Fatih Pension/Hotel, and we wander the market. Apparently Malatya is the place for apricots, fresh or dried so we got some dried ones and they are delicious.

We end up hiking to a major hotel because the driver can't find the little pension we're at, and he seems a cheerful fellow. He politely asks if it is okay if he picks up two other people, and we politely agree to this, although it is clear this means the vehicle will be quite full. When we get to the house to pick up these people, the drive invites us in for chai, this is a pretty regular Turkish custom and since we have nothing better to do we agree.

We go inside the house and are greeted by a big family of women, one old man and one young man. Tea turns into lunch, a huge mountain of pide (as big as Uncle Buck's pile of pancakes), then tea and some not so tasty yoghurt drink, more tea, cakes and then rice pudding. Unfortunately for us, we're a bit stuck for conversation as we forgot the phrasebook in the car and the driver isn't so chatty (in English) now that there are a bunch of Turkish people around. Leah calls this the 'sitting and staring lunch', and it takes about an hour. Finally the driver takes us on a scenic route up the mountain; Leah promptly falls asleep leaving me to chat with the old man and his grandson for 4 hours.

After a quick bit of relaxation at the Nemrut pension we got back in the car to be dropped off at the top of Nemrut. From the road up we can see it, a huge pile of loose stone made into a massive man-made mountain (mountain top actually, the mountain was already there). Apparently human activity and natural erosion has already reduced the height of the pile significantly, but it is still pretty impressive. We follow some rough stone stairs laid into the side, and we approach the East terrace where there are some huge stone statues and their equally huge stone heads that have long since fallen off.

After playing around here for a while we follow the trail to the Western terrace where we are surprised to find yet more huge stone statues with heads lolling about on the ground. I think the thing to take away from this is that these statues were many thousands of years ago at the top of very rugged, very remote mountain.


We saw a pretty sunset and walked down to our bus. The pension put on a delicious chicken dinner.

Day 15 - Malatya

Today we're on a bus from Erzurum to Malatya, an 8 hour ride. We're becoming accustomed to the pace of the buses now, where they serve coffee/tea/cola every 4 hours, and let you out to use the toilet every 2 hours. At least once in every trip is a rest stop with a restaurant where you can buy hot food if you want to. We have been preparing for these trips, buying cookies and water ahead of time so we can keep our energy levels up - as the food in the rest stops is the same as in Canada, expensive and not very tasty.

Once we were in Malatya we decided to find a hotel with a good price, as the book said there was lots of competition among hotels. After wandering in the heat for a few minutes, we meet a guy on the street who says he is an English teacher. He happens to speak Russian too so he ends up talking to Leah most of the time - but he said that the father of one of his students owns a hotel and that he will bring us there. Little do we know that we end up walking about 20 minutes away from the cheap hotel district to a very fancy $150 a night hotel - does this guy think people with backpacks, going from hotel to hotel for good deals are going to go for a 5 star hotel? Nuts! So we walk back to the centre of town and walk into a cheap little pension, but the English teacher still won't leave us. We're sure he is hanging around to get a cut of whatever the hotel price is, but at this point we're exhausted, it is dark out and really the pension is nice enough.

Syria

As you may have guessed, each of these posts is about a week behind reality - so while according to the blog we're in Northern Turkey, right now we're actually in Syria. Compared to Turkey, the Internet is hard to find, and very slow here so I think the posts will have to wait until we can find some place with more Internet.

Day 14 - Erzurum

Our whirlwind car trip requires us to be in Erzurum by 11.30 am so we leave Dogubayazit at 7am and we manage to make the drive in 3 hours. There are more than a few dangerous sections of potholes, and the Turkish style of driving is quite sloppy so I have to be very careful when we're going fast.


We decided to stay overnight in Erzurum to give our travelling bones a break, and right after checking in to the Otel Dede we met two teachers and one student from the local University there, and Recep and Mesut offered to show us around Erzurum. It is a busy, modern city mixed up with ancient mosques, castles and madaras. Even the people are a mix of modern and conservatism that is most evident in the clothing of women; modern jeans to traditional face-coverng burkas are a common sight.

Our guides take us to a traditional Ottoman Erzurum house, kept by a little old lady who shows us her kitchen and meeting rooms. Afterwards we go to a Turkish tea house and again Leah is the object of attention, with all eyes on her. It isn't creepy, just curious. Recep runs over to an old Turk and borrows his hat to put it on my head, and everyone laughs - silly tourists!


Around 6.30 that evening our new friends meet us again and we all go to a Cag Kebap restaurant with absolutely delectable lamb skewers that they keep bringing until you say you've had enough. Recep's girlfriend met us here and we all enjoy wrapping the lamb in thin soft pita bread.

After dinner we walk to a cool little tea/coffee/hookah house and Mesut's girlfriend Sumeyra arrives to help us have laughs, talk about Turkey and Canada, politics and freedom. At the end of the night we all feel really friendly with each other and we trade email addresses.

You can see more of our photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thewozza
http://picasaweb.google.com/leah.lesyk/Istanbul

Day 13 - Ani and Dogubayazit

40km East of Kars is Ani, an ancient Armenian capital city that has been captured, recaptured many times, and converted from Christian to Muslim at least as many times. Now as we walk through the ruins we can see the fence separating Turkey and Armenia, guard towers dot the horizon as a reminder of the vigilance that keeps borders in this part of the world.

Ani is essentially a huge green field with occasional ruined buildings poking through the grass, but as you walk through it you can see rough stone walls everywhere show that the entire place was once a bustling city, and now only the most well constructed buildings (churches and mosques) remain.

We race back to Kars and on to Dogubayazit, hoping to arrive before the Isak Pasa Palace is closed for the day, but we miss the closing time. Thankfully we're just in time for a beautiful sunset, and we befriend a young Kurdish man named Adem. We drive him the 8km into town and we invited us to visit with him and his friend at a carpet shop. We sat with them for a couple hours, through many rounds of tea talking about what life is like for them, and for us in Canada. They show us some Youtube videos of traditional Kurdish music and dancing, but they get a little sad and almost reluctant when talking about the politics of being a Kurd in Turkey.

At this point I'm quite pleased with how far we have travelled into Turkey, as we're now in the far east of the country where very few tourists go. We're making heavy use of our Turkish phrasebook, something we've never had to rely on in other countries we've visited.

Day 12 - Georgian Valleys

By 9 am we are in Erzurum. We have both managed to sleep on the night-bus from Goreme thanks to seats that lean really far back. Our plan is to rent a car and drive to Kars and Dogubayazit in two or three days. By 11.30 am we are on the highway, heading north through the Georgian Valleys.

Our first stop is Oskvank. After a long but pleasant winding 1 lane road we park in front of a huge crumbling cathedral. The columns inside are massive and even though the building is slowly wearing away you can still see some parts of frescoes painted on the walls.





Ishan was the most difficult place to visit, we drove up a very steep, winding 1 lane mountain road, up switchbacks and along the sides of a huge canyon until we reached a little village, and just past we finally arrived at the Church of the Mother of God. The theme of huge columns and high domes is repeated here, and you can't help feeling something of the history of the place. The drive down that canyon road is almost as much of an adventure as going up!

As we drive through the countryside we're amazed by the variety of landscape that we're crossing, huge canyons with the road snaking between sheer cliffs, and idyllic farmland villages nestled comfortably in between mountain peaks. We pass many herds of cattle and sheep with their shepherds.




We finally arrive in Kars in the rain, and with some effort we find the Otel Temel. We befriend the hotel manager there, and have a conversation of sorts, with lots of nodding, hand motions laughing and reading from our Turkish phrasebook.

You can see more of our photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thewozza
http://picasaweb.google.com/leah.lesyk/Istanbul