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.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
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
Monday, May 18, 2009
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.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
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
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
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