Blogs from Van, Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East
September 14th 2011
In Van we stayed at the Azure Hotel, it was more expensive that what we had paid so far at 140 Lira (about NZ $98) and was over our budget, but it was hard turning away as there was a lift to our 5th story room (first lift so far) and the location was right in the middle of the city. Feyzi the manager spotted us as tourists the moment we stepped inside and offered his services as a guide the following day if we were interested. Sharing the cost with the Beate and Steffi meant it was a very reasonable full day escorted tour in his own vehicle. We originally had intended only to stay in Van for one night but decided to make it two days so as to go on the tour and ... read more
June 17th 2011
Před cestou do Vanu jsme se vyrazili posilnit do místní jídelny na buriani, což jsou kousky masa mezi dvěma tureckejma chlebama. Jídelny na výcghodě Turecka fungujou tak, že v přízemí jedí jenom chlápci a v prvním patře potom ženský nebo rodiny. Dalším místním obyčejem je, že když jdete s někým do restaurace, strhnce se na konci boj o to, kdo bude platit. Vyhrát tenhle souboj bez znalosti turečtiny dost dobře nejde, takže jsme ani jednou nedostali příležitost zaplatit. Před odjezdem jsme ještě zaskočili koupit Moně letenku do páteční Teheránu, což nám dalo příležitost zjistit, že ve zdejším kraji nejsou směnárny. Jejich funkci tu přebrali místní zlatníci. Dolmuš do Vanu byl narvanej po střechu, kromě sedadel se sedělo ještě na štokrdletech v uličce, což není nic příjemnýho, když cesta trvá přes čtyři hodiny. ... read more
October 16th 2009
Day 19 The second new day on board the Trans Asyan Ekspresi began much the same as the first. But now there were sightings of a wide river, and suddenly young children appeared by the side of the train tracks - there were no houses to be seen. A mosque, its bright silver dome dazzling brilliantly. At one stage we stop and most get out to stretch their legs, rushing back when the whistle blows. I had a good omelete and some bizarre sausages - short hotdogs, split and fanned out at either end - in the dining car. We reached Tatvan in the early evening, the train coming to a stop at a small ferry port on the edge of Lake Van, in the far east of Turkey, floating among the hills. We are to ... read more
March 16th 2009
This journal from Van is dedicated to my brother and his new bride. Recently married in Sydney, they spent their honeymoon in Greece and Turkey and I’m now following in their footsteps. Despite my brother’s initial wish during the planning stage, they made a joint decision not to visit Van during their honeymoon. But never mind, cause your travel-obsessed family member has made it to this exotic destination guys! Van is situated in South Eastern Anatolia close to the border with Iran. I’ve been going great guns in Turkey since last sharing travel adventures with you, so let’s bring the journal up to date… We left off in Kusadasi, dear reader , and it was time to head out for the second day touring the famous sights near the city. This time our guide had the ... read more
December 10th 2008
Every time I cross another border to west everything looks more similar to home, it heppen when I entered in Iran and now with Turkey. And more I go on and more my desire to go back in place like Pakistan and India becames stronger and stronger. But even the desire to see again all the people back home is so strong so...Anyways after a not so easy border crossing between Iran and Turkey (I had to sleep in a Mosque to save money for the taxi and I waited about 2 hours at the Turkish border with a temperature under zero for a minivan to reach the next town) today in Van is snowing!!!!! That's wonderful! here some picture from Iran... read more
October 20th 2008
After Esfahan we headed to Tabriz. This was basically a rest stop before making the border crossing into Turkey. It took us just over 4hrs to get to the border and then about another 2hrs leaving the Iranian border and entering Turkey. As far as border crossings go that was a good one! As soon as we entered the Turkish side = scarves were off, coats off and we went and bought an ice cold Efeas - the local beer. We drove into Dogybaizit for the night and it was quite obvious that we were in Kurdistan - the locals introduced themselves as Kurdish people rather than Turkish. I had been in Dogy 11 years before. Not much had changed. Mt Ararat was off in the distance. The palace was being renovated so we couldn't get ... read more
August 29th 2008
There were many times I saw Van Lake in my dreams. I don't know why actually, those dreams usually start from Ankara or Istanbul and after a ride with a car I end up in the coast of Van Lake. Maybe why this place so much took a place in my under concience is I always find this great junk of water which is in the middle of the high mountains so far from the sea, interesting. I should have seen a place where occupied so much place in my dreams without being there even once, so I decided to do that in a long weekend holliday this month, a friend from the university days was also eager to see the region so we two headed to Van togather. The flight from Istanbul to Van takes ... read more
4th episod : Kurdistan (Turkey)
Published: July 30th 2008Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Van
July 30th 2008
Kurdistan-Express Notre passage en Turquie fut très bref puisque nous y sommes restés seulement deux nuits. Vous avez sans doute dut vous en rendre compte depuis que vous suivez nos aventures, notre spécialité à nous, c'est de voyager au fil des opportunités et des suggestions que l'on nous propose, sans jamais savoir où nous dormirons le soir, ni même dans qu'elle ville nous finirons... ... force est de croire que cela nous réussi pas trop mal ! (certains signes nous laisse cependant à soupconner que la providence n'est jamais bien loin ;P ) Nous avions prévu de ne pas nous arrêter en Truquie, pour des raisons de temps, le fait que la journaliste française rencontrée en Arménie nous ai donné un contact kurde là-bas nous a cependant fait craquer... et voilà, encore un changement de programme ... read more
July 14th 2008
Into the arrivals gate she stepped, looking a bit confused perhaps, but with a big smile on her face. Welcome to Turkey, mom! We hopped a Havaş shuttle to Taksim and her adventures began. After lunch on İstiklal Caddesi, we headed to İstinye to take it easy for the rest of the day... until the party, that is. Lütfiye kept me up into the wee hours the night before, rolling grape leaves and cleaning the apartment - which was already spotless enough, in my opinion. Mountains of food were prepared and good friends came in from as far as İzmit to welcome my mother on her very first day. Exhausting, overwhelming, and splendid! My mother weathered her first full day in the country like a champ. After a large Turkish breakfast, we hopped a bus from ... read more
April 30th 2008
We’re heading into Iran now where internet access may not be easy and we really wanted to complete our record of the Turkey tour, but don't know when we'll be able to publish this. Up Up and Away Cappadocia was our last port of call on the West Turkey “tourist trail”. What an amazing place topped off with our Hot Air Balloon ride, a 50th Birthday Present for Terry from folks back home. It was a beautiful sunny morning and as if being in a hot air balloon wasn’t exciting enough (especially for Terry with all those cylinders valves and functions) the geology below us was breathtaking. We were lucky enough to have an English pilot and so received a running commentary on what was what, and there was a lot of it. An hour later ... read more
