Gaziantep

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To get from Aleppo (Syria) to Gaziantep (Turkey), we hired a taxi from a driver who smelled vaguely like gasoline, barely said a word and (after crossing the border) promptly stopped the car and pulled a carton of cigarettes from down his pants and grabbed who knows what from the undercarriage of the car and tossed it all in the trunk... An interesting ride and my easiest border crossing yet!

The guidebook describes Antep (the Turkish name for Gaziantep) as having a "modern, laissez-faire attitude", and they couldn't have nailed it any better! It is a very laid back, with a relatively young and very friendly population. We sat with a young shop owner for tea and chatting (via a translator on his computer), and as we were leaving he insisted on giving (as a gift) us both two intricate carved walnut flutes! We spent time wandering the old city, several hours drinking tea and playing backgammon, and we sampled the pistachio baklava that Antep is apparently world famous for!

We stayed with a nice American girl (Devon) that Felipe had found via a website called couchsurfing.org and we spent our evenings hanging out with her and her friends. We went to a concert (where we saw Murat Boz, a Turkish popstar, play a few songs) that is part of Gaziantep's Spring Festival, spent time chatting with many local students about Turkey and the interesting politics that are going on here (of which I will not repeat online) and had a few beers here and there. I also had my first hammam (Turkish Bath) experience, which involved sweating a tonne in a whole bunch of different hot rooms (sauna, jacuzzi, steamroom, and lying on a very hot stone table) before getting a serious scrub down where the first few layers of skin (mostly dead) was peeled off). It was a really fun time all told, and I could honestly say that his was a city that I could see myself living happily in!

From Gaziantep, Felipe heads off to Eastern Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran (I'm a little jealous of that itinerary!), and I head Northern and Western Turkey and Greece (ok, so my itinerary isn't so bad either). We said a tearful goodbye (haha), and prepared ourselves for some solo travelling. My next destination is Goreme, a small village in an area known as Cappadocia, and I'm pretty excited as it's supposed to be a haven for backpackers, hikers and even geologists!

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