Blogs from Mount Nemrut , Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East

For the past week, I’ve been roaming the ruins of Southeastern Turkey, an area also known as Mesopotamia, or the “Cradle of Civilization.” It’s an area so rich with history that even an abridged version would take pages to summarize. For all my interest in antiquity – and my enjoyment in strolling down its avenues – it’s the people that occupy these ancient cities today that made these sites more than just a page in a book and a dot on the map. If you measure civility by a culture’s propensity to treat others with respect and courtesy then it’s here, in its birthplace, that I have found the most civilized people. The next few entries will be dedicated to these generous souls. From Mustafa in Nemrut to Azad in Dara; Eland in Hasankeyf and Ibrahim ... read more

The next day Mehmet had a trip organised for us to Nemrut Dagi (Mount Nemrut). It turned out to be a 450 km round trip, which was a long day but truely well worht it. Mehmet's car is Air Conditioned so the driving was fine. It was the hiking to and walking around the sites in 38 - 40 deg that got to us. Nemrut Dagi is in Nemrut Dagi National Park and to get there we had to cross the Euphrates River by Ferry Boat. I remembered the Euphrates River from my Sunday School teachers as it was one of the 4 rivers that flowed out of the Garden of Eden. I am not particuarly religious but it made me think as we chugged across the river on the ferry boat, that the countryside around ... read more

Večer jsme vyrazili minibusem do Kayseri, odkud pokračovala naše cesta dál do Kahty. Nádraží v Kayseri působilo moderním dojmem, ovšem až na pokladny dopravců, který jsou v pravdě východního typu. Plno lidí nahání, prodejci se překřikujou a o cenách se dá smlouvat. Srazit cenu z devadesáti na sedmdesát lir bylo dílem okamžiku, stačilo jednou předstírat odchod. Prodejce nám vystavil jízdenku, ze které se nedalo rozluštit zhola nic. Od cílovýho místa přes čas odjezdu až po perón bylo všechno nerozluštitelný. Prozradil nám, že pojedeme v jedenáct večer z perónu 24. To nám nechalo přes dvě hodiny na jídlo a lelkování po nádraží. V hale se nachází krámky jako kdekoli jinde, zaujal mě jen automat na dobíjení baterie do mobilů. Ježí se šňůrama se všema myslitelnejma koncovkama a kolem něj se kupilo a čekalo několik dobíj... read more

We left Göreme on an overnight bus to Malatya. We were told by the ticket salesman who urged us into his office that we would arrive in Malatya between 6:30 and 7:00am. This was perfect because we had emailed the tourist office in Malatya about taking their Mount Nemrut Dagi tour and they said a man named Mr Kemal would be waiting for us in "the tea garden" at 8:30am. We left Göreme on a Nevşehir (company) bus at 8:15pm. We were told that we would have to transfer in Kayseri but assured that it would be a simple transfer. One hour later we landed in Kayseri and that is when we boarded the bus from hell. This, I would say, was the second worst and scariest night on our trip next to our first night ... read more

These are a selection of photo's from the rest of our trip into the Eastern hinterland of Turkey. You definitely get a sense that you are in the East, especially as we were travelling on the actual Silk road which used to carry trade all the way from China to Europe. This part of Turkey is also very conservatively Muslim, and coupled with it being Ramadan while we were there, it made for a very interesting version of Turkey to experience, especially after coming from Istanbul and the coast, where tourism is the main industry. We had a great time in this part of Turkey, and we can recommend to anyone to get to this part of the country if you can. The Harran village, with its bee-hive homes was especially interesting, and surprising to see ... read more