Gaziantep Tour - day 3

Day 3:


That night we could hardly sleep in some dormitories (by the way, in Turkey girls and boys don't share the dormitory, they are 2 separate buildings, sometimes in different areas of a city), for 2 hours (personally, I only took a bath and got ready to leave). We had to start our journey to Mount Nemrut at 1.30 am, because of the long distance problem. We arrived there at about 4 am and started to climb about 1 km of rocks, on a blistering cold, a tough wind and mini-darkness. Time seemds to pass so slow and I felt like going around without being up. In the end, at about 4.30 am we were there...sweating, freezing, tired, but full of relief...hehehe....I surely need some exercice.
When the sun appeared, the spectacular view opened itself in front of my eyes. It was incredible (like all the places I have visited in Turkey)! There was no grass, no trees, just the peaks and far far away, something blue, the river TIGRIS. Then, behind me, I suddenly was able to see some huge statues. The legend says that King Antioch wanted them there, in order to show to the Gods his gratitude. And above those statues was a strange pile of small rocks, and that (they say) it's this king's grave. Because it was very windy, I had to share a blanket with other girls, but in the end I was the only one with it..heheh...so together with Esteban, my boyfriend, and this blanket, we went around to see other statues. They were so big, I cannot imagine how or with what were they carried up there. At one point we got lost from the group, but on the way back we saw the mini-buses and it was ok. Most of the people fell asleep instantly and poor Magnus (in his first week in Turkey) had a terrible experience with the food.
As we were getting closer to the fields of Anatolia again, the sun became stronger and hotter :( I must admit that the things I didn't like were this heat and the food TOO spicy. Together made all of us feel sick, nausea, throwing up, but in the end, fascinated :) On the way to the lunch area, we passed a city called Diyarbakir who is famous for the old walls that surround the city. Then we went to the city that will stay in my mind forever: HASANKEYIF. It looked like a place from another world: Tigris river, lots of caves that are still used for houses, ancient houses, ancient churches and mosques, and Kurdish people. I heard many things about them, but after all, one should see with his/her own eyes, before making an idea.
And now I can say...they are not rich, they live a simple life out of turism, making a living selling hand-made products (I bought a wonderful bag made by a 15 year old boy!), selling ice cream.. It was nice to see the kids screaming "guzel guzel" (meaning "beautiful") after us, it was nice to see what they have and see them happy in order to really appreciate what we have back home..a good life lesson. I appreciated that. I posted a picture with the little boy that followed me everywhere, look at his wonderful green eyes...
I left that place with a sad look, because it will disappear in a couple of years. The explanation is that the dam is going to be opened and leave the water drown everything in its way..that is sad, because this place deserves to be preserved and respected.

That was about all in this day...


wait for day 4....hehehehhehe

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