Blogs from Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

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 dobíječů. Koupil jsem ... read more

Heading to the ancient city of Hasankeyf, which is located in the province of Batman, (Not the one of the super heroes :)) we crossed the capital of the province, which is also called Batman. About Batman: Batman is a city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey and the capital of Batman Province. It lies on a plateau, 540 meters above sea level, near the confluence of the Batman River and the Tigris. The Batı Raman oil field, which is the largest oil field in Turkey, is located just outside the city. Batman has a local airport and a military airbase, which was used for transit of aircraft and helicopters in some search and rescue operations of the Gulf War. Until the 1950s, Batman was a village called Iluh with a population of about 3,000. ... read more

Day 9 Just a bit more recovered I woke up and it was time for breakfast. As I was still under influence of food poisoning I didn't want to have breakfast, but I was so weak that I had to eat and drink something. With some effort I managed to eat a bit and again it was time to continue. Our next stop was at the Ataturk Dam The Atatürk Dam is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adiyaman Province and Sanliurfa Province in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Built both to generate electricity and to irrigate the plains in the region, it was renamed in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. The construction began in 1983 and was completed in ... read more

After sunset we arrived to Midyat. A small town of the province Mardin. Before we went to the hotel, there was a commercial part of the trip, visiting a silver shop. Silver processing is one of the biggest income of Midyat. It looks like many travel agencies made some agreements with the local silver shops to visit their shops. After the shop visit and many Euro's lighter, it was finally time to move forward to our hotel, where the dinner was waiting for us. The restaurant of the hotel was also one of the places for local entertainment. There was live music and a dance floor. Once we sit at the table with our part of the group we looked to each other and were thinking about the same. The side dishes were prefect to have ... read more

In the evening we arrived to our hotel at Adiyaman. The program was to leave the luggage to the hotel and go directly to the mountain of Nimrod/Nemrut. The road to the mountain was too small for the bus, so we had to go there till a point with a small van and continue the trip by donkey or feet. At the last minute I decided to skip the mountain trip and go the hotel room to recover. (believe me it was a wise decision afterward.) About Mount Nemrut: The mountain lies 40 km north of Kahta, near Adiyaman. In 62 BC, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian, and Iranian gods, such as Hercules-Vahagn, Zeus-Aramazd ... read more