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Blogs from Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 8
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December 11th 2004
I'm in Mardin, the final stop before Syria. Perched on the side of a hill, crowned with a castle containing an immense radar dome spying on the middle east on behalf of NATO, packed with historical honey-colored houses lining crooked streets, Mardin is a real beauty. At least the old city is. There's the obligatory concrete sprawl, but it's kept in the back so as to not ruin the view. And the view is beautiful: an unspoilt plain, stretching out as far as the eye can see and beyond, into Syria. The weather has been clear for the last couple of days, and that makes all the difference in the world in terms of my perception of the place... Too bad it started snowing tonight. Mardin shuts down early, even earlier than other towns I've been ... read more
The End of an Era
Published: December 7th 2004Middle East » Turkey » Southeastern Anatolia » DiyarbakirDecember 7th 2004
Greetings to my loyal following. The past few weeks have found me extremely lazy and/or too busy to sit down and blog. Now that I finally find time to do so I don't have any pictures with me (left them all in Istanbul), so this will be a boring blog without pictures (which means Beybora won't be reading it). Since I last blogged I have: Been to Cappadocia Cappadocia was awesome: Goreme, with deserted valleys full of phallic towers with houses and churches carved into them, trudging through knee-deep snow all day long, occassionally taking refuge in a cave (which, I may add, are surprisingly warm). Ihlara Valley, in striking contrast to the plain and barren surroundnig countryside, the walls of which are full of deserted monasteries with vandalized awe-inspiring frescoes and paintings. Those monks really ... read more
