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Published: September 11th 2013
I woke this , morning and was joined at the breakfast table by the tour driver who wanted to charge me 200€ to go to Nemrut Dagi I literally choked on me food he rushed off to get me water. Between gasps for air I was angrily telling him what I thought of that shit.
He dropped his price but it is to late I cold fly to London for that, so I got a Syrian guy and a young Aussie backpacker to agree to share a cab out to a nearby attraction, when we got in he taxi Sameer asked how much to Nemrut Dagi, after some negotiation he set a price of 275 Turkish lira which was about half my earlier quote and they would share that cost.
So off we went in the opposite direction three hours later we stood on the summit of 2000 metre high Nemrut Dagi, looking at the panorama of south east Turkey and the giant carved and placed here by a meglomaniac king around the time of Christ. No tourists here when we arrived which was a real bonus so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
The carvings
were fantastic how they got them up here I have no idea.
The taxi arrived in Shanliurfa around 6 pm so I went to look at some mosques before eating shish kebab for dinner.
Next morning the bus took two hours to arrive in Diyabakir the hotel was easy to find so I spent the rest of the day wandering around the walls, some of the areas I walked in seemed a bit dodgy with some nasty urchins proving annoying. I stopped for a shave and haircut which was an interesting experience the barber was like a master craftsmen, such a great experience.
Caught the bus on to Van around midday it was a 7 hour trip east to Van through some dramatic landscapes. The lake is certainly large and pleasant break from dry rural landscapes, the weather here is pleasantly cool.
Headed off on a tour at 8 am the next morning to visit an interesting 3000 Urartian fortress and a dramatic 16th century Kurdish fortress perched on a hill top. Next was an ancient Armenian church on an island some 3 kilometres out into the lake, the church was picturesque and the views of
the lake stunning.
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Of gods and men
Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Western Terrace
Sensational. Turkey's high on my Wish List anyway...now with a bullet.