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

The taxi driver in the Georgian town of Akhaltsikhe laughed at me as I put on my seat belt - he demonstrated the cause of his mirth - his frame and stomach were so big that the seat belt wouldn’t reach across him. I assumed his sheer corpulence would make all head on collisions a non-issue. So off we went along the road to the border with nice mountain scenery but atrocious roads; despite this being one of the main highways between Turkey and Georgia, we spent most of the time slowing down suddenly and veering from right to left in order to avoid the giant pot holes. Borders are such weird places and Vale was no exception. The taxi driver dropped me off at the Georgian border gate, or rather the farm yard - because ... read more

Day 17 Goreme to Erzincan (Tues 20th July) A nice slow start today, as we weren’t leaving until 0900. A couple of the group are feeling a little under the weather now stomach wise, so we are all crossing our fingers that it’s not us next. Nothing too serious though and so far the food has been great (if a little monotonous for breakfast with bread, eggs, tomato, cheese, and a little more bread every day) So we were driving through a large town when the driver suddenly stops and jumps out to talk with some taxi drivers on the side of the road. What was he doing, you ask? Want to guess? Yep, got it in one - asking for directions! We miss Gettis with his GPS (although admittedly its better for the driver to ... read more

Wednesday 7 April Since the last blog on Easter Day we have had a final day of sight seeing in Istanbul ending up being taken by our excellent host, Umit (our Turkish naval captain), to a true Turkish experience - a night in the harem! No, the reality was a dinner and show seeing the true belly dancers of this nation at work. Brilliant to watch the intricacies of body, hands and arms telling a story through dance. During the day John and I enjoyed visiting the exotic Grand Bazaar as well as the famous Blue Mosque while enjoying a break at the roof top cafe on top of the Seven Hills Hotel - so named because Istanbul is reputed to have been built on the seven hills in this geographic area. The city is significantly ... read more

Day 19 The second new day on board the Trans Asyan Ekspresi began much the same as the first. But now there were sightings of a wide river, and suddenly young children appeared by the side of the train tracks - there were no houses to be seen. A mosque, its bright silver dome dazzling brilliantly. At one stage we stop and most get out to stretch their legs, rushing back when the whistle blows. I had a good omelete and some bizarre sausages - short hotdogs, split and fanned out at either end - in the dining car. We reached Tatvan in the early evening, the train coming to a stop at a small ferry port on the edge of Lake Van, in the far east of Turkey, floating among the hills. We are to ... read more

11.gün Van, Çavuştepe, Hoşap Kalesi ve Akdamar adası (Dağlarına bahar gelmiş Memleketimin) Soğuk ve şehirler arası otobüslerde vaz geçtim çocuk olmaktan Ve beslenme çantamda otlu peynir kokusuydu babam Ben seninle bir gün Vandaki bir kahvaltı salonunda Ben seninle sadece bilmek zorunda kalanların bildiği bir yol üstü lokantasında Ben seninle Ağrı dağının mistik ve demli bir çay kıvamında bakan Doğu Beyazıt ın herhangi bir toprak damında Ben senin herhangi bir insan elinin terli coğrafyasında olma ihtimalini sevdim BEN SENİN BENİ SEVEBİLME İHTİMALİNİ SEVDİM Van’da, Van’ın Kahvaltı Sofrasında Kahvaltı etmeden gitseydik, kendimizi çok eksik hissedecektik. Sabah erken kalktık, akşamdan Van’a gidecek arkadaşlarla saat 06:30’da buluşacaktık. Ancak resepsiyonda kimse yoktu. Biz de Özkan’la önce otelin önünden geçen arabalara otostop çektik, durmayınca minibüse binerek Va... read more