Blogs from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 6

After Esfahan we headed to Tabriz. This was basically a rest stop before making the border crossing into Turkey. It took us just over 4hrs to get to the border and then about another 2hrs leaving the Iranian border and entering Turkey. As far as border crossings go that was a good one! As soon as we entered the Turkish side = scarves were off, coats off and we went and bought an ice cold Efeas - the local beer. We drove into Dogybaizit for the night and it was quite obvious that we were in Kurdistan - the locals introduced themselves as Kurdish people rather than Turkish. I had been in Dogy 11 years before. Not much had changed. Mt Ararat was off in the distance. The palace was being renovated so we couldn't get ... read more

There were many times I saw Van Lake in my dreams. I don't know why actually, those dreams usually start from Ankara or Istanbul and after a ride with a car I end up in the coast of Van Lake. Maybe why this place so much took a place in my under concience is I always find this great junk of water which is in the middle of the high mountains so far from the sea, interesting. I should have seen a place where occupied so much place in my dreams without being there even once, so I decided to do that in a long weekend holliday this month, a friend from the university days was also eager to see the region so we two headed to Van togather. The flight from Istanbul to Van takes ... read more

Kurdistan-Express Notre passage en Turquie fut très bref puisque nous y sommes restés seulement deux nuits. Vous avez sans doute dut vous en rendre compte depuis que vous suivez nos aventures, notre spécialité à nous, c'est de voyager au fil des opportunités et des suggestions que l'on nous propose, sans jamais savoir où nous dormirons le soir, ni même dans qu'elle ville nous finirons... ... force est de croire que cela nous réussi pas trop mal ! (certains signes nous laisse cependant à soupconner que la providence n'est jamais bien loin ;P ) Nous avions prévu de ne pas nous arrêter en Truquie, pour des raisons de temps, le fait que la journaliste française rencontrée en Arménie nous ai donné un contact kurde là-bas nous a cependant fait craquer... et voilà, encore un changement de programme ... read more

Pazar (Sunday), the 29th of June Otel Famýly; located ýn one of the ýnnumerable suburbs of Istanbul 5:05 AM Watchýng the sun rýse. It's turnýng the eastern part of the sky a mýx of purple, peach, and teal. The moon ýs stýll out, a thýn, sýlver, crescent, and I can just see the twýnkýlýng lýght of what may be Istanbul-proper from the balcony of my room. I woke up at 2:00 AM today, and stared at the wall for two and a half hours. Lýstened to the muzzenýns call to prayer at 4:30, and came outsýde at 4:45. A man walked by blowýng a whýstle: I can hear others lýke hým, father away. I want to say ýt was the call to prayer that woke me up today, but really ýt was my roomates snorýng. I´m ... read more

The weekend started as all weekends should, on a Wednesday. Çocuklar Bayramı (Children's Holiday) meant no classes - wooohoooo! I found a dirt cheap plane ticket and landed around noon in Kars, setting of Orhan Pamuk's novel, Kar (Snow), which I still haven't read (the English-translation of it that I found in İstanbul - in paperback! - cost more than the plane ticket to Kars!). Anyway, my guidebook was correct in noting that the city is full of Russian buildings, appropriately grey and run-down. Still, Kars did prove to have more to offer than I originally expected. I shared a cab into town with a young man who had flown in from Aydın to visit his girlfriend. We sat, talked, and drank tea - because this is what happens in Turkey. Despite my improving skills and ... read more