Blogs from Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East - page 7

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Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Dogubeyazit September 4th 2007

To quickly summarize our last days in Turkey, we can say that it was great and that it was not without pain that we left this country. Ani Ani was once the capital of a medieval Armenia kingdom covering todays Armenia and eastern parts of Turkey. At the beginning of the 11th century, Ani is believed to have had a population of over 100,000 making it a respectable rival of Constantinople and Baghdad. Today, of course, only ruins are left. For more history background and the dispute between Turks and Armenia for this site, you can refer to wikipedia! We arrived at around 9 in the morning at the site and were the first people of the day. There aren't that much people anyway and the site is huge, so we found that we had the ... read more
Monastery complexe - Ani
Church in Ani 2
Church 3 - Ani

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Dogubeyazit August 28th 2007

Turkish is in fact a very easy language to learn... Really, no joke! Just look at the pictures and you will understand why. It is just half the fun if you don't have some French (or Swiss-German) skills however. Do you recognize the words? Starting tomorrow, this all won't help us anymore. Farsi (or Persian) is very different and we will need to learn some basic words quickly! Turkey was wonderful. We will upload some pics from Anı and Doğubayazıt with the next entry from Iran. Take care. ... read more
Kaloriferli
Kamyon
Römork

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Erzurum August 13th 2007

Last day ın Istanbul was...tired. My physical situation was the worst and also my temper... so I went out to look for a photocopyıng place and let me tell u what..there's NONE! They have paper ones but I cant copy from a book! WTF?! so wıth my bad temper and under the hot weather....I decıded to go underground to the Basilica Cistern..... Very cool and nıce!! a lıttle expensıve to get ın but ıts ok =) Felt sıck and decıded to head back to the hostel.....end of Istanbul...._ On my way met this guy who me and Jess kept running into yesterday and wanted to come have lunch with us...he was freaky!...I didnt recognize him at first but he came to talk to me again! I was in such a bad mood I freaked him out ... read more
Medrese..
Medrese again...
traditional turkish home?!

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Dogubeyazit July 18th 2007

Dogubayazit giace sperduta in mezzo alle montagne ma si tratta comunque di una citta' vera e propria con le sue banche, i negozi, i ristoranti e... decine di rivendite di alcolici! Questo e' un punto di pasaggio quasi obbligato pr chi viaggia verso l'Iran, per cui il solo pensiero di dover rimanere a secco per un mese o forse piu' spinge il consumo di alcool a livelli davvero notevoli; qui si possono trovare tutte le birre turche ma anche un buon assortimento delle piu' conosciute marche europee (no Moretti) oltre a svariate qualita' di superalcolici e di vino turco; per i piu' bisognosi sono anche in vendita bottiglie di alcool etilico puro.... Perla della citta', 6 km. fuori sulle colline, e' il palazzo di Ishak Pasha: costruito da un capotribu' kurdo nel XVII secolo, sorge su ... read more
Veduta del palazzo dalla citta'
Il palazzo di Ishak Pasha
Particolare1

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Van July 15th 2007

A Van fa freddo. 16 gradi in piena estate per me sono davvero pochi e ci si mette pure la pioggia. Ma qui siamo in alta quota, 1700mt., ed il paesaggio ricorda vagamente le Alpi; quello che pero' alle Alpi manca e' il Lago di Van: una vasta distesa di acqua alcalina azzurrissima che giace placida ai piedi delle montagne. Approfittiamo di una giornata di sole per salire su una piccola barca e raggiungere l'isola di Akdamar su cui sorge una antica e ben conservata chiesa armena. La visita si rivela di notevole interesse: alcuni affreschi sono quasi intatti ed i colori, in particolare il blu, sono vivi e profondi; su gran parte dei muri sono incise croci cristiane di ogni genere ed enigmatiche frasi in lingua armena. Terminata la parte culturale di questa escursione ci ... read more
Lago di Van
Chiesa di Akdamar
Davide e Golia

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Dogubeyazit October 30th 2006

Variazione del programma. Lasciare Mardin é stato un pochino piu' complesso del previsto. Sembrava non ci fosse il bus ma alla fine, tenaci, lo abbiamo trovato! Siamo quindi arrivati alla piccola stazione degli autobus grazie ad un non troppo economico taxi che é letteralmente venuto a salvarci vista la quantita' impressionante di acqua che scendeva dal cielo e che lungo la strada in discesa aveva creato un vero e proprio torrente in piena! Proprio a causa del mal tempo abbiamo deciso di saltare Van e con una triangolazione Mardin - Diyarbakır - Van e dopo circa 18 ore di peregrinazioni (inclusa anche il ripristino dell'ora solare) siamo arrivati a: DOĞUBAYZIT Questa cittadina (mica tanto piccola alla fine) si trova a 34Km dal confine con l'Iran ed é famosa principalmente per due cose: si trova alle pendici ... read more
Vista del cortile del Ishak Paşa Sarayı
Da una delle finestre del palazzo
Una delle stanze dell'harem

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Van October 17th 2006

"VERY TENCHIU!" Dialoghi semiseri tra un Italiano mafioso e terroristi curdi! Il mondo è un libro, e chi non viaggia ne legge solo una pagina. Sant'Agostino Così, lasciata Ankara, dopo cinque ore di pullman, arrivo in Cappadocia, e più precisamente a GOREME Piccolo villaggio di 2000 anime, si trova proprio al centro dell'area che racchiude la maggior parte dei siti più importanti. E' domenica, e in giro praticamente non c'è nessuno, per cui, per trovare da dormire, mi affido all'istinto: ci son vari cartelli indicanti pensioni, seguo quello che mi ispira di più e ovviamente si rivelerà l'hotel più distante dal centro: pulito, con una bela vista, ha le stanze che son ricavate nella roccia! Ci aggiungi che un letto in dormitorio costa 6 Lire (3 euro), il gioco è fatto! E la scelta si rivelerà ... read more
CAPPADOCIA
CAPPADOCIA
CAPPADOCIA

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Dogubeyazit October 5th 2006

I haven't really had any plans for the past week so I thought I might use my internet time to open up a discussion on the finer points in life. Fortunately this part of the world is, or has been, replete with three of the four points of discussion. The fourth, work, is unfortunately a little scarce all over Turkey. In short, if you want to avoid it, come here. I left you guys in Trabzon with a bus ticket to Dogubeyazit burning a hole in my pocket. This is the most easterly town in Turkey & just a stone's throw from Iran. It's also deep inside Kurdistan, and the military checkpoint at 3am was the first of many. In short, Kurdistan doesn't exist. The Kurds are a formerly nomadic people who make up around 80% ... read more
Mt Ararat (Agri Dagi)
Hitching a rıde round lake Van
Me at 2998m On top of Nemrut Dagi..

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Tatvan August 7th 2006

I could give a blow by blow account of where I've been and what I've done but, apart from being a huge undertaking, I think I would probably bore you to tears and give myself a case of RSI (as well as being subjected to hours of passive smoking in these internet cafes where, although the sign says "no smoking", incessant chain smoking is the norm). But, this is what the intinerary reads as: Goreme Malatya Nemrut Dagi Sianurfa (Urfa) Harran Mardin Diyarbakir Hasankeyf Tatvan Ahlat Goreme Phew! No wonder I'm tired! Firstly, bus travel is harder than it looks and I think that's why I tend to opt for my bicycle. Taking the bus means that you are at the mercy of the touts that ... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Eastern Anatolia » Van August 4th 2006

Sadly we had to say goodbye to Iran and crossed over ınto the mountaıns of Essendere, Turkey. The scenery changed almost ımmedıately and so dramatıcally: the dry desert was gone and we were surrounded by green fıelds, mountaıns, wıldflowers and rushıng streams. Arrıvıng ın Van ın the early evenıng we checked ınto a local place and were ımmedıately fed by the people who hang there (stıll dont know ıf they are guests, owners or just lıke the place) - a huge tradıtıonal feast washed down wıth chaı (of course). The two days we spent here tryıng to get back our strength after the mad rush through Iran we spent explorıng the Van Castle (buılt ın 855BC) and takıng a boat out to Akdama Island where we pıcnıced on fresh bread, cheese and peaches beneath the almond ... read more




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