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Published: September 25th 2013
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After a reasonable night’s sleep we headed downstairs for breakfast only to be re-directed to the third floor for the restaurant area…..
Woolly say – everything was laid out buffet style with the usual mix of cheeses, eggs, salad and olives. We tucked in and all seemed fine until a rather angry gentleman took his wife from the room, the waiter tried to explain that Jo was insulting and rude! Poor Jo was very upset, as friends know she is the most PC person going and is always telling everyone about respecting other cultures and beliefs, but dressed in her shorts and strappy T Shirt she had upset the cultural beliefs of some by not covering her legs and shoulders.
As we live in Alanya clothing is never an issue but East is a much more devout system and I simply hadn’t thought. With nothing I could do we finished our drinks and left.
Woolly says – Ollie was primed and ready and as Ian drove out into the chaos of traffic we gripped on tight and hoped for the end of the city. We were now on the Silk Road, the
old trading road that led from China through the Middle East and into Europe, I loved the camels on the side of the dual carriageway which depicted the long journey that they would have taken. With the city behind us the landscape changed, much more arid with soil colours ranging from rich terracotta to dark brown and to light sand. Fields of cotton were everywhere and we kept finding overloaded lorries lurching drunkenly across the road weighed down under countless bales of cotton. As we passed kilometre after kilometre acres of shiny red chilli bushes became the order of the day.
The journey was interesting in part because of the differences in landscape with rolling hills and fields instead of the mountains we were used to travelling. We found the first sign for our destination and set off through a barren terrain with a small incline. Passing through a gate Ollie was in his element as he went off road for the last 2 KM.
Woolly says – I was so excited to be at Gobekli Tepe, which is possibly the Oldest Temple so far discovered in the world. Excavation began in
the mid 1990’s by a German archaeological team under the direction of
Klaus Schmidt. It includes two settlements which date back to the 10
th and 9
th millennium BC, even older than Stonehenge! It is made of massive T shaped stone pillars which are up to 20ft in height and weighing 20 tonnes each. Many of the stones are decorated with animals that scientists didn’t believe had been alive in those times, I was on the lookout for Mammoths!
With Woolly checking out the site for carvings of Mammoths we wandered round this rather awe inspiring place. Gobekli Tepe means belly shaped mountain….
Woolly says – Hey, Jo has got one of those. Sorry, no, that’s just her pot belly!
Be careful Woolly!!!! Currently they are working to place a large wooden cover over the stones to protect them which makes it difficult to get the full idea of how spectacular this must be but from what we could see it was a once in a life time experience. Part of what makes it so unique is that at 11,000 years old the stones had been crafted and arranged
by prehistoric people who had not even developed metal tools or pottery!
Woolly says – it was pretty incredible and although I didn’t find any Mammoths there were foxes, scorpions and what looked very like flamingo’s to admire. The site isn’t very big but as we walked up the steep bank overlooking the stones we could see other areas that are currently being dug, who knows what else might be found perhaps they might even come across carvings of my ancestors after all.
A bit dusty and thirsty we made our way back to Ollie and set off for the north. Having seen signposts with bullet holes in them I think we were all glad to be a lot further away from the border to Syria. Mile after mile passed through some of the poorest areas we have seen so far and in sharp contrast to the very affluent areas next door, the small farmers picking their crops by hand while huge combine harvesters were being sold in the building next door.
Woolly says – Ollie pounded out the miles, through towns and cities we sped with many people stopping to
admire him. The signs for Kahta and what we hoped would be our next night of proper camping. Ian had researched the site and we had the GPS co-ordinates, only problem was there was no site to be seen, we backtracked a little to a sign that said Hotel Camping which had an ACSI sign hanging outside, usually a good omen.
Hotel Camping is well a little different to say the least, they have a large grassed border to the car park where you can pitch under cover, the least said about the toilets and showers the better! Washing up is shared with the bar! I’m not sure when there last inspection was but I don’t think it will pass muster somehow, but for 25 TL (approximately £8.70 GBP) it will suffice for the night before we go on the hunt for the missing heads!
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Louisa
non-member comment
flamingo?
I think your 'flamingo' might be an ostrich! Woolly, you and Jo must take good care of Ian - you wouldn't want to be stranded in a foreign country with a sick person!