Journey through Turkey

Travel route

3. 8. 2009

Place: Edirne/Turkey
Weather: Sunshine, 33°C
Activities: Trip to Edirne. The border-crossing was only possible making a detour through Bulgaria.
Although BG belongs to the EU by now crossing this border was more complicated than later on the border into Turkey.
In Turkey we had to deal with a very young customs official who had to enquire every task by phone and in the end had to get his boss in person.
Both of them apparently felt a bit embarrassed about all this and so we were able to pass after the vehicle and the motor-bike were registered in the passport without an inspection of the mobile-home.

Special remarks: Our first destination in Turkey was the provincial town EDIRNE, close to the Greek border.
Edirne surprised us in a very pleasant way.
Although it is a quite big and tumultuous city with hardly any parking possibilities we got the permission straightaway to stay for one night on a bus-parking area, just in return of a small tip.
And this directly in the centre of the town. Of course it was noisy and hot at night - but for a single night you can put up with that.
The centre of Edirne is loaded with beautiful mosques and old buildings and it also has two covered bazaars.
It was fortunate that the traders weren't even close as intrusive as the ones in Istanbul.

This city owns one of the most beautiful architectural monuments of Turkey.
The Selimiye-mosque out of the 15th century, which got constructed by the famous master builder Sinan. Truly magnificent and an absolute must.

Some of the roads - hardly believable - pedestrian precinct. 
Besides there are fancy eateries, cafes, bars and more.
All in all Edirne can honestly be recommended - sadly most people just drive past it.

You can also find some isolated beautifully reforbished timber houses and mansions. In between from time to time shady gardens with fountains or small streams.
Needless to say that we tried the turkish cuisine in the evening and enjoyed a cool Efes (beer).

 - For all pictures please view the german site. -

4. till 5. 8. 2009

Place: Kiyiköy/European Black Sea coast
Weather: Sunshine 29°C
Activities: Drive from Edirne to Kiyiköy, passing Babaeski, Lüleburgaz and Vize.

Special remarks: Till Vize the route leads through very fertile, very much agriculturally used lowland. 
From Vize on it gets mountaineous and just scrubland and shrubery.
Everything is green and wild and sparsely populated.
Vize itself is a very nice small town and we were lucky that just that day there was a big regional market. It had just about everything: Groceries and mainly fruits and vegetables enough and to spare and aside clothes and household goods as far as your eyes could reach.
What cought our eye was that the traders had a lot of fun, we heard some puffers and there was a lot of laughter around.
Everyone tried to get to chat with us (only the lord knows how they made out in no time that we were foreigners).
There were some among them who had been in Germany before and could speak a little bit of german, and there were some who are living in Germany and were here on vacation as well, they gave us linguistic support.
By all means we felt that they all were very nice and friendly and open-minded.

Kiyiköy is a little seaside city at the Black Sea with 2000 inhabitants (during the summer months additional another 8000 tourists per day - mainly from Istanbul and Edirne).
Foreigners weren't any to be seen. We found a parking spot on a sheep-meadow. Next to us a turkish Dolmus bus.
We were wondering at first till the owners came to say hello relatively soon. Both of them were on vacation here as well (but spoke turkish only - and we none till none at all).
At first we thought that the bus got converted into a mobile-home. But no way, everything was like in a normal bus (seats and so on). But where do they sleep then?
Towards the evening we could here them setting up the tent. Strange as well: Around the quite small tent the Mister set up a boundary out of an about 1m high tarpaulin in a range of 2metres. Virtual: Kinda like a wall around the tent.
Not until the next day the reason fell into place: There were reams of strying dogs and the tarpaulin was a pee-pee-protection for the tent!!
At night, 3 am, the neighbour awoke us suddenly by turning on the 'growling' diesel-engine of his Dolmus and had it running for about 5 minutes.
We were asking ourselves what the hell the reason for that could be.
The solution: They did not sleep together in the tent, Mister slept in the bus instead.
Maybe he had to take a piss and couldn't open his pneumatic doors because the pressure tank was empty.
So turning on the engine - awaking the neighbours and charging the pressure tank.
Oh well, there is still a lot to learn for us in Turkey.
The next day it knocked on our door and the neighbours' wife gave us some homemade pickled cucumbers. We returned the favour by giving some greek cookies (we weren't sure whether this was a big faux pas  - Greek and Turks??).
But no, in the evening she brought us some roasted corncobs - unbelievable.
We returned the favour by hand-written 'Thank You' ( in turkish).
The hospitality in Turkey so far is nonrecurring.

- Picture gallery on the german version -

6. till 7.9.2009

Place: Karaburun at the Black Sea Coast
Weather: Sunshine, 27°C
Activities: Drive till Karaburun (about 50km far from Istanbul) on roads in awful conditions (great for the spinal disc)
              through a thick oak forest area - very hilly. In Karaburun we went for walks, visited the Internet, spend time reading and relaxing.

Special remarks: Karaburun is a bathing resort. Which is visited mainly by people from Istanbul. A lot even have their second residence here. 
There is a never-ending sandy beach with lots of takeaways ( everything not all that pretty - according to our standards at least).
On the other side (like in Kiyiköy) there is a quite big fishing port with a lot of fishing boats.
It caught our eyes that they were working on most of the boats (repairing - painting - and so on). Just like in Kiyiköy.
We drove into the harbour straight away and found a very nice spot at the quay wall.
As soon as we had parked there was already a fisherman waving us (from his barge) - with a huge cowboy hat (JR) and asked us in broken german where we were from.
He himself (about 70) ahd lived and worked in Nuremberg for 2 years during the 1980s. And still spoke our language!!
We were fine to park here he reckoned. He offered us water. I asked for fish. We came to know that in Turkey it is forbidden to do commercial fishing during August.
For this reason all the repair work.
He offered to show us a good fish-restaurant (the eatery of a colleague - of course) and we invited him for dinner.
The food was excellent. They had the best fish, shrimp and a fantastique plate of appetizers - that is to say that the price was phat as well though.
In the restaurant we met another businessman from Istanbul who had worked for 15 years in Austria and who has his second home in Karaburun. He spontaneously took us with to his house. His wife served us tea and he was happy to get to speak some german with us. In impulse he offeredus his shower (did we smell already a bit?), his washing machine and his kitchen - the hospitality is just incerdible over here.
Karaburun itself is not all that beautiful.

8. till 11.9.2009

Place: Istanbul
Weather: Sunshine 30°C
Activities: Drive from Karaburun to Istanbul to Festo. Visitation of the centre.
Restocking of the most important provisions, which you can only find in such a metropolis. Visiting the hairdresser for both of us Rita and Rudi as well.

Trip:
On Friday we left for Istanbul. The road till the highway Edirne is in a catastrophic condition.
And here not so much the tarmac (which is in a quite good condition) but the fatal bumps. Which neither the truck suspension could damp, nor the otherwise very good pneumatic spring mounted seat could handle.
That means we were given a good shaking and the spinal disc paid that back.
Istanbul has two huge motorway bridges crossing the Bosporus. The E80 is the new bridge which leads directly to Ankara and Festo is situated in Tuzla right at this E80.
Unfortunately there is nor more possibilty to pay in cash since a while at the paying office right in front of this beautiful hanging bridge.
You have to buy a chip card in one of the alleys that are marked 'electronical card'. And then you can open the electronical barrier with this card.
The problem is just that this is not assigned and most of the turkish have no clue either with the consequence of total chaos.
Everybody is driving crisscross.
At first I thought that I could play them off having the advantage of driving a truck. But, no such luck - the turkish did not show any respect for our not all that small Volvo and intruded from all sides.
My second trump the mighty trumpet air horn did not help any either. Every time Rita and I winced more then the counterparty.
At last only patience and time helped: 1 hour for about 200 metres.

Festo:
We parked our vehicle at Festo (for that a big Thank You to Mr Bauer) and took a hotel-room for 2 nights in the centre (Sultanahmet).
Festo is situated at least roughly 40km east of the centre on the outskirts ( Istanbul has a east-west-stretching, believe it or not, of 100km).
Festo also helped us clean our completely filthy vehicle - was badly needed.
Also for that thanks a lot to Mr Bauer and his team.

Inner City:
Since we know Istanbul very well from former travels we focused this time primarily on doing some shopping and visiting the hairdresser.
On Sunday we visited the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia is over 1400years old and is one of the greatest monuments of world architecture.
The emperor Justinian (527 - 65) wanted to whip the Roman Empire back into shape and the Hagia Sophia was one of his campaigns.
Back then the biggest church of Christianity. Untill in 1453 the Ottomans came and converted it into a mosque.
The grand interior, with its gigantic cupola and the gorgeous mosaic literally knocks you for a loop.
We are hardly able to imagine how this was  accomplishable with the technical possibilities from back then.
Upshot Istanbul:
Even if you have been here 10 times before you will always make out something that you haven't seen yet. 
Istanbul is one of the most fascinating and beautiful cities of the world.
In every sense you can recommend it.
As well in a cultural way as regarding quality of life and the night-life.

11. and 12. 08. 2009

Place: Sapanca Gölü (lake) at the town Sapanca. A wonderful camp-spot on a private airfield.
Weather: Sunshine, 28°C
Activities: Trip from Festo Istanbul to Sapanca.

Special remarks:
Today we wanted to drive till Bolu to the Yedikgöller National Park (about 250km).
But after we decided to go to the huge shopping mall close by Festo and Rita to go to the hairdresser. After shopping for the next couple of days we only managed to leave for our way at 3pm.
And so we got tired when we reached Sapanca (about 100km east of Istanbul).
From the highway we saw the big lake on the right hand and spontaneously decided to stop there.
At first we weren't able to get to the lake in Sapanca (we had to cross the railway and the underbridge was only 3m high).
After a long search we arrived at the waterside and found one restaurant next to the other ( and one nicer than the other).
Also we soon got a nice parking spot right at the lake.
Then we went for a walk along the lake and came by a very nice small private airport.
Yet we were thinking: Would be a great spot to camp for the night. We saw chairs and tables and felt like having a beer and already we were on the way straight across the runway.
At first the communication was quite difficult but we got our beer.
Later the flight instructor came by (he spoke a bit of english) and shortly the ice was broken - we got an invitation to stay for the night next to the hangar.
We were shown around everywhere and in the end also got an invitation from a 'Swiss Turkish' for a fish dinner.
Not a bad day.
This airfield has 4 ultralight glider and one ultralight airplane for teaching machines.
We got told that till today Turkey just has two private airfields: one in Istanbul and this one here in Sapanca.
It tool three years for the permission to go through.

We stayed for another day (12.8.2009)
The next morning we wanted to go on our way, but yet got invited to have breakfast first.
At short notice we then decided to each of us take a flight with the ultralight airplane.
First Rita was concerned because of the Rhaki the pilot had had.
But when she found out that the handsome young pilot would fly us all concerns were gone.
The flight was incredible (that must be how birds feel like). It went up quickly and then via nose dive down - like a roller coaster, only better.

If you are interested in flying or landing at this place, here the contact information:

 Bülent Gürhan: Ground Operation Manager
Email: gorbo@mynet.com
Mobile: 0 505 567 1334
www.sapancahavacilik.com
In SAPANCA / Turkey

 Metin Saglam
Email: metin@sapancaaviation.com
Mobile: 0 536 845 3366
www.sapancahavacilik.com
In SAPANCA / Turkey

13.8. till 15.8.09

Place: Yedigöller National Park in the north of Bolu
Weather: Sunshine, 25°C
Activities: Hiking and relaxing - resting of the big-city stress from Istanbul and catching some fresh air,
which is fantastique in the forests at 800m altitude. Same the temperature: During day sunshine at 25°C and during night it 
cools down to 10 - 12°C.
Special remarks:

Approach:
From Düzce to Yedigöller (National Park).
Locals highly recommended this National Park but it is not mentioned in any travel guides.
The first kilometres were splendidly constructed and assigned.
But the road got visibly worse (gravel coating), untill it was only as wide as our truck and full of big stones and deep lateral rills.
Guard railings were no where to be seen, although there were sheers that went 50metres down.
Which stained the nerves of the co-pilot extremly.
In addition there were low hanging branches in the forests - we really felt sorry for our 'Baby'.
There was no way to turn around. We had to bite in the bullet and keep on going.
Luckily there was no car coming from the oppsite direction.
For  distance of 28km it took us about 3hours, with a gas-usage of 70-100 litres per 100km.
That was the toughest experience we had our 'Baby' to put up with so far.

Yedigöller National Park:
At long last we arrived the Park. We found a nice spot directly at one of the 7 lakes. 
Very idylic surrounded by forest and it was wonderfully calm.
Everywhere there are small creeks purling or rushing waterfalls.
There are good hiking-trails that enable great tours.
A gross contrary to the hectic of Istanbul.
On the second day we got turkish neighbours that came by minibus. One man and multiple women and a lot of kids.
We were wondering why they did not build up a tent. When we went to sleep they suddenly started singing next to us.
Partly quite melodic according to our ears and partly it did hurt a bit.
At sometime we fell asleep and got woken up early in the morning (at about 5am) from a lot of noisy voices.
We couldn't believe it. Did this family out of 10 actually altogether sleep in the minivan.
An israeli family was our other neighbour. They were staying in a tent and were looking for some protection near our 'Baby'.
Nice acquaintance, they spontaneously invited us to Tel Aviv.

16. + 17.8.2009

Trip from Yedigöller to Safranbolu
Place: Safranbolu
Weather: Sunshine, 30°C
Activities:

Drive from Yedigöller to Safranbolu:
The first 20km on a adventurous earth road in a virgin forest.
Then till Mengen on tiny village roads (tarred but pitted).
Far the worst was the national road from Mengen to Safranbolu: this was wide and partly had 4 lanes. Which invited you to speed up
and then suddenly there were pot-holes coming up.
The specialty of the turkish road construction is, that the broken asphalt covering doesn't get milled off, but just covered instead with another coating.
With the result of a 'new' but completely uneven top - which bobs you up and down while driving.

Safranbolu:
A little bit outside of the Old Town we found a nice place to camp for the night, right at the fire brigade.
'Baby' surrounded by a lot of red trucks.
The complete Ottoman Old Town of Safranbolu is obtained and by now refurbished back into such a good shape that it made it into the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.
Here you can closely experience the historical Turkey.
A tangle of tiny alleys, colourful shops, museums, a caravanserai and old mosques.
The town also has a turkish spa (Hamami) out of the 17th century to offer which is still in usage.
Visiting the spa was both relaxing and exciting.
Of course the strict seperation between men and women.
The area for the women could be reached via a hidden entrance. The part for bathing was out of ornated marble.
A diffuse illumination, plashing water, vapouring and quiet laughter and gaggling of several groups of women.
In between rinsing and getting a massage, you get tea. Basically just wonderful!!

This town absolutely has to be on the plan of a trip to Turkey.

'Tesekkür ederim' to the team of fire fighters from Safranbolu.
They filled up our fresh water tank to the brim and during that we had a lot of fun ( even though we weren't able to communicate in a linguistic way).

18. 08. 2009

Place: Amasra / Black Sea Coast
Weather: Sunshine, 30°C and windy
Activities:

Travel Tour:
The route from Safranbolu to Amasra (80km) solely leads through a beautiful mountainous landscape.
First it leads from 500m up till 1100m altitude and then get to about 50m down in Bartin and in the end you have to overbear a mountain ridge of almost 400m (the last 10km).
Specially the descent before Amasra is spectacular.

Amasra:
Amasra is one of the most beautiful places at the Black Sea Coast.
It has two harbours (one small fishing port - where we stayed for the night) and one bigger marina and cargo harbour.
In between those two harbours there is a small sandy beach and a hill with a citadel.
The Old Town is very tidy and has a lot of small bazar-roads.
Amasra is famous for good fish-restaurants and we did not get disappointed.
Too bad that our (optically very nice camp-site) was very noisy and did have a bad smell (like a rubbish dump).
Noisy because there were cars coming and going all night.
Actually there are quite a few in Turkey who sleep in their cars and therefore use such parking-spots.

The driveways in Turkey, specially to the Yedigöller national Park, were that terrible that they extremly strained my back.
The result is now again a permanent backache.
That is the reason why we decided today to cancel the tour towards the East and to go on our way to the Agäis instead (direction to Izmir).
There we will rejuvenate for a couple of weeks and then we will see how it goes.
Another consideration is the possibility to take a ferry directly from Izmir to Venice if this will be necessary.

19. 08. 2009

Place: Zonguldag at the Black Sea Coast
Weather: Sinshine 25°C
Activities: Trip from Amasra. We wanted to drive as far as we could get
and as long as the back would play along.
What in the end ended up being only 2 hours.

Special remarks:
The drive along the coast to Zonguldag was in the truest sense of the word adventurous.
Rudi wanted to take a short cut at all costs and promptly ended up on the most difficult route along the steep and rocky coast.
That was not a road, but a cliff- and hiking-trail.
The kerbside was skid down and it went vertical to the ground.
On the right hand the rock face and on the left the ocean.
The driving surface was precisely as wide as our vehicle.
Valerian would have been very appropiate, especially for co-pilot.

But finally we arrived safely!!
In the evening we found a nice camp-spot directly in a bathing bay.
The place was well-attended and next to us there was a vehicle from Esslingen. A very friendly family from Sulzgries, who where on vacation nearby. We again want to thank them a lot for the very nice invitation for dinner and the lovely evening.

20. and 21. 08. 2009

Place: Trip from Zonguldag (Black Sea Coast) to Ayvalik (Ägäis)
Weather: Sunshine 28°C and windy
Activities:
1.Accomodation in Karamürsel at the Sea of Marmara
This route has (thank God) mainly four-lane-expressway and highway.
It was as boring at the same time too though. But good for the spinal disc.
When we got to the Sea of Marmara we were looking for a place to stay. Since we had been driving quite a long distance today.
In Karamürsel we already saw a big harbour out of the distance and a huge promenade.
We drove the promenade all the way along from the one side to the other and caused quite some attention on the relatively narrow road. We had over-looked the sign: 'Trucks prohibitted', or rather we have a mobile-home and not a truck
(we certainly have to make that clear to the policemen by chance).
At the very end of the promenade (Karamürsel ends already) we found a nice place to camp directly at the ocean.
-Rita was already worrying that I would drive straight into the water.
We went strolling, eating fish and having a good Efes (beer).
As soon as we were lying in our bunk, youngsters came and surrounded us with their cars and started making jokes (we assumed out of the loud and steady laughter). At about 2am they moved off.
As soon as we slept we got woken up from flashing blue light, flashlight and a (tentative) knocking on the door.
Outside there was a police car with three uniformed passengers.
"We pretend that we are not home" i said towards Rita, "they will shortly move off".
But they did not. Enforcedly I opened the window and literally looked down on the officers (and they looked up with their eyes wide open).
We tried to communicate - but no way.
In the end all I understood was: "NO SWIMMING".
Which I admitted and then they moved off and wished us "Güle güle".
Finally we got some sleep with the quintessence: A nice spot is not always a good spot.

2. Accommodation at the village Karaman nearby the town Baleskir:
The drive itself is rather uninteresting.
In Baleskir we looked for a place to stay overnight.
Soon we were in a very rural area and since we didn't get much sleep last night we were looking for a field today.
On an extremly steep sandy road it went down into a dip. Thanks to the all-wheel-drive that was not a problem.
Because it stormed quite a bit the dip also offered a protection against the wind.
The wind was that strong that the vehicle was shaking (15t.). And all that dust and sand came through the windows.
But nevertheless we slept great.

22. 08. 2009

Place: Ayvalik
Weather: Sunshine, 29°C
Activities: Accommodation on a camp-site about 1km outside Ayvalik.

Special remarks:
The site was situated directly at the ocean.
We parked in front of the camp-spot and inspected the place.
Critically eyed by two young girls. We soon realised that there wasno way for us to drive on to the spot
with our vehicle - everything was too low and narrow.
The girls came towards us and (what a surprise) started talking to us in german (without an accent).
It turned out that they were living in Freiburg and that they were here visiting their grandpa (whom this spot belonged to).
We also found out that the restaurant below the camp-site and directly at the ocean also belonged to that grandpa and that
we could stay at the parking-lot for the night with access to the camp-site ( and with all fees).
We agreed. When we then later examined the toilets and washrooms our euphoria was evaporated (and that for a fee of 25,-TL - you
get a hotel-room for that amount in TR).
In the evening we then also saw that we were parking right at the pit drainage. The next morning we were gone - although the location 
was wonderful.

23. till 31. 08. 2009

Place: The island Alibey at Ayvalik on the campground ADA
Weather: Sunshine 30°C and from now to then very strong gusts of wind.
Activities: The stay on this island was in first place ment for relaxing and to treat my back with care.
After we had been driving steadily for over one month. It was also the first time since more than a month that we were
staying on a campground.

Special remarks:
The campground is placed about 4-5km away of the small town Alibey and is very quiet. All around nothing but stone pines, olive trees and water.
Exactly what we had been looking for.
Besides you have quite some space and during week it is not very busy. We can get to Alibey in a few minutes or to the provincial town 
Ayvalik (mainland) by motorbike.
There is a wind blowing constantly (in the evenings and at night quite strong) and this makes the climate very comfortable.
The water is very clean (blue flag). But because of the wind and the tide exceptionally cold - we estimated it has only about 22°C.
Too cold for me. But Rita enjoys it.

The island is face to face with Lesbos (Greece) only few kilometers away.

Yesterday we have been on a big farmer's market in Ayvalik (a very pretty town with greek influences).
The range of products went from eggplant, over golden high-heels, to dentist utensils.
The puffers overbid each other in loudness.
A crazy spectacle.
After one hour there was only to escape into a quiet mosque, which was an orthodox church of the Greek in former times.
In this region of the Ägäis you can clearly feel the number of different races, their cultures and rites.
It is also very beautiful in landscape and has a great climate.
Stone pines, low scrubland and olive groves as far as your eyes can reach.
Cliffy coasts and in between small beaches (where you are often just by yourself).
In addition you find very good restaurants with freshly caught fish-specialities here.

1. till 3. 9. 2009

Place: Bergama (Pergamon)
Weather: Sunshine 30°C
Activities:
1. Drive from Ayvalik to Bergama:
A local recommended us not to take the main connecting road towards Izmir, but the local track passing Yukaribey
(was on my 'Mairs Map' assigned in green as well).
The route leads over a low mountain range of 600m altitude. Which is completely timbered with wonderfully green stone pines.
Some exemplars are just gigantic.
This trip can absolutely be recommended.

2. Akropolis in Bergama:
The Akropolis is one of the most beautiful greek monuments in Turkey.
It is placed on a high hill above the city of Bergama (60.000 inhabitants) which it is named nowadays and was founded of the Äoli Greek 
in 800 BC.
It's prosperity and the boom years of all the buildings Pergamon had during the time of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire
(between 300 BC and 200 anno Domini).
Back then Pergamon had 150.000 inhabitants and was one of the wealthiest and most powerful city states of Asia Minor.
Specially famous was the library of Pergamon (under EumenesII.).
It is said to have contained 200.000 rolls and competed with the biggest library of the world - Alexandria/Egypt.
With the result that more and more academic migrated to Pergamon.
This provoked the egypt to stop the delivery of papyrus.
In it's need Pergamon developed an alternative writing material - the 'pergamen' (latin for velium) and soon the animal skins replaced the papyrus.
When the roman Marc Antonius in 41BC married Cleopatra he disponed her a big part of the rolls (as a wedding gift) and they came into the library of
Alexandria (an irony of history).

3. Carpet Association 'Desen Halicilik' in Bergama:
About 10km outside at the main-connecting-road 'Bergama-Izmir'.
On the Akropolis a very good german speaking tour guide started talking to us - he had lived for 3 years in Bad Urach in the 70s
and had worked in Esslingen (Company Ritter).
He offered to give us a tour which we declined.
When we came out of the Akropolis he came towards us to talk to us again he asked where we were staying.
He would know a campground. We explained him that for the most part we were parking free/wild and whether he knew a place where we could park.
After a long thought he recommended this Carpet Cooperative.
He did a phone call - asked for permission from the manager and showed us the shortest route by driving ahead of us.
Although we didn't ask for his help - again a proof of the unique turkish hospitality.

The cooperative belongs to the city of Bergama and only has very few employees (a hand-full) - generally retired people  who either
have knowledge of the carpet manufacture or of finances or in sales.
These retired work for a small contribution towards expenses.
Otherwise there are 1700 free associates in this Association. All of them out of the surrounding villages.
The city allocates the material of the first two carpets for free (as a start-up financing) but then they only get their money after they sold their carpet.
Whereas the management of the Association by now can tell relatively adequate which patterns are selling and how much is needed.
But still the families carry the risk.
On the other sied 95% of the carpet sales revenue go to the families.
They are making carpets out of sheepwool, cotton (the best cotton from Turkey is coming from the area of Bergama and one of the best of the world - 
besides Egypt) and silk carpets.
The Association fabricates the silk by themselves.
The carpets are fantastique and the cost/performance ratio is very good.
Can be truly recommended.
We got shown the whole factory (see the pictures) and got a bottle of wine for dinner and deliciously sweet grapes and figs of the tree as a welcome gift.
We had a wonderful quiet night.

Contact information:
Desen Halicilik
Carpet Waver's Association
Izmir Yolu - Bergama
Tel: 0 232 6672 338
Email: dsncarpet@hotmail.com

4. till 6.9.2009

Place: Selcuk and Efes (Ephesos)
Weather: Sunshine 28 - 31°C
Activities: Visiting the archaeological excavation 'Ephesos', the museum of Ephesos in Selcuk. 
Selcuk, a very pretty small town (27.000 inhabitants) with a lot of tranquility. On a very lovely and
peaceful campground (Garden Camping Selcuk).

Special remarks:
1. Archaeological excavation Ephesos:
Ephesos is the city of the biggest amount of ancient ruins in the western world.
What there is to be seen today was built by Lysimachos, the successor of Alexander the Great in the 4th century before Christ.
Who wants to get an impression how life was like during greek/roman times has to come to this place.
Best, early in the morning before loads of people move through the marble alleys en masse.
We drove on our bikes to this ancient city, from Selcuk on a very nice bycicle lane.
The first impressing building on our way is the huge theatre.
Due to the ingenious arrangement of the cavea (tier), 25.000 people could fit in here and the acoustics are great.
A few 'wannabe tenors' showed themselves off in a dreadful singing. Everybody could hear them clearly.
Further on, on the marble-paved road, passing private houses to the Celsus Library.
Probably the most famous building. The son of Celsus, Consul Tiberius Julius Aquila, had had this library built in honour
of his departed father Celsus.
In it there were 12000 scrolls in alcoves stored.
On the 'Kuretenstrasse' further on there is on the left an alley to the famous public latrines for men.
A very communicative arrangement or rather business.
Women were only allowed to use these latrine in very rare exceptions during winter.
The exception: No slave at hand to warm up the seat.
An ingenious water and sewage system, that you can recognise in the whole city.
Specially at places like this absolutely necessary.
There is definitely no lack of wells, gates and ruins of temples.
There are also remains of a big stadion, where you can visualize the drill ground, spas, covered training rooms, a swimming-pool
and a festival hall.

2. Selcuk
The city of Selcuk with the ruins of Ephesos at its doorstep has a lot to offer itself.
Luckily on a more moderate level and with mainly independent/alternative travellers.
The basilica of John,
for example:
Here the grave of John the Evangelist is supposed to be, who had spent his last years at this place.
Unfortunately there was only a bunch of pebbles left after earthquakes and bandits had done their job.
At that time it was main attraction of thousand of pilgrims and was considered a miracle.
On the hill Ayasulk is a great Byzantium fortress, with a fantastique view over the surrounding sites.
The fortress is getting a complex renovation at the moment and was therefore not accessible.
Also worth mentioning is the fabulous Temple of Artemis. It was devoted to Kybele/Artemis, the fertility goddess.
The temple was reckoned as one of the seven wonders of the world in the ancient world.
It had even beaten the Parthenon in Athens by its amplitude.
Too bad that there is only one single column left on which a stork had taken over to build its nest on it.
Great spot for a bird.

3. Museum (of Ephesos) in Selcuk:
The museum of Ephesos is totally a must-see!
It is considered to be one of the best of the country.
It contains beautiful statues that had been found in Ephesos and shows secondary how life was like in Ephesos
and how it could have looked like.
Everything is described in great detail.

7. till 9. 9. 2009

Place: Pamukkale
Weather: Sunshine 24-28°C, when we got there we had the usual sunshine with a slightly stronger wind.
Towards the evening there were clouds coming up and an hour later it started rumbling.
At about 10pm it was raining buckets.
Why do we mention that?
Well, this was the first rain that we had since the 26th of June. Since that day we only had sunshine (in fact, that are 75 days of sunshine).
And in the months May and June we just had about a week of rain.
Activities: Trip from Selcuk to Pamukkale (rather unexciting). Visitation of the calcium formations with travertine pools of Pamukkale.
And the antique site 'Hierapolis'.

Special remarks: Like every other tourist, we wanted to see the gleaming white Pamukkale Travertines.
But what we got to see here was rather repellent.
The place Pamukkale is a completely mutilated spot a bad tourist rip-off.
The Travertines are mostly dim, covered with a dirty grey.
The famous thermal water is just flowing sparesly over the basins and stalactites.
Apparently the hotels of the town are still secretly tapping the water for their pools.
The World Heritage Site (UNESCO) has lost most of its attractiveness due to the brutal commercialisation for tourism.
The archaeological excavation Hierapolis on top of the Travertines are interesting, but because of the thousands of visitors only accesible
with really strong nerves or very early in the morning.
This attraction gets topped by  'package-tourists' that are ecstatically bathing in the antique pool. They are posing
on pillars that are filthy covered with algae in the not so clean thermal water and contineously take pictures of each other.
'Better than going to the movies!!!'
Our upshot:
Rather get a nice illustrated book and drive around this place in a large-scale.
It is not worth spending the time!!!

9. 9. 2009

Place: Sagalassos
Weather: Cloudy and partly sunny at 27°C
Activities:

1. Drive from Pamukkale to Sagalassos
(very nice and commendable route):
- We chose the following tour:
Denizli past Serinhisar then left to Güney passing the beautiful lake Salda Gölü, which has a various number of different shades of blue.
After Yesilova past Yarisli Gölü to Burdur. Then to Aglasun and from here to the archaeological excavation 'Sagalassos' up high in the mountains.
The route leads over several passes (up to 1500m) and is scenically very attractive.
Forested valleys, craggy mountain ranges and a very challenging road.

2. Archaeological excavation 'Sagalassos':
The location of this antique city is absolutely spectacular.
It is built on terrace hills and is surrounded on three sides by a cliffy mountainside.
On an altitude of about 1600m, with an open view over the fertile valley.
An unforgettable scenery.
We were delighted that there were no crowds of people, the old site just for ourselves.
Sagalassos is one of the biggest archaeological projects in the Mediterranean area.
In the near future it will be able to compete with Ephesos and Bergamon.
There were no plunderings here, so it just needs to get excavated.
Its history goes back at least till 1200 BC. It was founded back then by militant sea people, followed by the Pisidians, and later
the Romans.
Alexander the Great also had had some influence here.
After a big earthquake in the 7th century the inhabitants were setting off.
Today some buildings are reconstructed already, for example a complete fountain-complex, a library with a tesselated floor,
and a couple of temples.
The biggest costruction is the Roman theatre, with 9000 seats.
Very few buildings are kept in such a good shape in Turkey.
Sagalassos is absolutely worth visiting and we liked this place a lot more than the other antique sites.

The drive from Aglasunup to the excavation of Sagalassos is just fantastique.
On top of that we also had a beautiful campsite, 500 metres away from the entrance, with a view over the valley.
We enjoyed an unbelievable scenery along with rasted chicken and a good wine.

10. and 11. 09 2009

Place: Egirdir
Weather: Cloudy and partly sunny at 25°C
Activities:

1. Trip from Sagalassos to Egirdir:
Route:
From Aglasun passing Camlidere and Akbelenl past Kovala Gölü to Egirdir.
This drive is very beautiful as well, but driving this route is very challenging.
Narrowest roads over passes and past sheers.
It is steadily going up and down and has partly an extreme gradient (of 20 per cent and more).

2. Egirdir:
It is situated at a lake, of the same name.
This lake is the fourth biggest  of Turkey and it is all around rimmed by partly relatively high mountains..
Like for example the Davras Dagi, that has an altitude of 2635m. Scenically just gorgeous.
Egirdir is a little town (25000 inhabitants) with most of the population on the mainland and a small, but very beautiful peninsula which is
connected to the mainland via a very narrow tongue of land.
On this peninsula are for the most part hotels and restaurants.
Starting in Egirdir we did a bike-tour to the village Akpinar.
Egirdir itself is at an altitude of 1000m and Akpinar at 1500m.
From up there you get an amazing view over the lake.
We camped on a parking spot directly at the lake. We were the only ones on this lot when we went to sleep.
At around 2am a minibus came by with some youngsters. On the completely empty parking area they did not par at the other end, but
(of course) right next to us.
And (hardly to believe) made a fire and started a barbecue. Minutes laterthe police showed up and we were hoping that they would chase the perturbators away. No way - the police got handed some of the meat and drove off.
At around 3 am they started singing and we helped ourselves with earplugs.

12. 09. 2009

Place: Close to Hüyük (between Egirdir and Konya)
Weather: Rain (partly quite heavy - for the most part at night) and 23°C
Activities:
1. Drive to Konya
We left Egirdir only at about 4:30pm and planned to drive for about 1 1/2 hours.
We took the main connecting-road along the Egirdir lake (very beautiful and fast). The route leads through the biggest
apple cultivation of Turkey.
Close to Hüyük we left the main road and on to a dirt road to a very nice little oak forest for our camp for the night.
There were three cars parking not far from us.
We already feared (traumatically) - noise at midnight?
But at around 8pm they drove off - stopped next to us and tried with big effort to communicate. But we understood zero.
And by the way, all four of them had a bottle of beer in the hand (3 cars).
This in the domain Konya - the religioust of Turkey.
At around midnight it started pouring down and only stopped in the morning.
The heavy rain woke as up - it tumbled quite loud on our roof.
My heart misgave me what the four guys tried to tell us and then I thought of the dirt road.
The next morning: What a mess!
We had barely left our 'temple' and our shoes were full of mud and the tires were covered with dirt in a blink of an eye.
Without the 4-wheel-drive we would have been lost.
But what the four fellows did not know: There is no way to stop a Volvo 4x4.

2. Konya
We reached Konya at about 11:00 am (without having a city map, or anything similar).
And promptly ended up in the area of the bazaar with our 15t vehicle.
As so often it was all way too narrow and that strained Ritas nerves to the limit.
Finally we made out a small parking lot and what a surprise: we were allowed to drive on it (we occupied at least two parking spots).
Unfortunately it was pouring with rain. We strolled through the bazaar, had some pide and got wet.
We visited a memorial and then we were fed up.
So, we decided to drive on to Cappadocia. Konya is for sure not all that bad, but every city is nasty when it is raining cats and dogs.

13. 09. 2009

Place: Esmekaya/Sultanhani between Konya and Aksaray
Weather: Partly rainy and partly sunny at 25°C
Activities:
Drive till Esmekaya (about 80km before Aksaray):
The route from Konya to Aksaray leads exclusively through a very flat plateau (1000m altitude) and is according to this quite boring.
The road is in the main in a relatively good condition so that we got fast ahead.
For the night we stayed behind a huge hill of gravel (completely quiet and just by ouselves, but again rain.
The next day we drove into the Ihlara valley.

14. 09. 2009

Place: Belisirma in the Ihlara Valley
Weather: Sunshine, a lot of sun and from time to time a bit cloudy at 25°C
Activities: Drive from Esmekya to the Ihlara Valley.
Visitation of the Sultanhani caravanserai, the towns Selime, Ihlara and Belisirma (all in the Ihlara valley).

1. Tour:
The route leads through the veld of Anatolia (flat grassland on 1000m altitude) to Cappadocia.
Passing Sultanhani. This caravanserai is still in a very godd condition, it was furbished up again.
It is the biggest in Turkey and it was finished by the Seljuk Sultan Alaadin Keykubad I. in 1229.
Besides community dorm rooms there were a couple of hamams and huge stables for the camels/horses.
The Han's (caravanserais) were all situated at the Silk Road.

2. The Ihlara-Canyon with the towns  Selime (at the north-end of the canyon), Belisirma (in the middle) and Ihlara in the south-end:

The canyon is already a part of Cappadocia and is situated 45km south-eastern of Aksaray.
The river Melendiz excavated this terrific canyon out of the tuff rocks.
These very bizarre formations, like tuff-cones, -mushrooms look-alikes and so on are the result of huge layers of solidified lava.
Which the two vulcanos 'Hasan Dagi' (3268m) and 'Erciyes Dagi' (3917m) had 'spit out' about 5 million years ago.
The canyon is narrow and a very lively river is streaming through it.
Due to that there is a luscious vegetation at the bottom of the valley, with partly high willows and several other trees.
The hiker is also accompanied by a continious bird-chirping.
At some parts the valley is just about 50 metres wide and is bordered by vertical rock faces. The porose material breaks down over the years (ashlars with a weight of several tons) and these are lying scattered at the bottom of the valley. Partially they have to be overbeared - Exhausting!
First Christians had hidden their churches in these rock faces (partly with still very beautiful frescoes).
There were housings as well. The tuff stone is a material that is very easy to work with.
The towns Selime, Belisirma and Ihlara to still have to some extent stone-houses that are about 500-1000 years old.
All three towns look quite poor.
At Belisirma we drove down into the canyon (very steep and narrow - also at the bottom) and stayed for the night in the garden of the restaurant
'Tandirci'.
This canyon is a feast for the eyes and a must-see of Cappadocia.

15. till 21. 09. 2009

Place: Göreme / Cappadocia
Weather: Sunshine
Activities: We stayed overnight on the Kaya campground, 2.5 km outside of Göreme.
A spot that can be highly recommended, an ample space, sanitations of great condition and a also swimming-pool.

1. The town of Göreme (2500 inhabitants):
Absolutely touristic, but to our surprise we didn't get bothered at all.
We didn't even got talked to by tourist rip-offs, 'sharks', or 'beguilers'.
The town itself is placed very pittoresque, almost strange between the fairy chimneys (hoodoos).

2. Open-air museum Göreme:
On the narrowest space you get shown here a whole lot of cave-churches out of the 10th - 12th century. This complex is listed as UNESCO world cultural heritage.
Unfortunately there are groups of tourists to such an extent (reams of busses). - And that although we were here quite early at 09:30 am, that we barely saw any of these churches. Because they were totally blocked and before that even more groups were already waiting. And if by chance you made it so far to get in, there was no oxygen left. Only the 'dark church' - which costs another 4,-€ entrance fee - and the average package-tourist doesn't take that upon himself. The church is relatively empty and has very beautiful frescoes. Also the 'clasp church' ( actually that are two churches that were built into each other). It is situated about 100 m. away from the open-air museum and that is already too far for Mr Package-Tourist (Thank you Allah!).
This church as well has has very beautiful and well obtained frescoes out of the 10th century. Cnclusion: As a single person during the main season you should avoid the open-air museum.
It is not worth it. Much better to explore the number of rivers and canyons around Göreme by foot.

3. Hot air balloon flight over Cappadocia:
We decided - after we hesitated a bit first because of the weather - to do a balloon flight over Cappadocia. Starting point is Göreme and there are up to 40 balloons that rise at the same time, with 20 passengers each. That means a business volume of about 80.000,-€ per day, which means sales per month of about 2.ooo.ooo,-€. And that for at least 7 - 8 months per year.
We booked our flight with 'Kaya Ballooning'.
 - A cooperative venture of the 'Kaya Campground' and the 'Turkish Air Force'. The pilots of 'Kaya Ballooning' train the pilots of the other contractors and they have a vast experience and a very high security standard. We had had some cloudy days, but just for today we had clear azure blue sky - like Kaya had pronounced. You can't describe this flight in words! It is a gigantic and spectacular scenery.. You float past several tuff formations, the cave housings and through the numberous canyons. Then again up onto an altitude of  about 900m. with a view - absolutely clear - over the completely corrugated region. And you can see the vulcano 'Hasan Dagi' in the west with 3000m (greetings to 'Hohenstaufen') and in the east the vulcano 'Erciyes Dagi' with almost 4000m altitude, covered with snow. We were fascinated of the unbelievable precision of the pilot. He managed to use every change of the wind in the valleys to navigate the balloon however he wanted to. And he also flew at some points almost touching the ground in an encased canyon till the end to then precisely rise 150m high and only 1m away from the cliff.
At the end (after a 70min. ride) he announced that he would land on the pick-up and that he would let down the basket on it. We thought that he was joking. But we were wrong - he acually made the daring feat to land right on the pick-up - without us falling off. The pictures tell you more than 1000 words can describe:

22. 09. 2009

Place: Tufanbeyli (nearby in a field)
          N 38° 09' 36.6''
          E 36° 12' 33.1''
Weather: Sunshine, cloudy and partly a little bit of rain at 15°C
             at night very cold (4°C)
Activities: Drive from Göreme direction to South-East Anatolia
Special remarks:

The route leads through beautiful mountains, passing Erciyes Dagi with an altitude of almost 4000m,
and fresh snow on top of it. Unfortunately we barely got to see this impressive mountain. It was covered with clouds for the most part. But the rest of the tour was very beautiful as well. Near the mountain Büyük Firat Dagi (2100m) we camped for the night next to a small oak forest. As soon as we got to park as even as possible and had explored the surrounding area a car and a tracor came by. Both of them said hello by shaking hands and when they figured that we would only stay for the night they welcomed us. The tractor-driver asked us to follow him for a cup of tea. We drove behind him through the field (with our vehicle - steep up a farm track) and got to a tent. He was living here with his wife, two children and ten chickens. The tent was made of sacks that were cut open. But it was commodious in the inside, with a very nice wood stove, which was burning (it had just about 12°C by now). We were sitting on carpets and pillows and the tea tasted excellent.
A communication was not possible, but not necessary either.
Again an unbelievable hospitality although they barely had anything themselves. We couldn't find out for sure, whether these extremly nice people were gypsies or seminomades (we guess the latter). After our tea we drove back to our former parking spot and spent an absolutely calm night - but still didn't get the best sleep. We were parking lopsided and kept on bumping into each other.

23. + 24. 09. 2009

Place: Malatya: N 38° 20' 49" / E 38° 17' 27"
         at the Iönü Caddesi right to a very nice park.
Weather: Sunshine - partly a bit cloudy 19°C
Activities: Drive towards Nemrud Dagi passing Göksun and Elbistan. We slept at the relatively big city of Malatya (500.000 inhabitants).

1. Trip:
This route was very diversified as well. And was all  the way on an altitude of 1200 and 1400metres passing a few moutains with 2000m altitude. The high plateau after Elbistan is mainly used for the cultivation of grain.
We had a short lunch-break at Elbistan. The small town with 50.000 inhabitants is very relaxed, friendly with surprisingly wide roads. And it makes a very clean and rich impression. We planned to sleep overnight at a quiet spot in a field shortly before Malatya. The search turned out to get a bit difficult. At first we made it to crest a very steep hill (by 4-wheel-drive) on a sandy road and we were
already looking forward to the fantastique view. But almost on top we saw a lot of watch and look-out towers of the turkish military. So we didn't waste any time to turn and leave. In no time we got back down.  The next turn lead us into a small mountain village where there wasn't even any room to make a turn. The third attempt got us into a field that was lying fellow about 2km away from the next village and with an amazing view of the mountains. An hour later two men came to visit and tried to make clear that we should sleep at the village. We denied and the drove off with their dolmus.
Then we had a good soup for dinner when it knocked on the door. Two soldiers were standing in front of our Baby and asked me to come out. They wanted to know where we were from and where we were heading and they wondered why we would stay in a field. But they were very nice and one of them spoke perfectly english. He made clear that we were allowed to stay for the night, but he wouldn't suggest it. Due to security reasons - we were already on kurdish territory. They took off and we had to decide what to do now. We finished our soup and deliberated on the situation.
By now it was already getting dark. We decided to drive on to Malatya and to look for a spot over there. That was the first time on this whole trip that we drove at night. Now we learned to appreciate the great lighting of the vehicle( 6 high-beam headlights). Since there were unlighted traps on the road. At Malatya we found a very nice parking spot right next to a very nice park. And we had two quite calm nights ( despite the main road).

2. Malatya:
Malatya is also the metropolis of the correspondent province. And it is the world-wide centre for apricots. 95% of all dried apricots are coming from here and so this city is accordingly wealthy.
You can see that on the ultra-modern town hall, huge and very clean parks, beautiful roads and the pedestrian areas they have. They also have a very high percentage of western orientated population. We saw a lot more western dressed women than for example at the Black Sea Coast in the wesr of Turkey. We were lucky that an elderly gentleman came to talk to us in english on the road and offered to show us around town. Especially the bazaar is very exciting.

There is a very big area that is devoted to the apricots only: dried fruits,m apricot jelly in all kinds of variations and a whole lot more - just delicious. Besides there are vegetables, fruits, an interesting meat market with all that your heart might desire or rather your mind declines (bowels, tongue, testicles, heart, kidneys and so on...). Also highly interesting is the metal market - here you can find for example still a lot of boilermakers whom you can watch working.
Conclusion:
Malatya can absolutely be recommended and we got the impression that over here the symbiosis between the old tradition and the modern way of living works out quite fine.

25. 09. 2009

Place: Büyüköz near Nemrut Dagi
Weather: Sunshine 24°C
Activities: Drive from Matalaya till shortly before Nemrut Dagi
1. Drive:
At first we wanted to go to Koldere (near Doganyol at the Euphrat).
This region is very famous for its apricots and there is a german (an old hippie) who bought some land and now grows apricots. He dries them without sulphurising them and now already found a lot of turkish imitators.
The tour should first get us to Kale (at the Euphrat) and our turkish atlas showed a quite big road to Daganyol. We first didn't find the junction and crossed the Euphrat. Also on the way back we couldn't find a junction road. Asking for directions at the next gas station was dissatisfying as well - just that the road is supposed to be difficult was the answer. Nevertheless we took the road and soon got onto a dirt road which went up straight, extremly steep and which was just as wide as our vehicle. That was quite an adventure and got Rita again to the edge. Every now and then there were some junctions but they weren't assigned at all. At last we ended up at a dead end in front of a village and had to turn around. That was quite tricky, since there was hardly any room and it went straight down - but we made it. Just at that moment a car came towards us and we asked for directions. The two were wondering quite a bit what we wanted up here and showed us on their map that the road we were looking for didn't exist any more. Apparently it had slipped off.
We had to drive all the way back, almost till Matalya and had to take the road to Nemrut Dagi.
We decided to skip the 'german' apricot village and instead to drive straight to the Nemrut Dagi.
This route is breathtaking as well and leads cross a couple of steep passes (one with an altitude of 1.966m). In a small village they were loading a dolmus and a young fellow waved and asked whether we could give him a ride three villages on (he spoke quite good english). Rita moved into the middle (no seat) and the young guy on to her seat. It turned out that he was the Imam of those three villages.
He also offered us a parking spot in the village which we accepted thankfully.

2. Visiting the Imam:
We got woken up by the villagers who wanted to drive to the city with the dolmus, that apparently belonged to the village. Sacs, plastic bags and cardboard boxes got hauled up onto the roof and clamped securely. The travellers got bid farewell very heartly from the toddler to the great-grandma.
After breakfast we wanted to say good-bye to the young and friendly Imam. But he invited us first to have a cup of tea in his house. We had a very open conversation with him, the hoja (teacher) - that is how he wanted to be called. A conversation about God, the Koran and the World. In his opinion it doesn't matter of which religion you are, only the human being itself is what counts and his honest belief. We were more than surprised to meet an islamic priest with such an attitude. We also discussed the delicate issue of the Kurdish and the Turkish. For himself and from what he told us for the majority of the Kurdish population living together with the Turkish is no question. He gives the best example, since his wife is Turkish and he Kurdish.
After visiting the mosque he gave us a german version of the Koran. Including a dedication and readings of passages out of the Koran, which affirm his interpretation of the equality of all humans.
'If reality only was that easy!!!'

26. 09. 2009

Place: Nemrud Dagi
Weather: Sunshine 20°C
Activities: Trip to Nemrud Dagi and visitation of the excavations.
1. Trip:
Starting at the village of Büyüköz the north-route is just about 8km till Nemrud Dagi but very challenging. The route leads on the narrowest road all but uphill (starting at 1000m altitude till 2100m) on switchbanks and next to the tires the sheer.
Again for Rita only doable with a good shot. If this continous like this she'll end up an alcoholic.
But the panorama was amazing.
2. The Nemrud Dagi:
The Nemrud Dagi is a must-see. Irrespective whether you are interested in the archaeological history or not. The location, the view and the panorama are simply overwhelming. There are people here in Turkey that drive 500km only to see the sunset and the sunrise at this place. Not for nothing the ancient kings set up here a ritual place. This area was former called 'Kommagene' and its most famous king Antiochus I. had build his gravesite on the Nemrud Dagi on an altitude of 2150m.
He had set up columns of greek and persian gods ( he had ancestors from either nation) - figures up to 10m highth.
So a lot of stelas as well with images of his ancestors. His own column was set up right next to the column of Zeus, he must have believed to have become godlike. On the peak of the Nemrud he had fill up a pyramide that burrowed his grave. The pyramide is still existing nowadays and his grave apparently as well, unspoiled.
That gives the halt here an additional dramatic aspect. We got the chance to drive up all the way and we were also allowed to camp for the night. Just by ourselves on a clear and starlit night with just about remaining 6°C. We experienced an amazing sunset and sunrise right out of our bed.

27. 09. 2009

Place: 20km east of Diyarbakir
Weather: Sunshine, 30°C
Activities: Trip from Nemrud Dagi to Diyarbakir

Special remarks:
Unfortunately we found out that the north-route to the Nemrud is not a straight coupling, but that this route ends reaching the mountain. The last 500m are cliffy rocks.
So we had to take the long way round of about 25km through the wild Kurdistan on unsecured mountain roads. That took us at least 2 - 3 hours of time, a lot of diesel and even more of our nerves.
We drove along the Euphrat (or rather the Atatürk dam) and had to cross the latter by ferry.
Then it went on a high plateau (700m altitude) through wasteland till Diyarbakir ( the Kurdish capital).
First we tried to find a camp-spot over here. But that was not possible in this lively city (750.000 inhabitants). And so we kept on driving and slept for the night at a gas station - what a contrast to the peaceful Nemrud Dagi. But summer is back - 30°C throughout the whole day.

28. 09. 2009

Place: Mardin
Weather: Sunshine and partly extremly windy, 26°C
1. Drive:
Starting at Diyarbakir the route took us along the Tigris till Bismil. Here we crossed the Tigris, direction south. The Tigris meanders here quite a bit and gets extremly cupped (irrigation).
Still the whole wide valley is very fertile. From Bismil on we drove over this broad Tigris-valley, passing neverending cotton-fields and up on a very scraggy high plateau (1000m altitude).
We got to the Seykan river and drove along it. We passed a lot of archaic appearing villages with cob buildings. As well as the small town of Sürgücü which is situated directly
at this river, everything is green and full of vegetables. We had to drive right through this city and felt like put into a  different world. Mainly donkeys and mules on the roads. Dirt roads, a small roman bridge which we just about managed to pass and  extremly narrow roads, only makeable in walking pace.
We passed coffeehouses - full of men. They kept on inviting us in for a cup of tea.
All the houses were mainly built out of brickearth.

2. Savur:
A small town with 8.000 inhabitants. It is built on a steep hillside with very old, very beautiful mudbrick buildings. We took a break and strolled through this jewel. Two guys (22 and 23) came to talk to us (one of them spoke a little bit of english) and introduced us to the city. They also showed us a beautiful tavern at the river with trout ponds. We invited both of them for a trout-meal and enjoyed this wonderful idyll and the nice chat with the two fellows for about 2 hours.

3. Mardin:
From Savur till Mardin it is only 50km. At a construction site we weren't sure which way to go for a little while and hesitated when a pick-up truck honked behind us and pointed to the left - how did he know that we wanted to get to Mardin - a 'visionary'?
He overtook and stopped in front of us. Very well then - we thought, what does he want now - PKK?
He lifted the canvas cover a little bit and...????
No, not a Kalaschnikov appeared, but a pound of sugar-sweet grapes.
With a beaming smile he rewarded us for not knowing the way - great these Turkish people.

Mardin itself:
It is placed about 80km off the Syrian border and 100 - 120km away from the Iraqi borderline.
A through and through oriental city. Mudbrick houses that nestle around the coneshaped mountain like clusters. Narrow alleys, lively bazaars, shady tea-gardens next to beautiful mosques.
A foreign world, but exciting. The surrounding landscape is sparse, almost archaic. But the people are very friendly and heplful. What annoys me (Rita) quite a bit is that it is not possible to just go for a stroll around as a woman. The streets are populated with a huge majority of men and that is quite aggravating. You get gaped at all the time. Maybe I will soon cover myself.
Bazaar:

That's a smashing. Like 1000 years ago. It covers a length of at least 1km and a lot of parallel streets (or rather street canyons). Everything is narrow and you get the feeling to never find your way back out again. You get everything here: Groceries, plastic, carpets, clothing and so on. Besides that handicrafts like saddlers, tinsmiths, carpenters, cabinet-makers and so on. In between very old mosques, coffeehouses and kebab eateries. Everything is so narrow that no vehicle can get in, but instead all goods get transported on donkeys (in saddlebags with a cavalier on top). No one would believe to be in the year of 2009.