ZUMZUMZUM- from Romania to Thailand on a bike

In ghidul nostru (Lonely Planet) apar 10 rinduri despre Hassankyef. In realitate in Hassankyef sunt:

– un imens oras subteran construit pe malul Tigrului

– 2 palate

– biserici bizantine sapate in stinca

– asezari troglodite care sunt inca locuite

etc,etc

Este atit de frumos incit ar fi trebuit probabil sa aiba un capitol separat 🙂 . Satul va fi inundat din cauza unui baraj care se va construi pe Tigru, asa ca totul este in paragina nimic nu se repara, nimic nu se construieste.

Atmosfera e una de oras pierdut, uitat de istorie, care tocmai a fost redescoperit, nu exista nici o amenajare turistica. Multe dintre ruine sunt prabusite, sunt pereti intregi de stinca care au cazut (puteti vedea in poze scari interioare, camere etc).
In sat era un singur motel cu 20 de locuri care era plin. Din fericire aveam un numar de telefon al unui ghid (de la Susan cu care ne-am intilnit in Sanliurfa). Pina la urma am stat in gazda la ghid (am dormit pe acoperisul casei).

Oamenii din sat vorbesc kurda,turca si araba. De multe ori le amesteca intrebarea e in kurda si raspunsul in araba.

Am luat cina pe malul Tigrului, intr-o terasa scufundata.

Ca sa il citez pe ghid “Hassankyef is too much beautiful”  🙂

Pun pozele de-a valma, faceti voi click unde vreti:

On our way to Hassakeyf, we visited the lovely town of Mardin.

Built on a hill overlooking the mesopotamian plain it has the most beautiful post office in Turkey, built in an old caravanserai.

and also an 13th century medrese

From Karadut we left for the ancient city of Urfa (Edessa under its Christian name) some 40km from the syrian border. This was the birth place of prophet Abraham so it’s a holy  place for muslims. There were a lot of pilgrims from Iran visiting the mosques.

We took a stroll through the old town which is built in the arabic way.

The mosques and medreses complex is very beautiful.

Urfa was the first town in Turkey were we did not feel really welcome. The children would approach you and would scream “Hello, what’s your name”, but not in a friendly manner. They were trying to annoy you.

Also we took a stroll in some smaller streets looking for  a mosque and a child threw something at us, hitting me.  If you go to Urfabe careful.

We stayed in a small “pensionu”, which was located in a traditional house. We had a very pleasant evening with 3 brits, 2 ausies, 1  french and a bottle of raki 🙂

niatza,

ajunsi si cazati in karadut, am descarcat bagajele, ne-am dezmortit un pic, nu spun ce, si am plecat sa vedem apusul sus pe munte. Dimineatza am facut ochi devreme …pe la 4 sa vedem sı rasaritul. Sint 2 temple sus, unul spre vest si unul spre est si in yenıkale e o fortareata pe un virf de munte.

yenıkale

gata,pa

From Malatya to the southern side of mount Nemrut you can take 2 roads.
The first is long and boring, some 300km of highway going round the Taurus mountains.
The second is 100km long going right over the mountains. Of this 100km, 20 are on unpaved fire-roads.

We took the second route (naturally) 🙂
The first 70km are on a nice winding mountain road (resembling Transfagarasan).

In Turkey thy love to cover the roads with small pebbles (criblura ? cum se spune in engleza?), this can be a real hazard sometimes.
This road was freshly covered with 2-3cm of this pebbles.

On a steep uphill hairpin, with the Africa Twin fully loaded (2 people, 60kilos of luggage), the front wheel is so light that you are lucky to get any traction even without the damn pebbles 🙂

Anyway, after some 80km, the tarmac stops, and you get on a fire road going right under the Nemrut peak

Ioana was busy taking photos:

Highest elevation (according to my new ultra high tech watch) 1650m

We met different kind of steeds on this road.