ZUMZUMZUM- from Romania to Thailand on a bike

We left ankara in the afternoon, happy that we finally solved the visa problem. We couldn’t reach Sivas before nightfall, so we decided to stop in the town of Sorgun.
We only managed to find a dreadful hotel on the outskirts of the city at a huge price.

In the morning we left at 6 o’clock to go to Divrigi.

Divrigi has a little 13th century mosque and hospital. Lonely Planet describes it as Turkey’s least visited monument (although is a UNESCO World Heritage site). It is really out of the way in between Sivas and Malatya some 90km from the main road, and after a 1950m mountain pass.

The plan was to start from Sorgun and an stop in Divrigi for the night after 350km.
The mosque and the hospital (a mental hospital built in 1200 🙂 ), are simply breath-taking. You really can’t tell from the pictures, you have to there yourself.

The problem was that the hotels in Divrigi were beyond awful , even worse than the Sorgun thing. We decided to go to Malatya to have a decent night’s sleep.
So we ended up with a 610km day.

As a sidenote/rant, The turkish hotel industry is a lot like the romanian industry in some ways. There are lots of old, state-owned hotels, which are awfull, dirty and overpriced.
If you are in a tourist area you can find small private-owned hotels which are reasonably priced and clean. But if you are in a small town out of the main tourist path…you are in  bad position.

Daca va mirati de ce nu prea intelegeti ce vorbesc italienii desi romana e tot limba latina, veniti pina in turcia si o sa aflati 🙂
Lasind la o parte pronuntia, muulte cunvite romanesti e clar e unde vin.
corba-ciorba
sapka-sapca
corap-ciorap
kat-etaj (cat)
simit- covrig (simigerie)
harta-harta
etc etc
si in final…a picture is worth a thousand words

Poate credeti sau poate nu, dar am reusit sa obtinem si viza Ioanei pt India 🙂
Asa ca acum suntem ok cu vizele pina in Nepal.
Inca nu imi explic cum de i-am pacalit pe indieni pt ca ambasada din Ankara a trimis fax la Bucuresti pt. confirmare.
Am impresia cu prietenii nostri de la ambasada Indiei din Bucuresti au fost in vacanta (miercuri 15 August a fost ziua Indiei), si indienii din Ankara inebuniti de telefoanele Ioanei (azi a stat 2 ore in ambasada ca sa il bata pe ala la cap) au decis sa ne dea viza ca sa scape de noi.

O sa adaug o pagina cu aventura cu vizele si cu restul actelor.
cip,

am plecat din nou spre ankara ca sa incercam sa rezolvam cu viza ioanei
pe drum am trecut pe linga Lacu’ Sarat care spre deosebire de ala de linga Braila e sarat sarat

 
 
Dupa care am trecut pe la Gordion, adica pe la aia cu nodu’ gordian. Nu am mai gasit nodul (cica  il taiase cineva), dar l-am gasit pe Midas. Exact, Midas ala cu aurul, dar cred ca e o greseala pe undeva pt ca nu era impachetat in aur ci in pamint.
Mult pamint:
 
movila are 70m inaltime si 300m diametru si e mormintul lui Midas 🙂

In final a trebuit sa dormim in Ankara, pt ca in Gordion (actualul Yassihoyuk) nu e nici un hotel.
Ankara e la fel de urita si la a doua vizita ca si la prima 🙂

ieri dupa ce ne-am intors de la ihlara, am avut o intilnire de gradul III cu un kebap, drept pentru care mi-am petrecut noaptea cu varii drumuri si activitati altele decit somnul 🙂

cum am facut si un pic de febram, am aminat plecarea catre ankara pe miine

cip