ZUMZUMZUM- from Romania to Thailand on a bike

De miine intram in Iran, asa ca nu stiu cind o sa putem sa mai punem poze. Aveti putintica rabdare 🙂

Am adaugat o pagina cu traseul din turcia si am copiat pozele si acolo. Le gasiti aici .

Am adaugat si niste reclame de la google, poate mai faceti click si pe ele din cind in cind 🙂

la cererea publicului, o poza cu localnici

This was the last leg of our turkey trip and the first one with rain 🙂

The mountains are quite wild with a few scattered villages and a very heavy military presence.

Dogubayazit it’s a dusty little town with more soldiers than inhabitants. The views of mount Ararat are wonderful and the Ishakpasa Palace is really stunning.

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 🙂