Thursday, 28th July 2005. Varna to Edirne.

We left early today - 7:00am. Our hosts gave us a great breakfast, then came over with some pastries for us for the journey (we'd told them what we were up to) and a heart shaped rock "for memory". Then it was hugs and kisses all round and we were off. 

The drive to the border at Edirne took ages - at every town the signs took us on a long-winded detour around and at one point we were taken, totally unnecessarily, up and down a mountain which added another hour to our journey. As we got closer to the border the temperature got higher and Hector plodded along as usual. We approached the border after 7 hours of driving to be greeted by absolute chaos!

The traffic was backed up for ages, there was no control or order whatsoever, and we couldn't even see the border yet! So we joined the melee and sat there...and the temperature got hotter....and we sat there...we must have moved under 50 yards in an hour, and still no sign of the border. People in other cars started to get a bit excitable and soon there was a cacophony of horns as everyone let off a bit of steam. A few fights nearly broke out as some of the German and Austrian drivers tried to queue jump - they got nowhere and some got sent back to the start again by a not very impressed official who came out of his hut especially. After 2 hours of this we made it to the Bulgarian side of the border where we were stamped out of the country with no bother at all. We were then in no-mans land where we bought some more insurance for Turkey, but unfortunately forgot to buy our 15 Euro Visas. This did not go well with the first Turkish border guard who told us to go round again...stuff that! We drove through his checkpoint, parked up, and explained that we'd go and get the Visa's (from the completely un-advertised and difficult to find Visa office) then go through on foot to be stamped in, which we did. We then approached the Turkish Customs point, where Hector was logged into my (Mark's) passport, then to another checkpoint where our temporary Carnet was issued, then to another checkpoint for "disinfection" (another muddy puddle) and then to the last checkpoint where the chap made sure that everybody else had done their jobs properly. 5 hours since arriving at the border and we were through...not an experience to be repeated in a hurry.

We'd got directions to a campsite (the "Fifi Lokanta Mocamp") just outside the border area, so we followed them ready for some food and some sleep. Unfortunately the directions (from the Rough Guide) were wrong. The campsite is not on the E80. The E80 is a Toll Expressway with absolutely nothing at all on it. We drove down this road for half an hour before realising the mistake, turned around at the next toll booth (after forking out for a road we need never had used) and drove back towards the border. If anyone else wants to find the campsite, it is actually on the D100, the non toll road which goes all the way to Istanbul. We arrived at the site 13 hours after leaving Varna and were shattered. 

Friday, 29th July 2005. Fifi Lokanta Mocamp.

We're the only people at this site camping, and there's a swimming pool! We were both still tired from yesterday so decided to have a lazy day by the pool, and very enjoyable it was too - apart from the mosquitoes. Amy's been bitten 13 times, and Mark 7.

Saturday, 30th July 2005. Fifi Lokanta Mocamp to Istanbul.

Amy drove today.  An easy day driving today, following the D100 to Istanbul. The roads were very straight and we drove through many towns, to be honest the driving bit of the day has been fairly boring.

As we approached Istanbul still on the D100, Mark said that we would need to pull off very soon and head in the direction of a place called Yesilkoy, which was on the coast.  Naturally we missed the turning and very rapidly heading straight for the centre of Istanbul...

Mark though having his head screwed on suggested that we come off at the next junction and try to turn around, easier said than done, but we managed it and we have ended up at a lovely campsite with swimming pool a near supermarket and very close to the beach.  

today we have mainly chilled out reading our books and updating the logs and the website.  One thing we have noticed is the neighbours...

Sunday, 31st July 2005. Istanbul.

It was into Town today for a bit of sightseeing. Getting to the centre of Istanbul (Sultanahmet) involves us walking 1 km to the train station and getting the train for umpteen stops. This morning we were on the train looking at our guidebook trying to work out where to get off when a young lad offered to show us the way to Aya Sofya. We were slightly sceptical, thinking that we'd end up in his uncle's carpet shop, but at the top of the hill and in sight of the building he turned round, said goodbye and shook our hands wishing us a pleasant stay.

Aya Sofya itself is a fantastic building, for almost 1000 years the largest enclosed space in the world, designed to reflect the power and glory of the Byzantine Empire.  As you walk into the building which is no longer a church but a museum, you are immediately awestruck by the amazing ceilings - elaborate mosaics in a lovely array of colours from gold to turquoise, the materials for which were sourced from all over the empire.

A view of the outside.            One of the examples of the tile-work found all over the interior

Mosaics - of Christ and the Virgin with the Emperor Justinian and the Empress flanking them and Christ surrounded by the apostles (fragment). The mosaics were intended to be viewed by flickering candle-light, and the pieces are minutely angled to reflect such light and so give the impression of ethereal movement.

Amy in the Upper Gallery                The Alter-piece (facing Mecca)    Mark in one of the tunnels (you can't really see it, but the roof is covered in gold leaf).

Having left Aya Sofya we headed for some lunch and then continued along the old Hippodrome where the chariot races used to be held, to the Blue Mosque. It was here that we had to take our shoes off and Amy had to cover up. The external appearance of the mosque is amazing, but you do not really get the same sense of awe inside as at Aya Sofya - perhaps because this is very much a working mosque and things are very neat and tidy.

Mark outside the Blue mosque    ......and Amy inside it.

Monday, 1st August 2005. Istanbul.

As the call to prayer rings out from the minarets of the Blue Mosque we are sitting in the internet cafe updating the web-site. Then we're off to the Grand Bazaar, the Basilica Cisterns and the Topkapi Palace. Updating the website took ages as we clicked on "overwrite all", so the whole lot was uploaded, with the side effect of wiping all off the messages that had been left - damn! By the time we had finished we were starving and needed food - McDonalds saved the day! After lunch we walked up the grand bazaar which to be honest was disappointing - row after row of tacky shops selling touristy tat with very pushy salesmen. We had a wander around then left without buying anything. We headed off to the Basilica Cisterns - a huge underground lake built by the Emperor Justinianus to keep the royal palace in water. It also served as a location for one of the Bond films (can't remember which one though...). It's very impressive (and cool) inside, with a vaulted roof supported by 360 columns of various styles - the left overs from other building projects going on at the time. One in particular caught my eye as it had a stylised eye pattern on it and was green. There are also 2 Medusa heads serving as bases for 2 columns - the signs were full of the supposed significance of the angles of the heads, but personally I think no one cared what angle they were at as they would have been under 20 foot of water, in the dark!

The columns (they are lit up...)    Fish in the cistern                The curious pattern on the green column

Medusa's head at an odd angle      Turkish Coffee in the Cisterns.

Tuesday, 2nd August 2005. Istanbul.

A lazy day today lounging around by the pool.

Wednesday, 3rd August 2005. Istanbul.

It was market day near the campsite today - a proper temporary covered bazaar where you could buy anything from fantastic fresh fruit and veg to pots and pans. We had a good wander around and bought some clothes- Amy bought a long skirt and a light green coat for Iran and I bought some shorts and a Burberry polo top, all in for the bargain price of £20! For lunch we had freshly made Gozleme - a cross between crepes and pancakes cooked on a hot stone. Delicious. It was a very hot day today - 48.7 degrees Celsius at one point. Seeking shade was thus very much the order of the afternoon.

Thursday, 4th August 2005. Istanbul.

After 2 days of doing not very much it was back into Istanbul for a cruise up the Bosphorus. We missed the 10:30 sailing (just) so went and a had a coffee sitting under one of the bridges - nice and cool. We caught the next boat and spent the next 2 hours zig zagging between the European and Asian sides until we reached        where we stopped for lunch. As soon as we stepped off the boat we were inundated with 'please come and eat in my fish restaurant'.  Mark ate a fish called Bonito and I had lamb - I'm still not that adventurous yet...

We had an hour there and then at was back onto the boat for the cruise back down the Bosphorus again zig zagging to both sides.  Once back on the shoe we headed back to the campsite and an early night in the hope of an early start tomorrow.

A small boat                            A view up the Bosphorus          A lovely hotel on the Asian side

Friday, 5th August 2005. Istanbul to Pamucak.

Another long driving day today, Mark drove.  We were all packed up and ready to leave and got to the reception at 7am, only to be told that the cashier wasn't here for us to pay up and that we had to wait until 9am for him to arrive, we couldn't pay anybody else...  this turned out to be a God send as we managed to write all of our postcards and we missed the 7am rush hour in Istanbul.

Things started off alright as Mark drove us along the coast into Istanbul, we got over the first bridge and then things started going wrong, Amy missed the turning and we headed right through the middle of Istanbul past all of the tourist sights we had previously visited.  We drove under the two bridges which we needed to be going over and finally we stopped at  a petrol station and Amy asked directions, luckily the guy said go straight on and then take a left after 2km.  We did and soon we found ourselves going over the bridge towards Asia.  The bridge was a toll bridge and once again we pulled up to the wrong booth, so we drove through again without a ticket and asked at the office on the other side, that said that we needed to drive back through, so this meant Mark reversing down the hard shoulder to try again.  this was quite amusing as we got some funny looks from the other drivers. We managed to get a ticket and we were finally on our way to Pamucak, on the Asian side.

Once on our way we noticed the temperature starting to rise to the point that the wind which is usually lovely a cool - turned into a hair dryer blowing really hot air into hector. This was particularly nasty and made us probably loose half our body weight in sweat.

   A view as we crossed over the Bosphorus into Asia

We arrived at the Dereli camping site at around 7pm, where we promptly set up home again, and went for a walk along the beach, which happened to be about 50m from our tent.

Saturday, 6th August 2005. Pamucak.

Today was a lazy day on the beach and chilling out next to hector reading the Daily Express (bought because it has lots of puzzles and crosswords in it).

As we were fairly bored today Mark made a Windmill, and we had a sunset walk along the beach.

Mark and his fantastic Windmill.          Amy sitting on the pamucak beach just after Sunset.  

Sunday, 7th August 2005. Pamucak.

Today we visited Ephesus, the ancient Roman city.  We got up early and drove to the site for about 8:45, with the intention of beating all of the tour groups.  We parked at the lower entrance and ignored the constant steam of touts offering to drive us to the top for 10 Lira (about £5), as they said that it was a 4-5 km walk up hill to the top, like we said we ignored them and started our leisurely walk up hill.  As it happen the hill wasn't really that hilly and it only felt like 1-2km.  the added advantage of starting at the bottom, is that all of the tour groups start at the top, so if you get there early enough you have the Amphitheatre and the Library all to yourself.

Mark standing all alone in the Amphitheatre, and the Library.

Bulls Head                                 Copy of the statue of Artemis.

After these two sites Ephesus began to get really busy with lots of Japanese tourists and their enormous cameras.  We managed to see all of the bits that the guide book which we bought said to see and then we drove to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. This is where 7 Christians hid from Roman persecution and were walled up for their efforts. They went to sleep and woke up 200 years later when the wall fell down and Christianity was a recognised religion. Hearing of the story the Roman Emperor had a church built over the cave when they eventually died, and lots of people were buried there in niches in the rocks. It's a little visited site and quite atmospheric with great views over the fort at Selcuk.

Amy and the view over Selcuk.

Monday, 8th August 2005. Pamucak and Selcuk.

Into Selcuk by "Dolmus" today to have a look around the town. We tried to get our bearings, failed and went to the tourist information office and got a map. Following this we walked up to the ruins of St John the Evangelists Church which luckily for us was deserted. It was fantastic to wander around with no one else there - it was Indiana Jones (and Mrs. Jones) discovering a ruined temple for the first time - there were no railings or paths and we were free to walk around wherever we liked. Coming back from the ruins we had some lunch and waited for the museum to open. The museum is where most of the statues and relief's from Ephesus have been put, and some of them are very interesting - especially those of the Roman Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia as I've just read "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves which is all about the Imperial Roman age. After the museum it was shopping, internet cafe and the Dolmus home.

The ruined church/temple to St John.

p.s. - Today we found out where our Carnet is! We can't enter Iran without it, and it's being delivered to Basingstoke tomorrow - hurrah!

Tuesday 9th to Thursday 11th August 2005. Pamucak beach.

Lazy days spent sunbathing, swimming and waiting for our Carnet to be delivered, which it was on the 11th. Out for dinner and a few drinks to celebrate.

Friday, 12th August 2005. Pamucak to Konakli (we think!)

Another longish driving day today (big country, Turkey...). Amy drove all day today. We drove east to Denizli, then South East towards Antalya and from there along the coast to where we are now (past Side, where Anthony and Cleopatra met up for canoodling, and towards Alanya). We've noticed a certain deterioration in road manners today, as cars force their way into traffic when the road narrows to one lane, coaches try to reverse into you and chaps try to burn you off at traffic lights by driving along the hard shoulder, then almost side-swiping you when they realise that Hector is a bit faster than they are...still, all good fun - driving as a near contact sport!) We pulled into what we thought was a campsite but which was in fact a small zoo/restaurant, asked for directions and ended up where we are now. When we got here we weren't too sure where to camp, until a very nice chap showed us a great spot opposite his tent. We caused much interest when we wound the roof tent up! As we settled down for the evening a young lad from the tent behind us came over with some tea for us as a welcome, which was really kind. When I took the glasses back I said "thank you" in my best practiced Turkish and had a bit of a chat with his mother who spoke surprisingly good English. She was most impressed when we told her that we'd driven here from England and we were touched (and slightly humbled as we have nothing to offer in return save our novelty factor) by her hospitality and friendliness. Needless to say we are the only English people here, as we seem to be at most places we stay.

Those Pikes get everywhere...      The view looking back from the passenger side    A happy driver!

Saturday, 13th August 2005. Konakli

Here the campsite is located in a Woodland so not only do we get lots of shade for the tent we also get lots of Mosquitoes...

Today was a lazy day, we spent the morning updating our logs and doing the website.  Whilst filling in our logs a Turkish family came over for a bit of a chat and the chap introduced his daughter of 5 - Elfes - who could speak very good English, and was a very sweet little girl. He worked in Ankara University, and was very keen to know what we were up to and why. Again there was the inevitable invitation to take tea, and it would have been rude to refuse.  Anyway once the admin had been done we headed for the beach.  The beach was rocky, but the sea, the sea was like a bath, very warm, and as the sea was so salty you could easily float.  there were also lots a big rocks under the sea which you could swim out to and stand on, (made Mark look very tall!)  We sunbathed for a while but then Mark and I got bored so we headed back to the tent, and decided on our driving route tomorrow over a few beers.

Sunday, 14th August 2005 - Konakli - Goreme

We left Konakli at around 9am after paying up the night before.  We had decided to drive along the coastal road to near Mersin and then drive up the short toll road and into Cappadocia along some normal red roads.

It all started so well, Mark was driving but just as we reached the other side of Alanya the roads became very windy and hilly.  This reduced our speed considerably but the views were stunning, the early morning sunshine and the very blue Mediterranean, the clear blue sky, and the banana plantations covering the landscape, all very beautiful:

The view from the Mediterranean coast road - great views, rubbish road.

Today we had also decided to get hectors Oil and filter changed, so we pulled into a BP garage with a "Servis" area, after filling up with the not so cheap diesel, Mark asked if they would change the oil and filter, luckily the chap said yes of course.  We first had to chose the Oil (20w-50), get Hector over the Pit, find the large socket for the sump drain -  the chaps didn't really have many of the tools that were needed so we just used ours, well that's what they are for.

Amy (writing this) tried to keep out of the way, as it seemed to be a boy thing and I didn't want to get in the way, whereas Mark tried his hardest to get involved to make sure that they were doing the right things.  (Of course we could have done the job ourselves, but finding something to drain 6 litres of dirty oil into wasn't easy and we had no way other than using the jack and axle stands to raise Hectors up enough to help the process.) Whilst all of this was going on they gave us tea and we chatted with them.  Very nice chaps and within an hour it was all complete and we were on our way. 

Mark "supervising" the oil change.   Not much on these roads!

Once we had left the garage the roads didn't improve in fact they got worse, we were crawling up the mountains at 20kph.  This left Mark feeling very drained and tired, so I took over the driving once we reached the toll road north.  The toll road was completely up hill but once I had reached the top I managed to coast all the way down, for about 10 minutes, and this really helped to cool the engine down which was getting quite hot.  When the toll road ended it turned into a single track road in places we unfortunately got stuck behind a lumbar lorry going about 2 kpm, so when the van in front of me overtook I followed, only to be immediately pulled over by the Turkish traffic police.  The officer went over to the left hand side and asked Mark for the documents ( I was ignored through the whole process even though I had been driving), and took him over to the Police car, where the officer explained that we had been pulled over for Zig Zagging (overtaking) on a single white line (means no overtaking), now I have to make something clear - the sun was directly in my eyes and it made the road very shiny thus stopping me form seeing any white lines at all...

Anyway the officer started writing out a ticket for 100 Lira, and Mark started counting out the cash. Mark looked at the officer, he looked at Mark and the bunch of notes, a few words were exchanged, the officer took 40 Lira, screwed up the ticket and allowed us to leave.  You can make your own conclusions, but I think you know what happened!

The road turned into a dirt track at points where I really couldn't see anything at all through all of the dust, but we eventually made it to Goreme at around 8pm, just after sunset. The town was lit up and the lights were illuminating the strange rock formations and cave houses - it looked like something out of a fairly tale.  We pulled into Berlin camping and headed down to Flintstones Cave bar for a couple of drinks to celebrate our safe arrival and un-convicted status.

Monday, 15th August 2005. Goreme.

We booked our hot air balloon flight today- we've gone for the longest flight that we can with the most established organisation - Kapadokya Balloons. Luckily they had 2 spaces on the flight tomorrow morning. Whilst we were at lunch at the "local" restaurant (fantastic home made cheeseburgers) we say an Australian registered Ute with a camper body pull up, and the occupants sit down for some food. Mark went over to say hello and they introduced themselves as Paul and Gill, they were in their 60s and had driven through South East Asia into China and the 'Stans before entering Turkey. We chatted for ages - they were interested in our route and we in theirs. After lunch we tried to find the Rainbow Ranch to book some horse riding - we eventually found it about 2km out of town and it looked in a poor state - no horses around and everything in disrepair. We carried on walking

In the evening there was a bit of drama when the group of French teenagers camping next to us managed to blow up their gas stoves! They were all cooking together in a wooden lean-to which was full of tinder dry rugs, mattresses, cushions etc etc. Naturally the whole lot went up like a fire ball and there were bodies hurling themselves out of the now fully aflame building and rolling on the ground to try and put themselves out. Seeing all of this Mark ran to the back of Hector, grabbed the fire extinguisher that we've got mounted just behind the rear door, sprinted over whilst shouting for everyone else to "get out of the bloody way" and put the fire out. He then walked back over to Hector after making sure that no-one was seriously injured and the 2 supervisors proceeded to try and give first aid to some of the more seriously burned. It took them ages to eventually call for a doctor. In the meantime there was no word of thanks to Mark until one of the supervisors came over, then told the kids to do the same. The fire-extinguishers are  2 things that we hoped we would never have to use, and we never imagined that if we did use them it would be to put out other people's fires!

Tuesday, 16th August 2005. Goreme.

Ballooning day! Up at 04:45 for our early morning flight. After coffee and biscuits we were loaded into the mini-busses and driven to the launch site at a place called Utchasir which was some way past Goreme. There were 2 Balloons which 10 people in each balloon plus a pilot. Our pilot was an English woman called Kylie, who was part of the couple who ran the business. Everything was incredibly well organised, and within minutes the 2 balloons were being inflated and we were standing in the basket waiting for take off, which was very gentle. In fact, the whole experience was very smooth with no swaying around and very little feeling of movement, just the sensation of hanging  in the air, so rather than giving you an adrenaline rush the whole experience was infact very relaxing. The maneuverability of the Balloons in the hands of an experienced pilot was also a shock - she could judge the wind so finely that we were able to descend into the valleys and circle the chimneys, and rise just at the correct second to float up with the rock face within arms reach! We , were in the air for about 1 3/4 hours and got some marvellous views of the whole landscape. When we landed it was again very smooth and Kylie even managed to land the Balloon on the waiting trailer. Then it was champagne cocktails and cake all round. We got chatting to Kylie and Mark mentioned that his Dad used to fly balloons for Team Talbot. Surprisingly Kylie knew of the team (this was over 20 years ago!) and of one of the other pilots - small world. She was very interested in our trip, and we gave her one of our cards.

Kylie giving pre-flight briefing       Getting ready for take off            Up, up and away!

Cave houses                            Flying though the canyons        Patterns in the apricot groves

Fairy Chimneys                        Us in the Balloon                    Us and Kylie upon landing.

After the Ballooning we got back to campsite at about 10:00am, and walked into town to check Amy's AAT results - not out until 14:00, so we decided to go for a bit of an explore in some of the valleys and canyons that we had just flown over. We had a fantastic time exploring rock houses, climbing into caves, following tunnels leading to huge vaulted rooms and ancient churches carved into rock faces and other ruins. 

Wilma Pike in her cave               Fred and Wilma before exploring their new cave. Half a room....

Wednesday, 17 August 2005, Goreme.

Lazy day today, apart from Kylie flying her Balloon right over our tent this morning to say hello and give us a wave, which was cool.

Goreme at dusk.

Thursday, 18th August 2005, Goreme and Derinkuyu.

Up early this morning to drive to Derinkuyu, one of the many underground cities that can be found in this area. We found the town where the entrance was with no bother, but then couldn't find the entrance to the underground city so had to pay off some local 5 year olds to show us the way! Once we were in we were very glad that we'd got there before anyone else - the passages were tiny, at times we were bent double and in single file to get through - certainly not recommended for those who like their pies or who are over 6 foot tall. The city itself was amazing, a self sufficient community descending over 15 levels. There were bath houses, bakeries, wineries and even stables and churches. At one point it is estimated that 10,000 people lived in this one complex. Imagine them all crammed into those tiny passageways, the noise from the echoes, the smell of the cooking, the flickering of the sooty lamps casting deep shadows over faces which hadn't seen the sunshine for months. Can't say that I'd fancy it - living like an any in a colony.

Mark and Amy in the underground city.

Friday, 19th August 2005. Goreme.

We enjoyed our explorations of a couple of days ago so much that we decided to do it again today - but this time we would take binoculars, lots of water, food and head torches so we could have a really good poke around. We started at 2 large outcrops which had many rooms and staircases carved inside them and tried to find our way up to the top. Amy got quite close, but her way was blocked by fallen rubble. After a couple of hours here we walked through the fields to find some of the caves and rock houses still in use - there were carpets on the floor of some, some had wooden window frames and other were full of food. We didn't poke around here as it was clear that people were still using them. We did however find our way to the bottom of "Swords Valley" and walked along it until we couldn't get any further. Mark almost got trapped trying to squeeze through a narrow gap between two rocks and then, having climbed 2 rock ladders (holes carved into vertical rock faces like rungs on a rope ladder) there was a small rock slide and he got hit on the head! Luckily we were wearing our hats so no damage done, but we took the hint and turned back. On the way we saw some intriguing rock paintings high up. We couldn't get to them, but through the binoculars we saw that they depicted what looked like Mongol horsemen.  We also found some more old churches, this time with more of the frescos intact. These were painted during the Iconoclast Controversy of late 700AD when the depiction of holy things was forbidden - here the monks carried on by carving their hidden churches and decorating them as before.  We made it back home in time for a siesta, then we were out to dinner at a fantastic roof top restaurant.

Amy (bottom right) in front of complex 1.              Amy in front of the "Rose Red" canyon.

Mark in front of the alter place                        "Where's the painting??"

Saturday, 20th August 2005. Goreme

Today was an admin day, Mark updated his log and the website whilst Amy did all of the washing.  After this we walked into town to A; exchange our old European books and B; send off all the postcards, we managed to get rid of all of our used books in exchange for three reading books and 10 YTL, enough for some beers!  unfortunately being a Saturday the PTT (post office) was closed, so instead we went to the internet cafe and uploaded our website.

Sunday, 21st August 2005. Goreme to Ihlara (day 54 if you were wondering!)

We headed off to Ihlara this morning with Mark behind the wheel, if felt like we were going back on ourselves slightly, and we were but we had been told that Ihlara Valley was absolutely fantastic.

As we were packing up Hector Amy noticed a scorpion under the suitcase which she had just moved.

Best not get too close eh!

The campsite owner allowed us to clean Hector and the ground sheet, (it made such a difference).  and then we were on our way to Belisirma.  The drive was fairly uneventful until we actually arrived in Belisirma villiage, where the roads became cobbled streets barely wide enough for a Donkey, let alone a huge Hector anyway we made it through the village and down to the river, where the campsites were.  We had a chilled out afternoon reading our newly bought books and just purely relaxing, then it was out to dinner right on the river.  We met a German couple Mathius and Layla (sorry if I have spelt your names wrong), they were backpacking around Turkey for three weeks, and meeting up with friends in Istanbul.

Monday, 22nd August 2005. Ihlara Valley

Today was a walking day, we walked the 2 hours to Ihlara and then back again.  We managed to see all of the churches along the valley including the church of St George and the Church of Snakes.  The Snake church was particularily notable as it portrayed in graphic detail, the suffering of sinners in Hell - one Woman being bitten on the nipples for not breast feeding her children, whilst others had their lips bitten for slander - very fertile imaginations those celibate monks!  Unfortunately the frescos are not in very good condition -many are covered in graffiti  or have had parts chipped off as a momento, but the effect of some is still striking.  On our return walk through the Valley the sun was at it's zenith and concentrating it's effort down onto Marks head, which is now sun burnt.  

In the evening we again went out for dinner and met up with Mathius and Layla who very kindly invited us back to their tent for a chat around a fire and a couple of bottles of rather curious tasting Cappadocian red wine.

Mathius and Layla                  The Ihlara Valley                     A fresco from the Snake church

Tuesday, 23rd August 2005. Ihlara to Bogazkale

Amy drove today.  We filled up at a Shell garage with V Performance Diesel, which seems to make Hectors coolant temperature run very high - won't be doing that again...

The scenery along the way has really brought it home that we are in Asia, very barren landscapes made up of rocky scrub hills with small farming villages and towns nestling in the strip of green where a river runs along the bottom of the valleys.  We found our campsite (the Bashkent) and settled in for the afternoon as Amy wasn't feeling too well, suffering from stomach cramps.

  The view for nearly the entire journey

Wednesday, 24th August 2005. Bogazkale

Today we visited the Hittite city of Hittasus, we waited until late morning as Amy still wasn't feeling great. Because the site is so large and perched on the side of a hill, we decided to drive around which was a good move as it was a very hot day again. As we bought the tickets we were accosted by the obligatory "guide", but we shook him off when we explained that we only had 2 seats! The first part of the site which we visited was the Great Temple where the Hittite gods Teshuba and       were worshipped. There is little left apart from the stone foundations, where you can see the track marks made by the huge bronze doors, and a curious cube of green stone which was a wedding present from the Egyptian Pharoe Ramases II. After the Temple we drove around the rest of the site, including the famous Sphynx and Lion Gates. At the Sphynx Gate Amy was asked to be part of a group photo by a group of very jolly turkish ladies - we think it was the hat that did it!

Mark and Amy in front of the Lion at the Lion Gate.

After some lunch we drove off to the burial chamber of the Hittite Kings where there were some reliefs carved into the rocks which were over 3,000 years old. Some of them (out of the elements) were in very good condition, whilst others took a bit of imagination to interpret:

Detail of frieze showing 12 Hittite gods in procession    Trying to work out what we're looking at...

Thursday 25th August 2005. Bogazkale to some lake East of Sivas.

The move East began in earnest today. We planned to drive to Sivas and find somewhere to stay then move on to Erzurum. All went well up to Sivas - we even found a really nice motel to stay in. However, when I went to book us in, they said that they were full (even though the car park was empty and there was no-one else around). I think that they didn't like the look of us - I haven't had a shave for a while so I may look a little scruffy! So on we drove until, in the middle of nowhere up in the hills we saw a sign for "restaurant and camping". We followed the directions down 2km of rough track and found a house on the lakeside with a rickety jetty stretching out into the very clear, very blue waters of the lake. The owner came out to meet us and I asked about the camping (my Turkish is getting quite good now!) he said camp where you like, for 5 YTL (less than £2.50). He also explained that the restaurant would be open in the evening should we want to eat. They didn't have a menu - you got served whatever fish they had managed to pull out of the lake that day and a bit of salad. It was superb. When we went to bed everyone else had gone too and all the lights were turned off so we had a fantastic view of the stars and the milky way.

The blue waters of the lake, and the view looking towards the house.

Friday, 26th August 2005. Lakeside to Erzurum.

We were up early today and washed/shaved in the rather basic facilities - one cold tap next to the "squat and drop". It was lovely by the lake in the morning warmth, watching the King Fishers, Heron and Eagles. But we had to make progress, so set off just before 9:00am. Most guidebooks say that the roads in Turkey are generally good - well the road between Sivas and Erzurum isn't! It's being rebuilt along it's entire 400km length and at times disappears completely as you are forced to drive along the work in progress, full of huge potholes made by the dumper trucks, bulldozers etc. At other times you have to drive on top of freshly poured tar (no stones on top, just the tar) which is now splattered up the sides of poor old Hector. The work also appears to involve quarrying large chunks of rock from the mountains at the side of the road, with the side effect that the slopes then become very unstable - we drove past quite a few land slides, one of which had only just happened (we followed the bulldozer that had been sent to clear it up, but because we were in Hector we were allowed to go in front of the queue of blocked traffic and drive across the landslide before it was cleared, much to the dismay of all the people who had previously overtaken us - as the old saying goes "You may go fast, but we can go anywhere!")

We reached Erzurum around 15:00,and after the obligatory diversions which took us through the middle of the city found ourselves heading out towards the mountains. In the winter this area is covered in deep snow, so we headed for what was clearly a ski-hotel, the 5 Star Polat Renaissance Erzurum Hotel. And very nice it is too! So we booked ourselves in for 3 nights, and got ready to make the most of the luxury.

Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th August 2005. Polat Renaissance Hotel, Erzurum.

Two days wallowing in luxury like pigs in clover!

The Polat Renaissance Erzurum.

Monday, 29th August 2005. Erzurum to Dogubayazit.

It was Amy's turn to drive today, and we drove alongside the most magnificent storm! The sky was black with rain and we could see an almost vertical line of darkness where the storm began, whilst the landscape in the foreground was lit up by the light coming from the opposite direction. Luckily we didn't have to drive through the storm, but even so we saw a tornado and got hailed upon with such ferocity that it sounded like we were being shot at.

The line of the storm                    black sky, lit up hills.             Kurdish dancing.

As we were driving we noticed a dramatic increase in the number of checkpoints - there had been a few on the road previously, but now they were outside almost every village and were manned not only by the police but also by the regular army. Fortunately most of the manned checkpoints were on the other side of the road - they seemed to be more interested in people coming from Iran, and those which were on our side waved us through with no bother. When we reached Dogubayazit Amy drove us through the middle of the town and up to Ishak Pasa Sarayi - an old palace that stands on a ledge overlooking the valley below. We pitched camp in splendid isolation and the father of the owner came out to give us some tea and cigarettes. He was Kurdish and explained that everyone else in the area was as well. He wasn't that fond of the Turkish government. In the evening we went to the restaurant where we were joined by Siam, the owner, with whom I (mark) proceeded to get monstrously drunk whilst chatting and listening to the live Kurdish music. We also met a Russian monk called Igor who came from his monastery in Moscow every year to climb mount Arrarat, which is very close to where we are. Went to bed when Amy almost carried me out of the restaurant.

Tuesday, 30th August 2005. Dogubayazit.

We took it easy in the morning by hiring a taxi to drive us around town whilst we did our chores - shopping, post office etc etc. When we got back to camp we gave Hector a check over - no problems, although we did top up the transfer box with EP90, and took the precaution of cleaning the air filter again after driving for so long over dusty, unfinished roads. We even found a huge black bumble-bee that had been sucked into the snorkle. In the afternoon we walked up to the palace, which was fantastic. It has been renovated in places and you get a very good feel for what the place must have been like. Some of the original stone work is still there and it is very ornate.

Ishak Pasa Sarayi                    Stonework detail                        the dining room

Hector beneath the palace            palace skyline                            Amy and a lion carved on the doorway.

After we had finished looking around the palace we were sitting around Hector reading our books when a motor-bike pulled up and an English voice called out "Not English are you?" This was Linda, who was riding her motorbike from Spain to Australia. As we were chatting I (mark) noticed that Igor was walking over to us so I went over to say hello. After a while of general chat he pulled out of his wallet a picture of an Icon of the patron saint of his monastery. He gave this to me explaining that he would pray to the saint to watch over us. He was a very kind and sincere man, and I was touched by his generosity. In the evening we again dined at the restaurant and this time we got dragged up to do some of the dancing which was great fun. Tomorrow we cross into Iran.

Linda and her motorbike.