From left: King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, Ashley White of Canada, Hercules son of God, Eagle of Protection, Lion of Valor at Nemrut Dagi
After Cappadocia we set out on a trip east in Turkey. Eastern Turkey is much less wealthy than the western part, with more conservative Muslims and far fewer tourists, so we were curious to get a feel for the culture here as well as seeing some incredible sights in the region. We visited four places during this part of the trip: Nemrut Dagi in Karadut, Sanliurfa (or Urfa), Kizkalesi and Iskele.
This was our pension in Karadut. We stayed here as a base to climb Nemrut Dagi – a 7,000 foot mountain with a giant tomb monument on the summit. The owner of the pension, Hami was like a father to us. He cooked incredible hearty lunches and dinners for us every day. Pretty sure we saw him shed a tear when we left. We were also the only guests, so that could be why.
Yousef was the son of one of the chief architects doing some improvements on the hotel. He was a motivated and studious boy, at least until Ashley literally took the book right out of his hands to introduce him to Angry Birds. We didn’t see him read another word during the rest of our stay.
The beginning of our trek up to Nemrut Dagi. The hike was 9km directly uphill. And it kept going.
And going
Finally we saw the top! At the summit there is a 161-foot tumulus (mound of earth raised over graves). This is supposedly the largest man-made pile of dirt in the world, but it’s possible the guy who informed us of that fact may have just told us the largest man-made pile of BS.
Unfortunately after hustling up the mountain to arrive for sunset, we discovered that the western facing monument facing the sun was buried in snow, ruining the epic photo op.
Good news, the eastern face was open for business and due to a very precarious walk on a steep snow ledge, a huge tour group before us turned back (wimps), so we had the whole site to ourselves. The site was built by King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene in 62 BC, and consists of twin monuments (one on the East face, one on the West) with 30 foot high statues of lions, eagles, and various Greek, Armenian, and Iranian gods. Here you can see (from left) Apollo, Commagene, Zeus, King Antiochus himself, and Hercules.
Antiochus not only placed his statue next to Zeus and Hercules and had them face both East and West to rule over the entire world, he also made all of his subjects march up the mountain twice a month to celebrate both his birthday and his coronation. But his friends say he was really down to Earth.
Unfortunately for Antiochus, long after he died somebody chopped the heads off all his statues and placed them in front of their seated bodies. This actually made the site more interesting in our opinions because we could see the heads so closely. It was definitely one of the best sights we’ve seen – especially since we weren’t sharing it with a million other people.
Last picture of Missy Elliot before frostbite set in. We were set to walk the entire 9km back down as it got pitch dark, but thank goodness about a third of the way down, a couple from Chicago picked us up. They had driven 8 hours from the west to get to Nemrut only to turn back because of the snow on the summit. Newbs.
Moving on to Urfa, we rewarded ourselves with a baller hotel after our trek in Nemrut.
Breakfast in the hotel courtyard
Our first night in Urfa, we were less than impressed. It’s a very conservative Muslim city that doesn’t have much to offer for foreigners looking to explore. The next morning, we ventured to the Pool of Sacred Fish, which was literally across the street from out hotel in a stunning park.
We also took a journey to Urfa Castle which is located above the park. We got a ton of stares from the conservative Turks – particularly at Joe’s feet. We thought we were dressed appropriately (essentially covered head to toe), but Joe had sandals on and we’re not sure whether he had broken some Muslim code by showing too much ankle or if they were just taken aback by his giant white bare feet.
Any indifference we had for Urfa was quickly eradicated when Joe found ice cream and backgammon in the park. We spent the rest of our day in this spot.
Ashley’s biggest nightmare. The squatters. She would avoid all liquids before bus rides after she encountered her first squatter at a bus stop. It was a harrowing experience. Here you can see they’ve upgraded to a high-tech motion sensor paper towel dispenser, but haven’t bothered to upgrade to indoor plumbing. Get your priorities straight, Turkey.
We arrived in Kizkalesi – our first stop on the Mediterranean. Upon arrival, we had one of our weaker moments of the trip. Though the lovely Hotel Hantur was located directly on the beach in front of a floating sea castle from the Middle Ages, the beach resembled a landfill and most restaurants and bars were shut down for low season.
To make matters worse, we woke up to serious construction noises. We were ready to pack it in, when we realized they were cleaning the beach! We decided to stay for a week.
Paddleboats to take to the castle. We swam (of course).
Fishermen catching our dinner. We ate delicious fish almost every night.
Speaking of fish dinner, we found ourselves amidst a real-life performance of Cats gone wrong, when the mangey fishing village cats sit, stare, meow and then claw at you for fish bones. Memories… bad memories.
Taken from our balcony, Ashley on her way back from a beach run.
At night there was an awesome lightshow on the castle. And a group enjoying a beach bonfire.
In addition to the sea castle, there was a larger land castle overlooking the town which we explored at dusk – prime photo time.
Look ma, no tripod!
Ashley is NOT picking a wedgie here.
We still haven’t found a decent burger (except for McDonalds) in Turkey. In fact, this was the single worst burger we’ve ever had. Where’s the beef??
It was that bad.
Everyone in Turkey was gathered around a TV screen – in this case a very small TV screen – for the big Galatasaray v. Real Madrid soccer match. We were given tourist treatment and a front row seat to watch the home team get their butt’s kicked.
We took a day trip to the Heaven and Hell caves. Here you can see Ashley carefully descending the steep slippery rocks into heaven. When we finally reached the cave covered in sweat, she said: “well I hope hell is better than heaven."
Inside the cave.
Channeling Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders.
Hell. It was so steep and deep, you couldn’t even hike into it.
Turkish supper on the sea
These are the only two photos worth posting from Iskele. We were only there for a night and we wandered through this strange park filled with the sad, decrepit remains of our childhood.
Spared some expense
Yousef was the son of one of the chief architects doing some improvements on the hotel. He was a motivated and studious boy, at least until Ashley literally took the book right out of his hands to introduce him to Angry Birds. We didn’t see him read another word during the rest of our stay. 
The beginning of our trek up to Nemrut Dagi. The hike was 9km directly uphill. And it kept going.
And going
Finally we saw the top! At the summit there is a 161-foot tumulus (mound of earth raised over graves). This is supposedly the largest man-made pile of dirt in the world, but it’s possible the guy who informed us of that fact may have just told us the largest man-made pile of BS.
Unfortunately after hustling up the mountain to arrive for sunset, we discovered that the western facing monument facing the sun was buried in snow, ruining the epic photo op.
Good news, the eastern face was open for business and due to a very precarious walk on a steep snow ledge, a huge tour group before us turned back (wimps), so we had the whole site to ourselves. The site was built by King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene in 62 BC, and consists of twin monuments (one on the East face, one on the West) with 30 foot high statues of lions, eagles, and various Greek, Armenian, and Iranian gods. Here you can see (from left) Apollo, Commagene, Zeus, King Antiochus himself, and Hercules.
Antiochus not only placed his statue next to Zeus and Hercules and had them face both East and West to rule over the entire world, he also made all of his subjects march up the mountain twice a month to celebrate both his birthday and his coronation. But his friends say he was really down to Earth.
Unfortunately for Antiochus, long after he died somebody chopped the heads off all his statues and placed them in front of their seated bodies. This actually made the site more interesting in our opinions because we could see the heads so closely. It was definitely one of the best sights we’ve seen – especially since we weren’t sharing it with a million other people.
Last picture of Missy Elliot before frostbite set in. We were set to walk the entire 9km back down as it got pitch dark, but thank goodness about a third of the way down, a couple from Chicago picked us up. They had driven 8 hours from the west to get to Nemrut only to turn back because of the snow on the summit. Newbs.
Moving on to Urfa, we rewarded ourselves with a baller hotel after our trek in Nemrut.
Breakfast in the hotel courtyard
Our first night in Urfa, we were less than impressed. It’s a very conservative Muslim city that doesn’t have much to offer for foreigners looking to explore. The next morning, we ventured to the Pool of Sacred Fish, which was literally across the street from out hotel in a stunning park.
We also took a journey to Urfa Castle which is located above the park. We got a ton of stares from the conservative Turks – particularly at Joe’s feet. We thought we were dressed appropriately (essentially covered head to toe), but Joe had sandals on and we’re not sure whether he had broken some Muslim code by showing too much ankle or if they were just taken aback by his giant white bare feet.
Any indifference we had for Urfa was quickly eradicated when Joe found ice cream and backgammon in the park. We spent the rest of our day in this spot.
Ashley’s biggest nightmare. The squatters. She would avoid all liquids before bus rides after she encountered her first squatter at a bus stop. It was a harrowing experience. Here you can see they’ve upgraded to a high-tech motion sensor paper towel dispenser, but haven’t bothered to upgrade to indoor plumbing. Get your priorities straight, Turkey.
We arrived in Kizkalesi – our first stop on the Mediterranean. Upon arrival, we had one of our weaker moments of the trip. Though the lovely Hotel Hantur was located directly on the beach in front of a floating sea castle from the Middle Ages, the beach resembled a landfill and most restaurants and bars were shut down for low season.
To make matters worse, we woke up to serious construction noises. We were ready to pack it in, when we realized they were cleaning the beach! We decided to stay for a week.
Paddleboats to take to the castle. We swam (of course).
Fishermen catching our dinner. We ate delicious fish almost every night.
Speaking of fish dinner, we found ourselves amidst a real-life performance of Cats gone wrong, when the mangey fishing village cats sit, stare, meow and then claw at you for fish bones. Memories… bad memories.
Taken from our balcony, Ashley on her way back from a beach run.
At night there was an awesome lightshow on the castle. And a group enjoying a beach bonfire.
In addition to the sea castle, there was a larger land castle overlooking the town which we explored at dusk – prime photo time.
Look ma, no tripod!
Ashley is NOT picking a wedgie here.
We still haven’t found a decent burger (except for McDonalds) in Turkey. In fact, this was the single worst burger we’ve ever had. Where’s the beef??
It was that bad.
Everyone in Turkey was gathered around a TV screen – in this case a very small TV screen – for the big Galatasaray v. Real Madrid soccer match. We were given tourist treatment and a front row seat to watch the home team get their butt’s kicked.
We took a day trip to the Heaven and Hell caves. Here you can see Ashley carefully descending the steep slippery rocks into heaven. When we finally reached the cave covered in sweat, she said: “well I hope hell is better than heaven."
Inside the cave.
Channeling Aladdin in the Cave of Wonders.
Hell. It was so steep and deep, you couldn’t even hike into it.
Turkish supper on the sea
These are the only two photos worth posting from Iskele. We were only there for a night and we wandered through this strange park filled with the sad, decrepit remains of our childhood.
Spared some expense
We’re a little behind (we’re already in Thailand!!), but we swear we’ll pull ourselves away from the beach to write the next post very soon.
There are more photos in our complete Eastern Turkey album.
Oh..that was so entertaining, well written and fun...even when you weren't having any !!
ReplyDeleteThanks! XOXO
Just finished an epic alumni weekend, complete with a beer league double header. We pounded many a brew in your honor. Keep the blogs coming, Turkey looks awesome.
ReplyDelete