Chris's space

Tatvan to Kars via Dogubayazit, first along the shores of Lake Van which is over 1,600 metres next past Mount Ararat, it really stands out among the other mountains and is visible from a long way off. After that a narrow bumpy 2 lane road on a high plateau with coloured mountains and amazing landscapes, all the way to Kars, absolutely brilliant ride.

Ride Elevation Graph

Kars – the main reason for coming here was to visit the Ani Ruins located 45 km east near the Armenian border. Not much else here and it rained every day.

Kars Museum, free entry, very small but well laid out and it has English translations.

Short ride from Sanliurfa to Mardin with temperatures hovering around the 44c mark hahaha, road works and traffic through the towns meant slow going. I stopped to fill up along the way and could not leave until I had answered a million questions using Google Translate and had a cup of tea inside with the guys. There is a significant military presence in this area with checkpoints entering and leaving towns and armoured cars stationed at various points inside the towns as well.

Filling up in Turkey is different to anywhere else I have been. All service stations are attended, you cannot fill up yourself. First the attendant notes your Plate number and enters it into a terminal at the pump, next he fills up the vehicle, next he prints off a receipt and hands it to you and you take it to the counter and pay with card or cash and get two receipts which you take back to the attendant and give him one receipt and you get to keep the other cash receipt and the petrol receipt hahaha. This is big brother at work, every time I fill up my location is recorded.

Mardin – an ancient city perched on a hillside with a commanding view of the plains. I came here to visit friends who were the perfect hosts and took me sightseeing over the weekend I spent there.

Deyrul Zafaran Monastery or Mor Hananyo Monastery

From the monastery we drove to the Syrian border, both sides of the border are inhabited by Kurds so its quite safe except when its not hahaha, there was conflict here a few years ago.

Next we drove to Midyat stopping along the way at a river picnic spot, very nice. After that we went to a pizzeria in the bush run by a group of Assyrians who have created their own little township here called Elbegendi. On the return journey we had to go through a checkpoint and I was asked a few questions about where I had been in Turkey etc, usually the police do not speak English.

Mardin Walkabout

Dara – an ancient city of Mesopotamia.

Diyarbakir – A stop at a viewpoint on the way to Diyarbakir saw us witness a couple of weddings, here for their photographs.

Longer than usual ride from Goreme to Sanliurfa through the mountains so decided to hop on the freeway and see how the toll system works. Besides Istanbul this is the only other part of Turkey with a freeway. When I entered the freeway there was a gate I had to ride through, no indication at all just rode through slowly and kept going. Good 6 lane road, hardly any traffic except through the mountains where there were quite a few trucks travelling at walking pace with slow trucks overtaking even slower ones. This must be the only way they can get through the mountains. Then from cold temps to sea level and 37c hahaha. Went through 2 more Toll gates and at the first one an orange light came on and a siren sounded, kept going hahaha, next one I watched the car in front and he got a green light but when I went through I got an orange but no siren, on exiting the freeway same thing. It must be because bikes do not have a front number plate and they have to verify it later some other way.

The main reason for stopping at Sanliurfa was to visit Gobeklitepe, a site that has the oldest known temple dating back to 9000 BC, older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids, quite amazing. Sanliurfa is also home to Balikligol where Abraham turned fire into fish or something like that making it a holy place. People are very curious and I am constantly being asked where I am from and offered a glass of tea which turns into a Google translate exercise that last half an hour hahaha.

Balikligol.

Gobeklitepe – 30 min ride from Sanliurfa, 25 lira entry, a short movie produced by National Geographic and a few artefacts from the site, everything immaculately presented. You have to walk 700 meters uphill to the site from the gate, I started walking and got picked up by a shuttle bus when I was half way there but on the way down, even though there were two busses at the top, they were not moving and there were two more at the bottom, must have been the hourly tea break, hahaha.

Ankara to Goreme, once again 4 lane roads that got a bit rougher when I turned off the main highway to Goreme. The whole distance was above 1000 metres so fairly cool. There were some big salt lakes on the way.

Goreme is the town you stay in while visiting Cappadocia the area where there are many weird and wonderful natural rock formations. People have lived in caves in this region for thousands of years and there are a few underground cities as well which were used to escape persecution. But I think going up in a balloon before dawn was the highlight of my visit, a magical experience.

Goreme Open Air Museum – located not far out of the town is where there are a number of churches carved into the rock, the monks used to live here as well, interesting place with many steps, 30 lira entry.

Balloon Flight –  I booked this flight with Kapadokya Balloons for 150 Euro and I booked it through my hotel and paid cash. It was for a 12 person balloon which costs more. This is something you have to have on your bucket list.

I went for a ride around the area to look at the various rock formations. Some of them have names but I did not keep track hahaha.