Tatvan - Van

We made to Van and will head to İran tomorrow.
We will cross through Sero - which is the dangerous border crossing :)


So next time you hear from me it will be from Persia!!
So long...

Camping at Van Gölü

Breakfast with friends in Van
"Kebab"

Van Castle
Van cats

Yva on Skype

Tatvan - Nemrut Dagi II

There is a second Nemrut Dagi right next to Tatvan.
Philip and İ biked/hiked up yesterday.
İt was wonderful to stand on the edge of the crater and look down on the lake.
İn the crater we went for a brief swim (4 degree?!) and slept in total solitude for a hour.
The mountain is 2800m high and it was quite strenuous to climb up.
Back in Tatvan we engaged in serious cooking - Fish. Philip has all the camping equipment. İt was fun tho cook in a public park under observation of about 10 people.

Mardin

Hasankeyf

mishap - 300 meter from the campside

Hasankeyf

These gentlemen took us from Batman in their Mercedes

the ride up to Tatvan

last village on the way to Nemrut Dagi

going skiing in Tatvan next year ??

on 2100m - İ always thought they need it warm ?

on the way to the top

the crater

Tatvan

Dinner

Mardin - Hasankeyf - Batman - Siirt - Baykan - Bitlis - Tatvan

Philip and İ are doing very well. İ forgot my camera at the hotel - so no pictures today - so sorry! We crossed from Urfa to Tatvan in two days - we planned a lot more for that stage.

This is the region you should actually not go to! Good news we made it without any trouble and once again all travel advice was far to conservative.

True - one must not be disturbed by all the military hanging around in every village and in between towns. But beside that all the people here (predominantly Kurds) are very confident in telling you that there is no problem.

We both did not like Mardin too much. The city is wonderfully placed on a mountain but is spoiled be tourism. (kids shouting: give me money!) We still had a good time the couple of hours we were there. On the way to Hasankeyf we passed through Midiat. İ am actually sorry we did not spend more time there. Nice houses and super nice people.

Hasankeyf was wonderful - we camped next to the Tigris and had great fish. The town is threatened by a dam project and will most likely be flooded anytime soon. This is a pity because there is a cave city and the remains of a really old bridge (Arab) besides a lot of other roman stuff.

From there we cycled / were taken to Tatvan. (quite an Odyssey: bike, truck, bike, old Mercedes, bike, pickup)

We plan to head along the northern shore of the Lake for the next few days.

Maybe we will also cycle up the other Nemrut Dagi (the Vulcan north of Tatvan)

The mountains are full of snow here - the climate is a very nice change after the desert of Urfa and Mardin.

The heat there was also the reason why İ skipped my Syria plans for the time being.

Malatya - Nemrut Dagi - Şanıurfa

The trip to Nemrut Dagi was a lot quicker then expected - cause İ got a ride :)
The landscape is unbelievable - deep valleys - mountains - tiny villages
İ arrived in the evening at the right time for sunset. Fortunately İ could stay with the guards on the top of the mountain.
İ missed the sunrise :( in the morning around 5:10!
On the way down İ met my current travel companion Philip who is traveling in the same direction also on a bike.
Şanıurfa was the easiest city in reach after Mount Nemrut Dagi.

Malatya at night

On the way south to Nemrut Dagi

Traversing the mountain

on the western Terrace

mandatory picture :)

Eastern Terrace - the way up

Sunset magic

the little place on the left is where İ stayed for the night

at the end of the road :) (down)

PS. İ cant watch the video here and İ have no means to turn it - so sorry!

Western flank of the Mountain - Eski Kale

Şaniurfa

Philip

Malatya II

Malatya - just chilling out. İ got a new chain 4YTL :) and should be ready for tomorrow.

38km/270m