From Diyabakir; we've done our dash!

Breathtaking and impressive; mountains between Hakkari and Şırnak

Arriving in Diyabakir from Mardin at midday, that was it for the driving; about 2800kms of it. The filthy dirty car, and we, survived intact, which was a relief. Would we do it again? Probably not, because there are heaps of other things waiting in the world for us both to do, but having said that, there were many amazing adventures. I think we were in Doğubeyazıt last time I posted, so we've been down the eastern side (somewhat disappointing) of Lake Van since then, onto Van City itself, and then south to Hakkari, Şırnak, Cizre (all on the Iran and Iraq border) and onto Mardin, having travelled along the border with Syria. Fascinating stuff. We've met many Kurds, and have even learnt a few Kurdish words, like rozbag and sirbag – good day and good evening – people's faces lit up when we said them – doesn't pay to say them in Istanbul though; much anti-Kurd sentiment there.

Dramatic Mt Nemrut, including rubbish

A drive up Nemrut Dağı (Mt Nemrut – the one near Lake Van) was a challenge. There weren't any roadsigns for 30kms, after the initial one at the main road. The road got narrower and narrower, and we nearly packed it in after finding a wee turtle (maybe a terrapin) at a lake – we'd decided that it must be the crater lake we were looking for, until we checked our Rough Guide, and then graunched and bounced our way up further to the rim of the caldeera – what an incredible and massive sight. (Darcy – you'd have been fascinated!) Apparently 1500m blew off the top in 1500, when Lake Van was formed by all the debris blocking the outfall of a river. It was dirty all around the lake edge though, like it was through most of the areas that Turks would visit and have picnics. Disgustingly dirty at the Nemrut Dağı lakes, enough to put us off and make us leave; no picnic for us there.Yuck! I have seen similar dirty places in the world, but somehow I think the Turks have got the infrastructure to do something about it, if they want to. They just chuck anything and everything out their car windows, or leave it behind if they picnic. There are the exceptions though, like Vedat, our kayak guide – we all had a plastic bag and picked up rubbish before we established each camp.

One of Jenny's beautiful carpets

We visited the appealing church on the island of Akdamar at Lake Van, plus the Fort at Van, although a dust storm blowing up forced a hasty retreat. There were some intriguing artisan shops at the bottom, so the dust storm was soon forgotten. I succumbed, and bought my first ever kilim in Turkey. Dirty tan brown (probably matches the bottom of my feet), with a pattern, and stick camels; I love it! Jenny has had an eye out for furnishing her new home on Kangaroo Island, and has bought 3 eyecatching rugs.

We had a great tour around the unusual and very prominent Hoşap Castle on the way from Van to Hakkari. The instigator, a local Kurdish lord named Mahmudi Suleyman decided he needed a new home in 1643, and obviously lonely in bed by himself, had a harem built for 100 beautiful maidens. Plus two hamams, a Bank, and a large socializing area for himself and his men friends. No socializing for the maidens though; only amongst themselves.

A typical Cay cafe; in Van this time

Seems as though not a lot has changed in some areas of Turkey. During our stay at Adilcevaz, on the east side of Lake Van, Jenny walked up to the village while I tried unsuccessfully to find access to the Selçuk fortress on the top of the hill. We both arrived back at the hotel feeling that 1. we’re better ‘out there’ together and 2. and that the place was absolutely dominated by men. It even felt a tad oppressive. They’re everywhere, like ants, usually sitting on tiny stools outside çay (pronounced chai and meaning tea) houses and drinking çay. Plus playing games. Sometimes they could be very helpful (how many men does it take to read a map? In Turkey, maybe 20), but other times they were absolutely indifferent, even to ignoring us at petrol stations when we wanted oil. Lots of Kurds, Iraqi ones, and goodness knows what horrors they’ve gone through to end up in Turkey. You hardly ever see a woman, and when you do they’re 98% wearing scarves, and often a long coat or a chador, some even only have their eyes showing. It’s far far East out in Adilcevaz!

We found the scenery after Van amazing, and even more so after Hakkari, although our information had indicated that the best was before; maybe that's because not too many tourists go past Hakkari – we didn't see any others. We had differing opinions on the route we took, some saying we'd be okay because we were 'just' tourists, or else a shake of the head and saying it was dangerous.

It had the potential to be dangerous, especially every time we went through a check point, with the AK47s pointing right at us, but it never actually was.The checkpoints became more frequent and intense the closer we got to Iraq; soldiers checking the boot, suitcases, passports, rental car agreement, looking on the rear seat – we kept our cameras out of sight. The soldiers were all courteous except one man at very 1^st stop, where I was seen taking a pic of the sign (which read Hoşgeldiniz, meaning 'Welcome') above the bridge – fortunately innocuous, or maybe I could have been in trouble.

One soldier at the last checkpoint, closest to Iraq, wanted to know if we'd found Turkey 'güzel', or lovely. He was just being friendly. How ironic, to be asked if you think that Turkey is lovely, while you've got machine guns pointed at you, an armoured vehicle with a man in the whirly thing on top with the gun at the ready, and it's all bristling with soldiers. Lovely? Of course its lovely! An oxymoronic (can it be an adjective?) situation for sure.

Hakkari, Şırnak & Cizre were worth the driving, because of scenery, and people we met – we were just about mobbed by children in Şırnak. I have an enduring picture in my mind of Jenny being surrounded by about 20 children, as she showed them the photo she'd just taken of them. The driving conditions ranged from excellent, to terrible. Great potholes in the roads were common down there, ruts rocks and random signs everywhere, and we had to keep our wits about us. A saying that was common on Darcy and Marie and my trip last year was 'Drive like a Turk' – we had to do that this year too. Take the bull by the horns, and get on with it.

Things went a tad belly up for me in Mardin. Its a very pretty town, built high up on a hill in pale gold sandstone, and dominated by a fort all along the ridgeline. The Fort has been taken over by the military, as it has a clear view right over the Syrian plains. They must get a brilliant sunset most nights. I ended up with a tenacious tummy bug, which I finally took medication for after 7 hours of continual bathroom trips. Jenny succumbed to probably the same thing 3 days later in Diyarbakir, and is only now coming right in Istanbul. We enjoyed Diyarbakir (I was about 50% by the 2^nd day), and included a visit to a Christian church, which has suffered terrible deprivations as the result of – well, being Christian in a Moslem (technically secular) country. No fond feelings for the Kurds there. It had me thinking about Robbie Burns poem The Dirge, and - “Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!” Earthquakes in New Zealand are one thing, but the horrors that man can inflict on man are unspeakable. Better get off that soap box . . .

Yes we're in Istanbul, and had an engrossing day yesterday, visiting the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque and ? - wandering. We found our way to the area I stayed in last year, and although close to our present hotel it took us about 45 minutes to find our way back through a rabbit warren of shortcut streets. Most amusing. We did go back again last night though, and had a delightful, delicious and delectable (any word other than 'wonderful') meal at the Albura Kathisma cafe/restaurant, in Akbiyik Caddesi (Street). You can even visit some remains of the ancient Grant Palace under their cafe, which they've excavated more since my visit there last year. Our final fling. We're off on Swiss Airlines tonight, to Zurich and Hongkong, and then AirNZ to Auckland. There's so much to see here in Istanbul though . . . . . .