Not Your Average Adventure, Eh?: The Land of Apricots and Democracy?

This past weekend I ventured back to Eastern Turkey with my colleague and travel companion, H. On a previous trip out east, H had wanted to visit Mount Nemrut but we just couldn't seem to fit it into our schedule (it's fairly out of the way) so we made plans to visit the area again. This time through a different airport - Malatya. Malatya is in central Eastern Turkey. It has a hot and dry climate. And it is the epicenter of the apricot industry in Turkey! At every corner you can find one apricot related product or another. And so far, Malatya has had the friendliest people out of every city I've previously visited! We had such a great weekend that I almost didn't want to come back to Ankara!!

I don't usually do plugs for businesses and such, but the service we experienced during all points of our trip definitely merits a shout out to all those involved! Also, this part of Turkey is a must to experience! The people are warm, the landscape is lush and green, and there is history to be found at every turn...

Now for the shout outs! Firstly, Mustafa and his staff at the Malatya Palace Hotel in central Malatya - THANK YOU! From our midnight airport shuttle into town to having our own personal guides to the tourist attractions, you can see that customer service is foremost for this hotel! They are so overwhelmingly helpful that H thought they were too helpful - almost annoyingly so! But, better that than the opposite I think...

Because of H's inability to plan in advance, we were slightly stuck on how to actually get to Mount Nemrut on the Sunday...luckily Mustafa and his family were breakfasting at the same time as us and he was able to hook us up with a semi-private tour up the mountain with a guide named Ramazan. For only 100tl (or about $60CAD) we had accomodation, private car up the mountain, supper, breakfast, and a sunset/sunrise excursion up to the Nemrut site! What a deal!! A better bargain was meeting David and Cecilia (a married couple from North Carolina) who turned out to be quite a hoot! Made our adventure even more enjoyable!

The second shout out is to Ramazan - our friendly, knowledgable and bilingual tour guide! He took us up to Nemrut in his personal vehicle and provided a non-stop commentary for the two hour drive! The roads up the mountain are twisty and narrow, but we all felt very safe thanks to his driving skills! He says that since he makes the trip so often, his car knows the way - he doesn't even have to look at the road! Thankfully, this time he was paying attention because as per the Turkish norm, there are no safety barriers preventing us from plummeting down the side of the mountain in the event of a mis-turn....

About two kilometres from the Nemrut site is a guest house called the Güneş Otel (Sunshine Hotel) - Husseyin and his wonderful staff made our stay here quite comfortable. Now, this is the only accomodation on this side of the mountain and it is very quaint. There is hot water, the beds are clean, and the toilets flush. If you are expecting anything more, don't stay here! But if you can rough it for the night, Husseyin's tavla ability and jokes make it worth while! Also, witnessing the sunset and sunrise at the top of this strange and historical place is doubly worth your while!

After our sojourn at the top of the mountain, we came back down to Malatya and the Palace Hotel. We napped for the afternoon (waking up at 4am does not agree with me...) and made plans to meet up with David and Cecila for dinner. Before dinner, H and I went to explore Arslanstepe (or Lion's Hill) where some Italian archeologists have been excavating about 5000 years worth of civilizations. This is an artificial mound as all the civilizations kind of built their towns on top of each other. This area is also thought to be the heart of the Fertile Cresent (birthplace of civilization and therefore the state and democracy). The security guard (Eren) spoke some broken English, but between us, we were able to hash out a good idea of the different civilizations and the finds of the archeologists. The best finds are displayed at the Malatya Museum but with our travellers luck, the museum is closed on Mondays. Eren made a phone call to another security guard who works there - and although he couldn't get us into the museum for a private tour, he was able to get us a tour of the outside gardens! After that he recommended we sample a local specialty at the Malatya Mutfaği (Kitchen). Again - the service was stellar! We were given so much free food that by the end we were ready to bust!!! It was wonderful!

So, to everyone who made this weekend as wonderful as it was - THANK YOU again! And for anyone who wants to experience the warmth and culture of this area - GO!!!

Here are some photos of our wonderful experience:

My room at the Malatya Palace

The long and windy road up to Mt. Nemrut

Sheep Crossing!!!

H, as we climbed on some velco-like rocks near the Güneş Otel

Amazing view from the velco rocks

Two way road?? Up to the peak of Nemrut

This is what Nemrut is all about - some emperor over 2000 years ago built himself a monument consisting of several giant sculptures of the Gods and a huge mound of stones (under which his tomb lies although no one has found it yet)