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Hey guys.Firstly just wanted to say thanks for sticking with me on my journey and missing you all lots and lots.
Well I'm in my beautiful Turkiye!!!!Lemmi hear you say partaaaaay! I'm now in the beautiful town/village of Goreme in Central Anatolia and all I can say is wow! It beautiful here. You can look it up on google but here is some basic info:
'Cappadocia is a small area in Central Turkey covering around 300 square kilometers which has a unique, almost surreal, landscape. Volcanic activity formed a plateau of ash and the strange, rugged rock formations were created by the forces of erosion. The unusual structures were formed by the softer ash layers eroding faster than the harder layers of basalt and andesite which remained on top making the capped cone shapes.These formations are known as "fairy chimneys" as the early inhabitants of the region believed that humans could not have built them, and as fairies lived under ground, they must be the chimneys sticking out.The origins of this unusual region can be traced to the Tertiary period some 50million years ago, when craters and chimneys dominated the landscape. For hundreds of years men have dug into the soft but firm tuff to create dwellings, monasteries, churches and underground cities. It's name was probably derived from Katpatuka, "land of the beautiful horses", in Persian.Indeed, when surrounding kingdoms made odderings to the ancient kings of Persia, the Hitites, the first known inhabitants of this area(2500-2000 BC.) , offered their horses.'
Anyway people I cant take it off this font now.lol.After Esfahan we had tow bush camps on the way to Turkey.They were fine.We crossed into Turkey at the border near Tabriz.The border was crazy!There was no space between the two countries, no, 'no man's land', just one Iran gate, and right behind it, a Turkey gate.I swear it was like a refugge camp on the brink of a riot there.It was teeming with Turks,Kurds and Iranians all trying to cross.Thre were people sleeping on blankets on the floor, large groups of covered women congrugating over tea and biscuits, big groups of restless men trying to get their vehicles through, coaches loaded with people, and just a general sense of chaos.Beacuse of the demands the EU is making of Turkey they have had to tighten their border control so there was literally one vehicle going through every hour or so!People crossing on foot were fine, but as for the rest of us...Every now and again the frustrated band of taxi,car,truck and Dolmus drivers would start arguing with the guards and a little scuffle would break out, ending with the guards aggressively shooing the men away as the men ran away laughing.This ritual would take place every half an hour or so.It was taking so long that even the women began complaining, scolding the guards like angry mothers.Of course the guards didnt shoo them away.At one point tehre was a little show down between the top Turkish official and the Iranian one where they were arguing about the Iranians letting someone cross without stamping their passport (the Turk would have won hands down,lol).Howver, after an hour of pointless arguing it all ended witha smile and a handshake.Why do Middle Eastern men prolong arguments just so they can keep repating themselves over and over again without listenbing to eachother?They just love the sound of their own voice.
Anyway we finally got acros the border and were greeted warmly.A lot of the women were just so glad to take their headscarves off.lol.As soon as they found out I was Turkish they took me to the front to get my passport stamped and then sat me down and gave me free tea and cookies.They even offered to make me lunch if I was hungry!lol.They were really lovely.It was a relatively short drive to the frontier town of Dogubeyazit, whwre we stayed that night.It was a lovely little twon, predominantly Kurdish.That evening we went for dinner at a reastaurant run by the wives of Kurdish men who are in prison, cooking traditional Turkish food.It was quite nice.I had a good lentil soup to start with and a tasty, if a little rich lamb and aubergine stew with (not very nice) rice.On the whole the meal was enjoyable and the peoiple who had kebab said they were really good.The service was great and the tea was lovely.Afterwards Olivia (the Australian nurse working in Saudi), Deidre (the Irish Gal;way girl living in London) and I couldnt resist indulging our sweet tooth.We dropped into a lovely cake and pastry shop and had tea and treats.Olivia had an apparently very nice chocolate croissant, Deidre had some biscuits and I had a generous slab of beautiful syeupy Turkish cake (the name evades me right now). Had a good chat with the owner of the place who was complaing about how one of his younger sons is always on the computer so we both sat there lecturing his son, while the boy sat rolling his eyes and sighing.lol.
The next day we went to see the Ishak Pasha Palace. 'The Ishak Pasha palace is an Ottoman-period palace whose construction was started in 1685 by Colak Abdi Pasha, the bey of Bayazit province. According to the inscription on its door, the Harem Section of the palace was completed by his grandson Ishak (Isaac) Pasha in 1784. The Palace is more of a complex than a palace; it is the second administrative campus after the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and the most famous of the palaces built in recent decades.The palace is built on a hill at the side of a mountain 5 km (3 mi) east of Doğubeyazıt. It was the last large monumental structure in the Ottoman Empire from the "Lale Devri" period. It is one of the most distinguished and magnificent examples of the 18th century Ottoman architecture and is very valuable in terms of art history. According to the top of the door inscription at the Harem Section it was constructed in 1784 (1199 H.).As the ground building sits on is a valley slope, it is rocky and hard. Despite the fact that it is at the center of the Old Beyazıt city its three sides (north, west, south) are steep and sloped. There is a suitable flat area only to the east. The entrance of the palace is on that side, and it is also its narrowest façade.'
The site of the palace was really beautiful.We were surrounded by slopes of different shades of green.There was also a mosque, perched on an outcrop of the cliff edge and little stone house all along the mountain where people still live and farm.Its great becaue they havent tried to reconstruct parts of it.They've just presented the ruins and put a glass roof over the top of most rooms so the lights shines through.The views from the windows of the palace are amazing and at 12 we sat and ate our lunches all along the mountain. Then we were back on the road, heading for Goreme. I'll write more later.I'm a little tired now.And I'll upload pics too.Keep reading guys.xxx
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