Author Topic: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014  (Read 4114 times)

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Offline ovacik2

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A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« on: August 29, 2014, 15:18:05 PM »
Fethiye to Antalya on the Pamukkale bus service 45TL 3 hours plus 30 minutes Lokanta stop.  Great service including in seat TV, films, music, Internet. Ice cream, snacks and drinks included in ticket price.

Antalya otogar to airport by taxi 20 min cost 45TL or there is a bus service too 55 min  Flights from Antalya to Diyarbakir by Sun Express £65 return. We took the early evening flight. The car hire guy was there to meet us with a free upgrade to the small car we had booked online, Peugeot 301Diesel with a few hundred km on the clock and it turned out to be a great bonus the roads are good where we traveled.We added Sat Nav but only used it once.

Diyarbakir was one of our favourite places to visit. We felt very safe and welcome. There was a military helicopter over the city most times !  Most tourists were Arab we think and yes maybe we did stick out a bit! There is lots to see lots to visit everyone will research their interests but the two Biggie's for us was the Basalt City Walls and Kahvalti in Hasan Paşa Hanı, not to be missed. Yes there are parts of the city you don't want to visit but research and we found all was good.

Our itinerary included two nights in  Sanliurfa. Visits to  Harran, Attaturk Barrage easy from Sanliurfa too! Then E90 motorway to Eski Mardin! The terrain is virtually flat it was Bulgar harvest time.

Eski Mardin is a great place built on a hill 1084mtr. We stayed three nights and found it a good centre to see the area. Good hotels some very good restaurants. From here we visited Bayaz Su, Midyat and Hasankeyf all worth the effort Hasankeyf is very old but is under threat of bring flooded by a new barrage / dam, now is the time to see it before its too late. Batman and its petrol industry is just along the road, no we didn't go! We did visit Nusaybin to visit a Kurdish friend and family its a real border city half in Syria and Turkey. The family were just wonderful. Not a touristic area!

This is the basics of our trip we researched well and did the things we wanted to do ! It gave us a great feel of the East Of Turkey ! 

Everything was easy friendly and yes we felt safe and very welcome everywhere! As a male I would have been uncomfortable wearing shorts at anytime and my wife only excluded wearing very short sleeved tops.
Yes ! It's a Kurdish area the people we met were friendly and inquisitive about us and why would we visit ! language wasn't a big problem.


Hotels were booked through Booking.com hotelelruha.com was a great hotel in a great location for Sanliurfa. erdoba.com.tr is where we stayed in Eski Mardin a great hotel in the perfect location, we made some alterations without problems or costs. Sunexpress.com can be booked online we booked ours with Lama Travel Fethiye for our convenience! Economycarrentals.collm was used for the car hire good prces trouble free. Wikitravel.org/en/Diyarbakir was a good research guide for all places to visit,as was turkeytravelplanner.com   

Is the area beautifull ?  Well yes! But in a very different way, not much greenery no mountains in fact its so flat you can see to the end of the earth! History from before he bible, Mesopotamia ! Euphrates ! Tigris ! Christian Churches ! Syriac ! Mosques ! plus other religions ! A few different languages too ! East Turkey is huge but this for us was a great taster.

What did we return with ? Dibek Coffee ! Blue sugar Almonds, photos and a lifetime of memories !

Offline Colwyn

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Re: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2014, 15:35:31 PM »
An excellent post. Thank you. Quite an adventure to do it by yourselves.


P.S. Any photos? Does Diyarbakir have unusual dome houses or am I thinking of somewhere else in the S.E. I've read about?
« Last Edit: August 29, 2014, 15:55:10 PM by Colwyn »

Offline Menthol

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Re: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2014, 16:21:32 PM »
Sounds like a great adventure, ovacik2. Thank you for telling us about it.

We have friends in Diyarbakir and I've always been drawn to Mardin. I think we may just be venturing out there and it helps to hear how good your own experience was.

And echoing Colwyn, any photos would be great. 

Offline ovacik2

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Re: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2014, 20:45:49 PM »
Colwyn ! Thanks for comment from a well travelled member !☺

Ha! Yes! Harran is the dome houses!
 Diyarbakir the second longest wall after the Great Wall in China. Big and Black Basalt. Six miles around the old city.
« Last Edit: August 29, 2014, 21:00:48 PM by ovacik2 »

Offline ovacik2

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Re: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2014, 20:54:39 PM »
Thanks Menthol !  Yes! a long term dream fulfilled ! Well worth the effort Diyarbakir is a great place to visit now ! That air of mystery and danger still lurks ! Now is the time to see all Mardin province as plans are to extend tourism to the area !

Will post photos of views as they are sorted !

Offline nichola

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Re: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2014, 23:20:49 PM »
Sounds like an amazing trip... Mardin on my list too as haven't been this far east yet. Hitched a ride on a busy road in Diyarbakir with a sign written in lipstick on a cardboard box when we missed the last bus back to Urfa after a failed attempt to do a day trip in winter to Nemrut!

Love Şanlı Urfa and Harran is amazing. Oldest minaret in the world and the site of the first University in the world I believe.

Can't wait to see the photos and hear more detail about this trip next time I see you.

Good to see you and all the gang tonight  :)

Offline ovacik2

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Re: A Taste of the East. 18.07.2014 - 24.07.2014
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2014, 09:41:41 AM »
As conditions in the area this post is about have changed dramatically we would not now visit this area at this time! We feel it only right to say our observations !!
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/morning-curfew-lifted-in-diyarbakir-night-curfew-still-in-effect.aspx?pageID=517&nID=72728&NewsCatID=341




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