Start of Season 9 - Trip to Mesopotamia June 2'13

Hi All:

We hope everyone wintered well and now have summer going full bore.

We returned to Alanya Turkey at the beginning of April for the start of our 9^th season and since then we have changed our plans for this season’s travels ten ways from Sunday. The short story is that because we are heading home mid summer for a wedding and because of the political and economical turmoil at this end of the Med, we have decided not to launch Two Moons until spring 2014. We are living aboard on the hard, with strong hopes that we don’t cook as the summer heats up.



The Two Moons birka - trying to beat the heat

 Instead, we have been keeping busy overhauling all the boat systems and taking trips inland to see more of the real Turkey than that offered at the over the top tourist centers along the coast.

 

Last week we took a tour of Upper Mesopotamia, which not only delighted us with its many historical sites, but unfortunately emphasized just how poor our understanding of political, cultural and religious history of the area really is. Since returning to Two Moons we have been researching the background on places and peoples we saw and the head swims with the area’s abundance of cultures; their contributions; and their beliefs that impact us today. Easy to see why it is termed the cradle of civilization.

For a start, we thought Mesopotamia was in the Iraq, Syria and Egypt area. But its Greek name means land between two rivers – The Tigris and The Euphrates – which originate in Nemrut, Turkey. .

Our trip was to have been with six other folks in a van, but the day before, the other six bailed, so we had a 2500km private tour in the guide’s car. We had understood that this was an ongoing tour, but it quickly became evident that we were the first. We often were lost, and the guide was constantly on his mobile or stopping asking for directions and we found him reading the site information boards along with us. This is what the locals call “The Turkish Surprise”. But fortunately, it all worked out. We saw all we had expected and more. It also gave us unlimited time to discuss life in Turkey.



Our route was clockwise from Alanya (far left) and depits where we stopped overnight - not all the places we visited

 

We experienced so much history, and archeological wonders that we could bore you to death for days. So we’ll try to hit the places with “wow” factor. Hopefully the pics will be self explanatory.

Nemrut

After a very long first day of driving and frequent stops at lesser historical sites (Turkey has a plethora of sites), we arrived at Nemrut Mountain. There are two ways up this 7000 foot hill. We took the route closest to our position, which was a steep graded gravel road  under reconstruction. There were hairpin turns galore, bread loaf sized boulders everywhere and parts where the old road was washed away. Thank heavens it wasn’t our car. At the end of the road, you still faced a 1000 foot hike to the summit. Apparently it is common practice to watch the sunrise or sunset from the summit, but the very idea of negotiating that path in the dark was unnerving. The vista at the top was worth the effort, but the icing on the cake was the 9 meter high statues who guard the 1^st century royal tomb located there. Behind them and covering the tomb is a 200 foot pile of walnut sized gravel.  The sculptors after building the statues, had all the residual rock broken up into a pile – a mammoth task, but guaranteed that this was one tomb not been looted. Where is the front door? The ride down was a gentle 17 kilometer long road of interlocking bricks.  The longest driveway ever. (Turkey has few oil reserves - concrete is cheaper - many streets are interlocking brick)

 

Guardians of the tomb with the man made rock pile in the background



Hassankeyf

Our next eye popper was a place that is on the endangered list owing to a massive hydro electric dam scheduled to be completed this year. The area is reported to have been inhabited for 10,000 years, by over 20 cultures. We witnessed a beautiful old mosque, immense limestone cliffs which were riddled with man made caves, into which the inhabitants retreated during times of danger. Because of erosion you could see the stairwells descending the 200 feet to the River Tigris to enable them to get water. There was also the remains of a bridge spanning the 40 meters, which was likely used by Marco Polo when following the Silk Road. All this is to be flooded by 2016. Only the Tomb of Zeynal is to be relocated, along with all the locals to a new village consisting of high-rise flats. After generations of living on the land in simple brick homes – it could be a dreadful transition for these folks. In all, 200 archeological sites are affected by this dam, Hassankeyf being the most notable loss.



The old city of Hansakeyf soon to be submerged to the top of the mosque's mineret



The only structure to be relocated - The Tomb of Zeynal

The limestone cliffs riddled with tunnels from top to bottom

Sanliurfa

We stayed in other towns with history tracing back as far as 9000BC, which would turn this blog into a book. Sanliurfa is a place on the vast Plain of Anatolia, which has been converted through water management into some of the world’s most productive agricultural property. The Arab and Turkish people are very traditional in dress, such that we too were always covered up. Foreign visitors are still very rare, so a lot of staring occurs, until we’d smile and nod. Then they would break out into a hearty grin. The children were most gregarious coming right up and asking – what’s your name, where you from and how old are you. Of course we lied. We told them we were Akmar and Filiz.



The Turkish-Syrian border - looking at Syria

 Along the Syrian border are miles of barbed wire with a separation zone. We didn’t come across the mass refugee camps we had heard about, but did encounter Syrian licensed cars loaded to the gunwales with all their possessions.  A very sad state of affairs, indeed

The home of the Holy fish - Sanliurfa, where Abraham was either thrown into a fire or threw sticks into the river which turned into fish

Said Holy fish

Apart from prominent religious sites, Sanliurfa has Gobekli Tepe, which is now thought to be the world’s oldest temple 11,500 years. It was only unearthed mid 90’s, until then it had been a farmers field. Some of the stones have plow marks. This circular temple, much like Stone Henge, contains some remarkable carvings on 4 meter upright stones, based upon very smooth and very square bases. It asks the very same questions – where did the stones come from; how did they arrange and erect them; and how did they carve to such precision. They have only just started to excavate to what is believed to be an very extensive community.

Aerial view of Gobekli Tepe

The on going digs

Very elaborate stone wok for 11,500BC

Just the beginning

Harran

Apart from the many “old as dust” monastaries, mosques, churches and universities we visited, one last community stood out. Harran is also said to be the world’s longest continuous community – about the 3^rd millennium BC. It was once a major commercial center for Upper Messopotamia, but today is but a village of persons of Arab descent because of its closeness to the Syrian boarder.

The main attraction is the style of houses used for 3000 years. These bee hive structures are built of mud and straw bricks, without any wood, and are grouped like an egg carton. Each room serves the family a specific purpose.

While there we tried the special drink known as “Bitter coffee”. It takes three days to make, because fermentation is involved. It is served only upon special occasions with ceremony. The server presents you a cup just poured in front of you and waits until you return the cup. To set the cup down is an insult. There is only a teaspoon of the brew in the cup, which was a relief because we both gagged, but smiled when refusing a second offering, unlike our guide who spit and coughed when taking his first taste.

Looking up inside one of the cones

Speaking of becoming aware of cultural differences…. I (Mike) learned one big cultural difference with the Turks. When a waiter came to our table to see if our meal was acceptable, lacking the appropriate reply I would give a thumbs up or make an OK sign. It turns out the OK sign can also be construed as “Are you gay?”. There after my response to any waiter was a head nod and grin in my best non-gay manner. And we thought they were just very friendly.

But it was a great trip. The people were exceedingly friendly, the variety of landscapes amazing and the history mindboggling. So much so we have booked another trip for June to take us up to The Black Sea and Georgia. Then we can say we have seen Turkey.

Well now it is now 33 degrees inside the cabin at noon and this is getting much too long.

So, best wishes to all/have a pleasant summer………Akmar and Filiz

Some general pics:

Diyarbakir

Local cheese shop



Part of 5km city wall - 2nd to Great Wall of China




Old city gates with emblem



????





One of many Church of The Virgin Mary- Orthodox Christian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Midyat

Daily market

 

 



The city of Midyat



Underground homes in centre of Midyat tunneled into limestone



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dara

 

Roman fortification tunneled into limestone

 

Doorway to a church which descends 4 floors
The bottom floor is strewn with 000's of bones and skulls

Nusaybin

Claimed to be world's oldest university
Only just excavated down from windows
Is a stones throw from Syrian boarder

Recently unearthed doorways

Adana

The vast Anatolian Plain recently rejuvinated through the mega dam projects
All the way to Syria