Para yok... Otostop!

Last weekend the usual suspects, Mariem (Tunus) and Chaterina (Denmark) went for one more adventure, this time to Mount Nemrut (Nemrut Dağı) and Malatya. The places we’ve been are amazing, but the focus this time will be on the travel itself and on the people we met.

Our first goal was Nemrut Dağı, so we headed first to Adıyaman and from there directly to Nemrut without stopping to see anything. We got very lucky on the road and got to Nemrut before planned. Hitchhiking is like that, you never know what is going to happen or the path you will take to get where you want.

Trajectory (Red – Saturday; Black – Sunday)

Fafy enjoying the fresh air and the landscape in the best lift ever

Nemrut is… I think the pictures speak for themselves!

West side of the tomb

Eastern terrace

Mariem inspired by the mountain

This sacred tomb was erected on the mountain top by Antiochus I, King of Commagene in 7 July 62 BC. The precise date of the beginning of the construction is known because there is at the site a large slab showing the arrangement of stars and the planets Jupiter, Mercury and Mars!

There were originally sitting statues of the King, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian, and Iranian gods. Probably due to religious quarrels, the heads of the statues are now scattered throughout the site. The statues appear to have Greek-style facial features and Persian clothing and hairstyling, a fusion originated due to Antiochus Greek and Persian ancestry. The tomb is 49m high and is pyramidal shaped. It was excavated several times, but no attempt has been successful in revealing the tumulus of the King.

There we met a couple that offered to take us to Malatya. Karam is from Istanbul, Kia is from Arizona, USA, and their 5 year old jewel is Nika. Their perspective of life, open-mindedness and general knowledge was mind-blowing for me. They chose the mountain route to Malatya, and while struggling to fit in the back seats the whoole ride, we were having a very interesting talk about different subjects, since their and our life stories to politics, religion, America, etc... Kia was also a volunteer for a long time in South America. I was particularly incredulous with the pedagogic way they educate their daughter. She is 5 and I don’t know many grown up people with such ideas about religion, and I also don't know many parents that provide their children this kind of freedom to make conscious choices about it.

Sight from the “mountain road”

We arrived late in Malatya and after having dinner with the couple in the University campus, we met Ferhat, this English teacher with also a broad view on interesting topics.

The next day we visited the city in the morning and headed back to Adıyaman. Luck was stıll with us as we found Erbaa, or he found us. Erbaa is a good friend that knows the cool places between Malatya and Adıyaman to take photos and to have lunch!

Erbaa, me, the lake and the mountain

From Adıyaman on, Lady Luck was already tired of us so she left somewhere else, as we took more than six hours to get back home, but the damage was done – each trip gets better and better and in this one, in addition to nice places we had the pleasure to meet this fantastic people.

Paco