July 20 Diyarbakir to Midyat
Note, we heard today when we were in a wine store, the first time we have seen that in Turkey, in Midyat, that a bomb had been detonated in a nearby town and had killed about 20 people. We are close to the Syrian border and the rumor is that ISIS set off the bomb. The common wisdom here is that Turkey supports ISIS, but the bomb might have been directed against the Kurds, with whom ISIS has been warring in both Iraq and Syria. Anyway, we are fine, but I think that we will decline at this time the offers and suggestions we have gotten from Kurdish Iraqi tourists and others here to visit Northern Iraq.
The SV Business Hotel in Diyarbakir again provided another good breakfast with fresh eggs and cool fresh watermelon. The US is missing great, sweet taste from watermelons with seeds. More importantly, we got great correct directions from a member of the hotel staff on how to exit Diyarbakir and get on our way to Hasankeyf. GPS also had directions, but they involved many more turns. We were on the road out of town before 10 am.
We were generally paralleling the Tigris River, but except for a few very small villages and the large town Batman, [I do not think it has any relation to the action hero and the book offered no reason to stop there] the road took us through largely empty, dry, mountainous country. We did not even see many animals or shepherds.
When we approached Hasankeyf we first came to the Zeynel Bey Turbesi. This is a remarkably well preserved conical 15th century tomb built by a provincial governor for his son. Reasons unknown. It is situated on grasslands by the Tigris River. A paved path led us down to the riverbank from where we could view the old bathhouse, the caves in the cliffs across the river, the Citadel on top of the cliffs and the supports for a large bridge across the river. I took off my shoes and went wading in the Tigris. This is one of two rivers that nurtured the ancient Fertile Crescent. The water was moving somewhat swiftly and was pretty warm. It did not offer much relief from the increasing heat.
We then drove across the modern bridge spanning the river into town. Luckily, we found a parking space, although it was in the sun so the car and its contents were incredibly hot when we returned to the car. We walked down a pedestrian street that was filled with shops. We struck up a conversation with a rug merchant. He is a 37-year-old who decried himself as a professional only in rugs and coins. He showed us several coins that he claimed to have found in the surrounding area that seemed to go back to Roman times. His advice was to look for coins after it rained. He stocked rugs, and a few carpets for which he showed distain, from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, and he discussed at length stitches, dyes (natural much better since it will allegedly not fade), ages of the rugs and their contents. Many of the rugs were kilims which do not have any pile.
He said that he worked for KBR in Mosel in 2005 for several months. He said the money was very good, but the work was dangerous. He urged us to go to Northern Iraq, which he proudly referred to as Kurdistan. He said there still are American soldiers there. He said he goes there for business and that many tourists come from there to his town. We saw some when we were there.
He also spoke at length on the Kurdish issue. He, like others before and after with whom we spoke in this area, said that while getting somewhat better, there still is a problem with the government. He said that since the fighting has stopped the Kurds have managed to gain political representation in the Turkish parliament, but that the national government does not treat the Kurds fairly either economically or culturally.
An interesting thing about this town is that it is scheduled to disappear. Turkey, ever in need of water and power, is building the Southeast Anatolia Project ("GAP") that will put dams on the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. That has not only pissed off Iraq, Syria and Georgia, but the Ilisu dam as planned will flood Hasankeyf in 2019. The UN has placed the valley and town on its 100 Watch list of most endangered sites. The rug guy actually called an American who lives locally and is working to stop the dam. I spoke with him for a while and he was not too optimistic. Across the valley you could see the new town that the government is building for the residents, but the rug guy said that inadequate compensation was being offered to the residents for their houses. He also said that the "union" had organized a protest against the project last year before the election by closing the bridge for several hours. He said that brought out the Army and while they got some adjustments, there are still problems. Surprisingly, there is a restoration project going forward to restore the supports for the old bridge which will be submerged if the dam is finished.
We toured a local mosque along the river bank and then tried to enter the trail to the caves. We were told that we could not enter without a guide. I think that was tourist buckshot, but after some haggling about the price we hired a guide. He is a 54-year-old guy who primarily works as a shepherd. He says that he was born in and lived in one of the caves until age 6. We hiked with him through the old town and entered a few caves. Then we went into the canyon and hiked further up. There are hundreds of caves of varying size and purpose. He pointed out some cave churches and public rooms.
The guide would burst out in loud song periodically, in some cases to applause from other hikers in the canyon. On the way down he connected us with an extended family, including a grandmother who hiked like a mountain goat down to her numerous grandchildren, one of whom had returend to Turkey for a first visit from her home in Germany and another who was hiking the caves in high heels. They had hauled a small stove up the canyon and were making Turkish tea. (That is ubiqutious here; I have been offered and drinking numerous cups every day while in southeastern Turkey.) They were also handing out bread and, most important, ice water.
When we returned to the base of the canyon, the guide took us to a cave Cafe where we lounged on cushions and we were served Turkish coffee. It was very thick and had what seemed to be nut pieces in it. He said it included milk and honey. It was served with M&M candies and thankfully water. The bottom of the cup at the end of the drink seemed to contain sludge.
On our way out of town we stopped for gas and were also given tissues. We then left for Midyat, which formerly was dominated by Assyrian Christian, but in the past century they have largely been killed or pushed out and the new part of town is Kurdish. The old town, where we stayed in the Shmayaa Hotel, is medieval with lots of alleyways and houses that have courtyards that are surrounded by carved windows and reliefs. As we walked around, the area seemed to have virtually no restaurants, but scores of jewelry shops. I guess they prefer gold here rather than food.
We also saw for the first time in Turkey wine shops. They stocked locally produced wine. In one jewelry/wine shop we spoke with a Christian Turk who had emigrated to Sweden 30 years ago when he was a child; he was back helping his cousin set up the shop and looking into the potential of importing this local wine to Sweden. His account of history was that the Ottomans not only killed and persecuted the Armenians, but also the Assyrian Christians so that a community that was very large 100 years ago is now very small. While there are a lot of churches here, he said there are not enough congregants to support them.
Our boutique hotel is a 1600-year-old former church facility. It has been beautifully restored with a lovely courtyard and rooftop dining. The heat all day had been intense and sitting up on the roof after the sun went down with a gentle breeze overlooking the city lights (including the 4 intensely green-lit minarets of one of the mosques) was very relaxing. I broke down and had a jug of bottled water with lots of ice that I drank quickly. A nice calm dinner. Our room was not large, but it had wonderful air conditioning, a great bed and a large bathroom with a good shower (plus cushy slippers and robe), and arched stone ceilings gave it an air of spaciousness.
Note, we heard today when we were in a wine store, the first time we have seen that in Turkey, in Midyat, that a bomb had been detonated in a nearby town and had killed about 20 people. We are close to the Syrian border and the rumor is that ISIS set off the bomb. The common wisdom here is that Turkey supports ISIS, but the bomb might have been directed against the Kurds, with whom ISIS has been warring in both Iraq and Syria. Anyway, we are fine, but I think that we will decline at this time the offers and suggestions we have gotten from Kurdish Iraqi tourists and others here to visit Northern Iraq.
The SV Business Hotel in Diyarbakir again provided another good breakfast with fresh eggs and cool fresh watermelon. The US is missing great, sweet taste from watermelons with seeds. More importantly, we got great correct directions from a member of the hotel staff on how to exit Diyarbakir and get on our way to Hasankeyf. GPS also had directions, but they involved many more turns. We were on the road out of town before 10 am.
We were generally paralleling the Tigris River, but except for a few very small villages and the large town Batman, [I do not think it has any relation to the action hero and the book offered no reason to stop there] the road took us through largely empty, dry, mountainous country. We did not even see many animals or shepherds.
When we approached Hasankeyf we first came to the Zeynel Bey Turbesi. This is a remarkably well preserved conical 15th century tomb built by a provincial governor for his son. Reasons unknown. It is situated on grasslands by the Tigris River. A paved path led us down to the riverbank from where we could view the old bathhouse, the caves in the cliffs across the river, the Citadel on top of the cliffs and the supports for a large bridge across the river. I took off my shoes and went wading in the Tigris. This is one of two rivers that nurtured the ancient Fertile Crescent. The water was moving somewhat swiftly and was pretty warm. It did not offer much relief from the increasing heat.
We then drove across the modern bridge spanning the river into town. Luckily, we found a parking space, although it was in the sun so the car and its contents were incredibly hot when we returned to the car. We walked down a pedestrian street that was filled with shops. We struck up a conversation with a rug merchant. He is a 37-year-old who decried himself as a professional only in rugs and coins. He showed us several coins that he claimed to have found in the surrounding area that seemed to go back to Roman times. His advice was to look for coins after it rained. He stocked rugs, and a few carpets for which he showed distain, from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, and he discussed at length stitches, dyes (natural much better since it will allegedly not fade), ages of the rugs and their contents. Many of the rugs were kilims which do not have any pile.
He said that he worked for KBR in Mosel in 2005 for several months. He said the money was very good, but the work was dangerous. He urged us to go to Northern Iraq, which he proudly referred to as Kurdistan. He said there still are American soldiers there. He said he goes there for business and that many tourists come from there to his town. We saw some when we were there.
He also spoke at length on the Kurdish issue. He, like others before and after with whom we spoke in this area, said that while getting somewhat better, there still is a problem with the government. He said that since the fighting has stopped the Kurds have managed to gain political representation in the Turkish parliament, but that the national government does not treat the Kurds fairly either economically or culturally.
An interesting thing about this town is that it is scheduled to disappear. Turkey, ever in need of water and power, is building the Southeast Anatolia Project ("GAP") that will put dams on the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. That has not only pissed off Iraq, Syria and Georgia, but the Ilisu dam as planned will flood Hasankeyf in 2019. The UN has placed the valley and town on its 100 Watch list of most endangered sites. The rug guy actually called an American who lives locally and is working to stop the dam. I spoke with him for a while and he was not too optimistic. Across the valley you could see the new town that the government is building for the residents, but the rug guy said that inadequate compensation was being offered to the residents for their houses. He also said that the "union" had organized a protest against the project last year before the election by closing the bridge for several hours. He said that brought out the Army and while they got some adjustments, there are still problems. Surprisingly, there is a restoration project going forward to restore the supports for the old bridge which will be submerged if the dam is finished.
We toured a local mosque along the river bank and then tried to enter the trail to the caves. We were told that we could not enter without a guide. I think that was tourist buckshot, but after some haggling about the price we hired a guide. He is a 54-year-old guy who primarily works as a shepherd. He says that he was born in and lived in one of the caves until age 6. We hiked with him through the old town and entered a few caves. Then we went into the canyon and hiked further up. There are hundreds of caves of varying size and purpose. He pointed out some cave churches and public rooms.
The guide would burst out in loud song periodically, in some cases to applause from other hikers in the canyon. On the way down he connected us with an extended family, including a grandmother who hiked like a mountain goat down to her numerous grandchildren, one of whom had returend to Turkey for a first visit from her home in Germany and another who was hiking the caves in high heels. They had hauled a small stove up the canyon and were making Turkish tea. (That is ubiqutious here; I have been offered and drinking numerous cups every day while in southeastern Turkey.) They were also handing out bread and, most important, ice water.
When we returned to the base of the canyon, the guide took us to a cave Cafe where we lounged on cushions and we were served Turkish coffee. It was very thick and had what seemed to be nut pieces in it. He said it included milk and honey. It was served with M&M candies and thankfully water. The bottom of the cup at the end of the drink seemed to contain sludge.
On our way out of town we stopped for gas and were also given tissues. We then left for Midyat, which formerly was dominated by Assyrian Christian, but in the past century they have largely been killed or pushed out and the new part of town is Kurdish. The old town, where we stayed in the Shmayaa Hotel, is medieval with lots of alleyways and houses that have courtyards that are surrounded by carved windows and reliefs. As we walked around, the area seemed to have virtually no restaurants, but scores of jewelry shops. I guess they prefer gold here rather than food.
We also saw for the first time in Turkey wine shops. They stocked locally produced wine. In one jewelry/wine shop we spoke with a Christian Turk who had emigrated to Sweden 30 years ago when he was a child; he was back helping his cousin set up the shop and looking into the potential of importing this local wine to Sweden. His account of history was that the Ottomans not only killed and persecuted the Armenians, but also the Assyrian Christians so that a community that was very large 100 years ago is now very small. While there are a lot of churches here, he said there are not enough congregants to support them.
Our boutique hotel is a 1600-year-old former church facility. It has been beautifully restored with a lovely courtyard and rooftop dining. The heat all day had been intense and sitting up on the roof after the sun went down with a gentle breeze overlooking the city lights (including the 4 intensely green-lit minarets of one of the mosques) was very relaxing. I broke down and had a jug of bottled water with lots of ice that I drank quickly. A nice calm dinner. Our room was not large, but it had wonderful air conditioning, a great bed and a large bathroom with a good shower (plus cushy slippers and robe), and arched stone ceilings gave it an air of spaciousness.
Is the Twingo air-conditioned?
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