July 18 is when these events occurred, Tatvan to Diyarbakir
This was going to be a long drive and I wanted to get started early. The Crater Hotel provided its third very good breakfast. I enjoyed sitting on on the balcony during breakfast and looking out over Lake Van. In one direction the lake stretched as far as the eye could see. In another direction I saw Tatvan stretching around the western end of the lake and its harbor. There were several steamers, most docked, but one taking off, probably to Van. The houses cascaded down the hill to the waters edge, and in the distance you could see the lake's north shore that we had travelled on three days prior. Finally, up toward the horizon I could see Mt. Nemrut, still streaked with snow. (There are two mountains with this name in Turkey, both named after the same Turkish explorer. This one is an inactive volcano now topped by water-filled craters. The other is taller, part of the Anti-Taurus (like the Ford car) mountain range and is topped with giant heads.) Due to time constraints, we did not go up this Nemrut.
We got going pretty early and before we left town, I decided to fill the gas tank at a BP station on the edge of town. While we were being filled up -- there is no self-service in Turkey, or indeed anywhere on our trip except in France-- the owner came over. First commenting on the wretched appearance of our car, he directed us to the car wash, brushing aside my objections with the promise that "it's free, on me". Then he directed us over to some chairs and had a youngster get us some tea. That began a lengthy discussion with several teas. The owner is relatively young and lives outside Istanbul with his wife and three children. With his brother, who he said is an architect, he owns a string of gas stations across Turkey. This station was very clean and well maintained. It is relatively new. He said that it took him two years to get all the permits and approvals needed to construct and open the station. He said that he has several BP stations and knew about the Gulf platform fire and oil spill. He joked that the Americans were taking all his money with the BP billion-dollar-settlement. He is a Kurd, and although he lives near Istanbul (we were later told that there are 5 million Kurds living in the Istanbul area), like many of the Kurds we spoke with, he was very negative about the current Turkish government's dealings with the Kurds. He had just gotten back from a vacation with his brother in Sarajevo. So much for getting an early start.
On our drive we initially passed Bitlis and began a very long descent through Bitlis Canyon along a river. It was a pretty, engaging drive negotiating the canyon twists and turns that went on for over 70 km. However, once we exited the canyon we began a long, hot, boring drive on D360 across the Anatolian plateau, punctuated only by bathroom and gas stops (the later to do the former).
We arrived at Diyarbakir in mid afternoon. It was a much larger town than I expected with over one million people. Turns out it is the heart of the Kurdish "nation" in Turkey and as such was the center of the 20-year-long PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) guerrilla war against Turkey. A legacy of this violence seems to be the many military installations that are present in the area. All surrounded by barbed wire. (Whom do they need protection from?) Indeed, later in our trip when we were in western Turkey, many expressed surprise, "You were there!" when we told them that we had gone to Diyarbakir. Anyway, our GPS seemed to be working, but it led us astray when seeking our hotel. I finally stopped at a tea house to ask for directions. The seated customers promised to help, but first we had to sit down with them and drink tea, for which they would accept no payment. They were all Kurdish young men. They spoke limited English, but were delighted to learn that we had been traveling through Kurdish areas and wanted to know how we liked the area, its people and what we had seen. A lot of the communication was facilitated by showing them our pictures.
After about 30 minutes and several tea refills, they decided to get a car and lead us to our hotel. We waited a bit for the car, more tea (by then I really had to go to the bathroom) and then they led us to our hotel. Just thanks was all they required. We checked into the SV Business Hotel, which was near one of the gates of the city walls and on a bustling street that our room overlooked. Most of the corners were occupied with food carts, usually mountains of melons of various types. I could not definitively determine what the requested price was, but it seemed as if they sought 5 lira for a kilogram of melon. If correct, that would be about 75 cents per pound. Our car was taken away to an unknown destination for parking.
After getting set up in our hotel, we ventured out and walked to the wall. We passed through the gate and entered an area of official looking buildings that surrounded a park. Many of the buildings are museums that were closed for the day. We encountered a group of six young men who invited us for a drink, tea of course, at a cafe that overlooked the Tigris River. About half spoke English. The most vocal was in the travel/tourist business, and he was very interested in the details of our trip. He recommended that we go up to Mt. Nemrut and said that he would be taking a group there on Monday. He also gave us a checklist of things to see in Diyarbakir. Another was a chemist and two were teachers. To varying degrees, they all were not happy with the current government and felt that it was not permitting the Kurds to express their cultural identity. They were happy that a cease fire had been negotiated between the PKK and the government, but felt that the problems persisted. Virtually all expressed a desire to visit America some day. (I wonder if they tell that to Russian visitors?)
Leaving them when it started to turn dark, we sought out a restaurant for dinner. After striking out on a few places that were not open for dinner, we ended up going to a restaurant on a second floor that seemed to be a local place. Lots of families with kids. I thought that we ordered meat skewers, but unlike the patrons, our meat, while cooked, did not come on a skewer. I passed on the tea, but drank lots of cold, bottled water while other patrons drank out of free pitchers. A good dinner at a reasonable price. We enjoyed conversation with a young man at the table next to us, who was in the Turkish Air Force.
On the way back to our hotel we walked through the Nebi Camii, a mosque with a detached minaret (we had not seen that before) that was covered in alternating black and white bands of stone. End of a long day of tea drinking.
This was going to be a long drive and I wanted to get started early. The Crater Hotel provided its third very good breakfast. I enjoyed sitting on on the balcony during breakfast and looking out over Lake Van. In one direction the lake stretched as far as the eye could see. In another direction I saw Tatvan stretching around the western end of the lake and its harbor. There were several steamers, most docked, but one taking off, probably to Van. The houses cascaded down the hill to the waters edge, and in the distance you could see the lake's north shore that we had travelled on three days prior. Finally, up toward the horizon I could see Mt. Nemrut, still streaked with snow. (There are two mountains with this name in Turkey, both named after the same Turkish explorer. This one is an inactive volcano now topped by water-filled craters. The other is taller, part of the Anti-Taurus (like the Ford car) mountain range and is topped with giant heads.) Due to time constraints, we did not go up this Nemrut.
We got going pretty early and before we left town, I decided to fill the gas tank at a BP station on the edge of town. While we were being filled up -- there is no self-service in Turkey, or indeed anywhere on our trip except in France-- the owner came over. First commenting on the wretched appearance of our car, he directed us to the car wash, brushing aside my objections with the promise that "it's free, on me". Then he directed us over to some chairs and had a youngster get us some tea. That began a lengthy discussion with several teas. The owner is relatively young and lives outside Istanbul with his wife and three children. With his brother, who he said is an architect, he owns a string of gas stations across Turkey. This station was very clean and well maintained. It is relatively new. He said that it took him two years to get all the permits and approvals needed to construct and open the station. He said that he has several BP stations and knew about the Gulf platform fire and oil spill. He joked that the Americans were taking all his money with the BP billion-dollar-settlement. He is a Kurd, and although he lives near Istanbul (we were later told that there are 5 million Kurds living in the Istanbul area), like many of the Kurds we spoke with, he was very negative about the current Turkish government's dealings with the Kurds. He had just gotten back from a vacation with his brother in Sarajevo. So much for getting an early start.
On our drive we initially passed Bitlis and began a very long descent through Bitlis Canyon along a river. It was a pretty, engaging drive negotiating the canyon twists and turns that went on for over 70 km. However, once we exited the canyon we began a long, hot, boring drive on D360 across the Anatolian plateau, punctuated only by bathroom and gas stops (the later to do the former).
We arrived at Diyarbakir in mid afternoon. It was a much larger town than I expected with over one million people. Turns out it is the heart of the Kurdish "nation" in Turkey and as such was the center of the 20-year-long PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) guerrilla war against Turkey. A legacy of this violence seems to be the many military installations that are present in the area. All surrounded by barbed wire. (Whom do they need protection from?) Indeed, later in our trip when we were in western Turkey, many expressed surprise, "You were there!" when we told them that we had gone to Diyarbakir. Anyway, our GPS seemed to be working, but it led us astray when seeking our hotel. I finally stopped at a tea house to ask for directions. The seated customers promised to help, but first we had to sit down with them and drink tea, for which they would accept no payment. They were all Kurdish young men. They spoke limited English, but were delighted to learn that we had been traveling through Kurdish areas and wanted to know how we liked the area, its people and what we had seen. A lot of the communication was facilitated by showing them our pictures.
After about 30 minutes and several tea refills, they decided to get a car and lead us to our hotel. We waited a bit for the car, more tea (by then I really had to go to the bathroom) and then they led us to our hotel. Just thanks was all they required. We checked into the SV Business Hotel, which was near one of the gates of the city walls and on a bustling street that our room overlooked. Most of the corners were occupied with food carts, usually mountains of melons of various types. I could not definitively determine what the requested price was, but it seemed as if they sought 5 lira for a kilogram of melon. If correct, that would be about 75 cents per pound. Our car was taken away to an unknown destination for parking.
After getting set up in our hotel, we ventured out and walked to the wall. We passed through the gate and entered an area of official looking buildings that surrounded a park. Many of the buildings are museums that were closed for the day. We encountered a group of six young men who invited us for a drink, tea of course, at a cafe that overlooked the Tigris River. About half spoke English. The most vocal was in the travel/tourist business, and he was very interested in the details of our trip. He recommended that we go up to Mt. Nemrut and said that he would be taking a group there on Monday. He also gave us a checklist of things to see in Diyarbakir. Another was a chemist and two were teachers. To varying degrees, they all were not happy with the current government and felt that it was not permitting the Kurds to express their cultural identity. They were happy that a cease fire had been negotiated between the PKK and the government, but felt that the problems persisted. Virtually all expressed a desire to visit America some day. (I wonder if they tell that to Russian visitors?)
Leaving them when it started to turn dark, we sought out a restaurant for dinner. After striking out on a few places that were not open for dinner, we ended up going to a restaurant on a second floor that seemed to be a local place. Lots of families with kids. I thought that we ordered meat skewers, but unlike the patrons, our meat, while cooked, did not come on a skewer. I passed on the tea, but drank lots of cold, bottled water while other patrons drank out of free pitchers. A good dinner at a reasonable price. We enjoyed conversation with a young man at the table next to us, who was in the Turkish Air Force.
On the way back to our hotel we walked through the Nebi Camii, a mosque with a detached minaret (we had not seen that before) that was covered in alternating black and white bands of stone. End of a long day of tea drinking.
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