A return to Sanliurfa!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Good evening!

I am getting behind on my posting, and am REALLY tired, so will try to catch up and then head to bed!

Composed salad

Yogurt soup with green stuff!

R's lamb shish

So…last night – Wednesday – we were in Malatya and heading downstairs to go out for dinner.  Well…we got to the restaurant area, but found a real problem!  Because it was so warm outside, restaurants had opened up their sliding glass doors/panels to the outside.  This, though, had the effect of allowing people on the patio to smoke – and you know how we feel about that!  So, after walking along the canal and looking for a good place, we finally decided to head back to our hotel and have dinner there – where we knew the restaurant was on the second floor, and that it was all non-smoking! 

So…got there about 6:45 p.m. and were the only folks there!  (Others did come in while we were eating.)  We asked for menus, and were told that they didn’t have them!!  Very surprising for a 4**** hotel, we thought!  However, walked over to their big poster and pointed -- ordered Tavuk Sis (chicken) for me, and Kozu Sis (lamb) for Robert.  With that, we asked for salad and soup.  The salad was excellent; lettuce, carrot, corn and peppers.  The soup was yogurt – with a green spice, but not sure what one (sumac possibly?)  Very good, albeit a bit unusual (I tend to prefer my yogurt in frozen form!)  All in all, a nice dinner, and then upstairs to bed!  

My chicken shish

Robert's dessert - stuffed and marinated apricots!

Up around 6, and breakfast as usual … although, truth be told, I couldn’t find ANY Turkish Nutella on the breakfast table … but there was something that looked the same, only in milk chocolate flavor.  So – this time, I literally slathered it on top of the chocolate cake piece, and enjoyed it very much!  Packed up and got the car and we were on the road about 9 a.m.

No stops planned, just needed to get to Sanliurfa and our Hilton Garden Inn, where we stayed two years ago when we were in this part of Turkey.  Really loved it then – especially as they had a washer and dryer!  Made our way into Sanliurfa, and it was very, very surprising!  WAY more people than I’d remembered – over 800,000, actually – and building is going on literally everywhere!  Found the hotel, and, of course, my first instinct was to find the washer/dryer…and there it was, right where I’d left it!  To be honest, we were definitely in need of laundry service, but I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t want to jinx anything!  As it was, the jeton (= token) system to start the washer wasn’t being utilized, and we had to have a maintenance person start the machine for us!  I did two loads of laundry – including all four of our pairs of blue jeans – the ones we had worn to Nemrut Dagi were in real need of soap and water – lots of mud, that’s for sure!  My jeans are now hanging in our bathtub, and are almost dry in just a few hours!  (Though if I’d been able to hang them outside our window, they would have been dry almost as quickly as they do in Tucson!  Very dry here!)

Finished up around 4 p.m. and we decided to head over to the “fish lakes” as they call it; the ponds associated with Abraham (from the Old Testament, in case you forgot). 

Stunning park in Sanliurfa

Pool of Abraham and his carp

More of the "fish lakes"

Took a cab, as I didn’t want to have to mess around with parking.  Only 7 TL, which was fine.  In truth, we could certainly have walked, as it wasn’t very far, but it was pretty warm – 30+ degrees Centigrade. 

Me in front of fish pond

Me in bazaar!

Yet another bazaar!

 

The lakes are part of a beautifully green and shady park at the foot of the castle, with two pools filled with fat carp.  According to local legend, Abraham, after he emerged from his cave, became an opponent of King Nemrut  (aka, Nimrod) and tried to smash the idols in the local temple.  Nemrut, obviously not pleased, had Abraham hurled from the citadel battlements into a fire below.  But, Abraham was saved when God turned the flames into water and the firewood into carp.  The carp in the pools are now considered sacred. 

Looking across park to castle on hill

Time for a sit-down!

Robert with castle in background!

The entire park area was absolutely stunning; lots of water via pools and fountains, and it was an incredibly pleasant experience; we were very surprised and pleased!  We walked along both pools, stopped for Coke (for me) and Nescafe (for R, who needs to learn how to order coffee without milk), and even did a little bit of shopping in the bazaar area adjacent to the park.  (MUCH less chaotic than the bazaar in Istanbul, for sure!)

Amazing view!

Second fish lake!

Fountain in second fish lake!

Door into the camii

Then back to the hotel, where we just finished a really lovely dinner.  (Restaurant is just as good as we remember it!)  I did their buffet – had lentil soup, salad, roast chicken, French fries, pasta marinara and an excellent vegetable dish with zucchini and potatoes…and finished up with a trio of great desserts; baklava, a vanilla frozen custard and some coconut cake!  YUM!  Robert had lentil soup to start, and then the köfte – grilled (lamb) meatballs, with rice and veggies.  We were both very happy!

Tomorrow we head to Gaziantemp, where we will be for three days…and as I want to get this posted, I will now close!

Lots of love,

m

xxx