An interesting kind of day!

Friday, May 16, 2014

Hello!

I am having a difficult time trying to decide how to caption today!  Should I say: “I wouldn’t wish this kind of day on ANYBODY!” or perhaps – When “Old” isn’t “quaint and charming” and is just OLD!  At any rate.

First thing on the agenda today was a return visit to Gobeckli Tepe, about 20 km outside of Sanliurfa.  The 2013 Lonely Planet on Turkey indicates that the site is open 24/7, which means that they have a guardian of sorts living on site, and you can show up whenever; someone will be there!  However…that has now changed…little did we know!

In order to avoid crowds and have the site to ourselves, we left the hotel about 6 a.m.  (And it’s REALLY a good thing that we didn’t leave at 5 a.m.!) 

I'm thinking camels...

Structure holding roof

Fierce wild boar

Not much traffic yet on the roads, and there now is good signage to show you the way to the site.  As we got closer, Robert noticed the new fencing, and wondered what that was all about; it certainly hadn’t been there two years ago.  Well, we pulled up at a VERY locked gate – ah ha, say we!  They now have a gate to lock!  However, there was no signage indicating when, if ever, they were open!  So…we had passed a new building close to the gate, and wondered if that is where they are going to have a new visitor site!  Drove back there and walked inside – and there were workmen who were building paths to and around the site, as well as working on the new visitor center.  No one spoke much English, but they did have a Syrian young man – who didn’t speak Turkish – who was able to convey to us that the site would be open at 7 a.m.  YEAH!!  We headed back to the gate and parked – it was now about 6:40 a.m. and in a few minutes, one of the guardians came out – and he actually had the key!  He tried to convey to us that they would open at 7 or 8 or whenever, and we were able to buy our “tickets” from him.  (Hadn’t needed tickets the last time!)  Finally, right at 7, a second gentleman drove up and opened the gate and signaled us to go through!  Progress!  Parked the car and headed to the site – and let me tell you, Australian flies have NOTHING on their Sanliurfa counterparts – UGH!  I was REALLY missing Katy and Hilary’s hat with net!! 

Okay, so here is the good news and the bad news.  Gobekli Tepe has obviously become MASSIVELY important to Turkey and the Sanliurfa district, and they are really determined to protect it, which is really wonderful!  (good news!)  However, they have constructed a roof over the main part of the site which has wooden support beams EVERYWHERE! (bad news) We weren’t able to see nearly what we saw two years ago, which is very disappointing!  [What is needed is a free-standing glass enclosure.  R] However, Robert did re-capture some old friends, and they are included.  

I'm thinking fox here

Standing man with hands

Looking down on the roof

I'm thinking another fox?

For anyone interested, Gobekli Tepe has been identified as the oldest religious site so far discovered in the world!  About 12,000 years ago, before mankind had really morphed from hunter/gatherers to farmers, some very large group of people came together to build this site.  They did some wonderful carvings on stone, without the benefit of any metal tooling, and moved huge stone blocks into place in several large circles.  Then, for whatever reason, they filled the circles in and that was the end of that!  They were discovered around 1995 by a German archeologist who noticed the large amount of flint shavings on the surface of the mound (tepe).  To say that Gobekli Tepe has changed how archeologists view our ancestors would be an understatement.  There are so many questions:  Who were these people?  Where did they come from?  Why did they build this?  How long did it take them?  And why, after doing all this elaborate carving and hard work setting up the stones, did they fill it in?  So far, there has been no trace of where these people lived while the work was being carried on – yet another question to be answered!

Then, back into the car and to Sanliurfa and our wonderful Hilton Garden Inn for breakfast.  There were definitely a great many tour groups over-nighting there, and we heard lots and lots of English being spoken – American English that is, not British English!  However, as tourists are definitely needed for the local economy…and added to the fact that we were again able to have Gobekli Tepe totally to ourselves, we hope they enjoy wherever they’re touring next!  Packed up and checked out about 9 a.m. with the plan to make our way leisurely to Gaziantep, where we’re book in the next three nights.

We did make a detour looking for what remains of Zeugma, a Turkish town that was drowned when one of the new GAP dams was built.  Another situation of emergency excavation, as dozens of absolutely stunning mosaics were due to be covered over by water!  We drove along the Euphrates, which somehow just sounds so magical, but turns out that we needed to go from the other side.However, while trying to find our way back to the road, Robert wound us through some incredibly awkward places…but that was nothing to where we were headed, let me tell you!

Actually, a king-size pistachio!

The lovely Euphrates!

 

So…we had booked a very highly recommended B&B in the “old” part of Gaziantep.  Problem #1 was finding it.  I seriously have never, ever driven streets and alleys like this.  Impossible angles, nowhere to turn, cars going in both directions, not forgetting the people, children, bicycles and postcard racks.  Actually, Emmy, our GPS came very, very close – she just couldn’t get us to drive down a very narrow pedestrian walkway – and believe me, we tried getting there from every angle.  At one point there were three very nice local men trying to help me back up (which I do SO well…) [this is irony, folks.  R] so that I could follow one of the three to a restaurant, where someone from the B&B would find us.  Absolutely unreal – keeping in mind that I have driven in Rome, Florence, Paris and London, this was truly indescribable!  Words still fail me.  Finally, at one intersection – well, it wasn’t an intersection, really, as that implies space – there wasn’t any…I finally just stopped the car, got out and let the guy from the hotel drive, and I followed on foot.  Have to admit that I was pretty shaken by this time.  I do hate those roads that end in staircases or bollards, or where you have nowhere to go but backwards.

So…car managed to get to its parking “lot” (yeah, sure) and we were taken to our room.  Okay, then – as Robert says, often in a long trip, there is a stumble or two along the way.  Well this wasn’t only a stumble, it was as close to a fall as you could get.  Our room, while it had some lovely windows, was, quite frankly a DUMP.  Floor VERY questionable, no place to put our luggage – not even a blanket on the bed – and then, the piece de resistance!   The bathroom!  This was a very large room – even had an easy chair in the corner!  Problem was, there was just ONE small lightbulb to light the entire ROOM!  The room was so dark that you couldn’t even see your face, let along the rest of you – very useful for shaving, makeup, etc.  It was AWFUL.  So now, I’m unhappy – but trying to deal with our reality – once I stopped shaking from the drive!  Robert unhappy #1) because we’re in a dump, and #2) I’m not happy!

However!!  This is a long weekend!  Monday, May 19^th, is a national holiday!  Attaturk National Sports Day!  So…we finally made a few calls and found that the skyscraping Dedeman Hotel on the outskirts of town actually has a room for us at a reasonable rate!!  So!  Off we went!  Told the guys at the B&B (who were very nice, by the way!) that I was very unhappy, and we were leaving.  They were great about helping us get the luggage back into the car, and one of the guys even drove us down to a point where I could take over and still get us out of town!

Now at this point, Emmy decided to freeze up … so the search for Emmy II (which we are of course carrying, as a backup!)  was made, but of course, Emmy II didn’t have the address of the new hotel.  Back on the phone with the hotel … what a mess, truly!  FINALLY, Robert got Emmy working again, and we were able to get to the hotel.  And it’s lovely!  We’re on the 9^th floor, with a stunning bathroom (WITH lights!!), as well as space for our clothes and a floor that I don’t have to worry about!  Oh!!  There is a comforter on the bed!!  Whoopee!!  

After this, I needed a lie-down, and Robert was doing some work.  Tomorrow, our plan is to drive back into town to the Zeugma Mosaic Museum and the Archeological Museum.  We’ve done the mosaics before, but they are so beautiful they can definitely be done again!  And this time, we’ll include the Archeological Museum!

Dinner downstairs tonight!!

Lots of love and thanks for listening to all my complaining!

m

xxx