Monday, May 12, 2014
Amasya to Malatya
Dinner last night was just down the street to a hotel that
backed on the river!
As we were the only
people there, it was very enjoyable to sit and take in the view.
(Note:
Smoking in Turkey is really and truly terrible, and I have
NO idea why all these people aren’t
keeling over from secondhand smoke!
As a
case in point, when we checked into our hotel today, there was an ash tray and
matches on the table … and a no-smoking sign a few feet away!
Anyway…)
 |
| Bridge in Amasya built on Roman arches! |
As we weren’t tremendously hungry, we ordered
soup (tomato with cheese), which was excellent, and salads.
I had my
Çhoban salad – tomatoes,
cucumbers, onions, and R had a salad with several kinds of cheese, baloney (or
something baloney-like), olives, peppers and pickles, served with
right-out-of-the-oven bread, which was amazing.
 |
| Tomato soup and R's salad |
One thing we did confirm though – central Turkey is a bit more
conservative than western Turkey, and if you want to have a glass of wine with
dinner (or anything else alcoholic!) you have to go to a café/restaurant/bar!
No bar, no wine!
Interesting concept!
Back to the room then, for a good nights’
sleep, as we wanted to be on the road fairly early this morning for our drive.
 |
| The only other English speaker I've seen! |
Up around 6 and ready to go about 7:30 a.m. but first,
breakfast. Had the “usual” and we were
able to get everything into the car and ready to leave by 8:30 a.m. My iPad had indicated that it would be 7½ hours
to get to Malatya. Emmy, our GPS said it
would take 6 hours! Now we have to see
who is right!
And actually, Emmy, our GPS came closer to the time! (Which is a good thing, I would think!) We would have made it here sooner but for
some major road construction that was ongoing over our route. At any rate, no superhighways today, but lots
of lovely roads with very little traffic.
We reached the sprawling metropolis of Malatya (population
~500,000) about 2:30 p.m. and headed to our hotel.
(Note:
There is an absolutely HUGE Doubletree hotel being built on the
outskirts of town; it’s stunning from the outside!)
Emmy navigated us directly to our hotel, in
the busiest of traffic!
Fortunately,
there was a traffic policeman who we stopped to ask directions from, and voila!
Hanem Hotel was right across the street!
Robert went in to get reinforcements – a nice bell boy who helped get
the luggage out, and then made the car disappear!
 |
| Our room at Hanem Hotel in Malatya |
Lovely hotel!
We were
served a glass of something pink and sweet – some sort of fruit juice, I think,
with slices of lemon and sprigs of basil, and sent up to our room!
We’re on the 5
th floor, 509.
It’s a lovely triple room with huge glass
wall overlooking the street – and, best of all, a window that can actually
OPEN!
 |
| Fascinating... |
Started arranging things, and
stopped to wash my hands – to find that there was absolutely NO water of any
kind coming out of the taps!!
R called
down to the desk and they said “water in 10 minutes” … hmmm… but, it did show
up; still seems strange to us, though!
Additionally, we were not able to get to the internet.
Robert had to go downstairs with Gulliver,
our netbook, and have them reset their modem…we’ll see how everything else
goes!
Then, out for a walk around the neighborhood (a very busy,
bustling area) to see what there was to see!
The main object of staying in Malatya is to get to Nemrut Dagi and
Aslantepe, as well as the Malatya Archeological Museum.
Turns out the museum is directly down our
street, so we’ll be able to walk when we go there!
Staying here three nights.
 |
| Robert with some VERY spicy peppers! |
Decided that pizza was the way to go tonight, and found a very
nice, small place called Donato’s.
Settled in and ordered a large pizza margarita to share – cheese and
tomato only.
 |
| Really excellent pizza! |
Have to admit, the pizza
was really excellent!
So surprised for
some reason!
By then, it was almost 6, so we decided to call it a
day! More later!
m
xxx
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