After considerable hassle with minibuses – getting to the correct Halfeti was a mission with the old and new towns not differentiated between until we got to the wrong one – and a lift from the new Halfeti to the old, we arrived just after sundown. The small towns of Halfeti and Rumkale were partially flooded after a dam was built nearby, Rumkale's residents have all been relocated as have some of Halfeti's and what's left is tucked away between hills, the inhabited part of the town sitting on the edge of the new lake. Very pretty and very peaceful. We were greeted by the small Captain of the 'ferryboat' who showed us to a restaurant and bought us tea. While we had salad for dinner Djalma negotiated the fare for a return boat trip to Rumkale which turned out not to be that much at all. The view from the restaurant which covered a wide jetty, like a couple of other small restaurants, was beautiful and the air was so still that the only ripples on the water's surface came from a passing boat.
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| From Halfeti and Rumkale, Turkey |
The Captain invited us to sleep on his boat for free, we were joined later on by several other tourists who he had invited to do the same and at some ridiculously early hour of the morning about thirty odd more. Joy.
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| From Halfeti and Rumkale, Turkey |
We set off a good half an hour after the first morning tourists boarded and seconds after the last joined the boat. It was around 7am and after the rude awakening and a bad nights sleep, even with ear plugs the sound of small waves lapping the boat were enough to keep sleep at bay, I wasn't in the best of moods and kept to myself amongst all the Turkish tourists while Djalma sat on top with a much sunnier disposition.
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| From Halfeti and Rumkale, Turkey |
The views were beautiful, we were taken along the lake to Rumkale which appeared round a bend not looking too much like a flooded town until you saw the Mosque, the top of which poked out above the water. It was beautiful and cool, the heat of the day hours off yet. Our little captain took the boat back round after everyone had a chance for photos and we headed back in the same direction, within an hour we were back on dry land and heading towards another restaurant on the lake for breakfast.
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| From Halfeti and Rumkale, Turkey |
While we sat and ate cheese, bread, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives for breakfast a small group of musicians set up a bandstand of sorts in the water and played to all the tourists who were apparently there for a protest against something similar happening somewhere else. The music, unlike my mood, was wonderful, and it carried on for a good half an hour playing a medley of classical tunes, it was a lovely morning. Soon enough they put the cameras away that had been filming and started packing up, I read my book while Djalma went for a swim in the lake and went inside another flooded Mosque taking pictures.
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| From Halfeti and Rumkale, Turkey |
We decided that it was time to get out, there was nothing else to do in that town, and so we picked up our bags, said our thank-yous and goodbyes to the little Captain and walked up the hill in the now baking sun, to hitch a lift back to the new Halfeti and from there a bus to Urfa.
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| From Halfeti and Rumkale, Turkey |
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