After a long day and a none too honest tour operator with rubbish advice we got a minibus with a driver who thought all tourists should pay twice the real price. We got dropped off at an extortionately priced guest house near the entrance to the park, which we decided not to stay in. Feeling quite fed up we reached the entrance to the park for a chinless clerk to try and overcharge as well. After a fair bit of arguing Djalma and I just walked past his little cabin without paying and started sweating the long walk to the top. Within 15 minutes an old man with his grandson stopped to pick us up, and well that they did – it was a long way to the top and I'd already given up.
We organised a tiny little room with the owners of the café and then set up the hill which was added to by a megalomaniac king history has long since forgotten.
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| From Nemrut Dagi, Turkey |
It was about an hour before sunset and we had plenty of time to enjoy the views. There were two sets of heads which we didn't realise until we continued round the hill. The first set of heads were piled up on rocks and were of the king himself and various different gods, they looked out over rolling hills and a line of mountains further in the distance. Djalma decided to get pumped and did some pushups before we continued walking round the mountain to the most incredible light bathing the hills.
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| From Nemrut Dagi, Turkey |
After a hot day, the cool mountain air was welcome and we sat down to watch the sunset with plenty of other people sitting on and scattered round the rocks. It was one of the most fiery sunsets we've seen and it washed everything in warm light. It got quite cold as soon as the sun went down and we left to go back for dinner and a pricey Efes.
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| From Nemrut Dagi, Turkey |
The next day we left our little box of a room – literally just big enough for two knackered mattresses and us on top of them.
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| From Nemrut Dagi, Turkey |
We missed the sunrise, I didn't care too much – it was far too early to bother although I'm sure it would have been beautiful – a lie in until 7.20 was much better. We hitched a lift down the mountain on a tractor and let me assure you there is no room to sit and even less to hold yourself in a place you shouldn't have squeezed into. We bounced down the winding bumpy road and were dropped off about 7km from where we started, I was tucked on the left wheel beside/behind the driver, Ahmed and Djalma was shaking like jelly on the back with his top off catching some rays – I have not been quite so uncomfortable in a long time, not least because dear old Ahmed (and he was quite old) thought my right knee was ripe for a good old feel, pervert.
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| From Nemrut Dagi, Turkey |
Relieved to get off, we continued down the road on foot until another car stopped to pick us up, he agreed to take us a further 9km for 5TL so we hopped in the back with our bags and were immediately asked for the money by his young son, cheeky monkey. The guy dropped us off and we walked to the main road to try and flag down another lift or get the dolmuş to the ferry. We eventually got a lift to the end of the road by some guys in a big 4x4, one of them was also hitching and was heading in our direction so we three got out and waited just a few minutes before someone else stopped to pick us up, this time it was by an older man who had covered the inside of his car with fake Siberian tiger/zebra fur (Djalma and I couldn't agree on what animal had inspired the print), he took us most of the way to the ferry not talking much, if at all, like nearly everyone else who had picked us up. We walked the kilometre to the little port and arrived just in time to get the next ferry which departed as soon as we were aboard.
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| From Nemrut Dagi, Turkey |
The crossing was short and pretty the lake, created by a dam, was a lovely shade of green. In fact the walk to the ferry crossing was gorgeous, we were surrounded by rolling hills dotted with trees and a good deal of the way, fig trees lined the road. On the other side the guy we had hitched the last couple of rides with had managed to get in with a lorry driver and at his request the driver stopped and collected us as well. He was quiet but nice and at some point near the end of our two hour trip he stopped at a petrol station and bought us ice-creams. We eventually arrived at Diyarbakir and the lorry driver dropped us off outside of town where Hakan from couch-surfing was waiting to meet us.
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