As soon as we stepped off the bus the staring began, a big change from Antep (Halfeti and Rumkale didn't really count because there weren't many people there at all). We walked to a meeting point Djalma arranged with Halil a 29 year old student who was hosting us through couch-surfing and he came and collected us in his fathers car. We drove for almost two short minutes before arriving at the student house we were to stay at! It was a proper student flat and although he kept apologising that it wasn't clean it was a lot better than our apartment back in Moscow had been most of the time.
After a little persuasion he agreed to walk, read not drive, to the end of the road and point us in the right direction so we could go and explore the town on foot. Almost opposite the road leading to his flat he pointed out a good baklava shop which I managed to remember as a reference point every time we passed it – very useful if we happened to forget to indulge in some syrup laden, pistachio filled goodness, which we didn't, thanks to me of course.
Feeling hungry we walked down the main street until we got to a decently priced restaurant, which turned out to be recommended in our guidebook, and filled up on delicious kebabs before heading back to the baklava shop to see if Halil was right. He was. It was mouth-wateringly gorgeous and with a little self control we limited ourselves to one piece each after promising to go back the following day.
Back at the flat we were greeted by some of Halil's friends who all seemed very nice but there wasn't a woman among them and I left them to chain-smoking and talking in Turkish while I read in the bedroom.
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| From Urfa, Turkey |
The next day, after a shower in the windowless and unlit bathroom, we left to go and explore the town. I made the mistake of wearing my new dress, which I guess was really too short for Turkey, and regretted my choice the whole day managing to draw every eye which wasn't blind. I got more and more frustrated at the attention and grumbled that I would leave the flat stark naked the next day and see if it got me any more looks.
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| From Urfa, Turkey |
We walked through town, got lunch at the same restaurant and then walked through the market where I was mindful of grabbing hands (at the guidebooks warning) but wasn't groped – probably because Djalma stuck to me like glue and glared at anyone who looked like they were about to get fresh. We ended up in a big green park surrounding a big Mosque with fish ponds and mini canals for the holy green carp to swim through.
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| From Urfa, Turkey |
The number of fish was stunning especially in the big pools directly outside the Mosque, the fish followed people shadows hoping for food and when someone did through in some bread they went nuts and churned the water so all you could see was gaping yellow mouths and twisting green scaled bodies.
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| From Urfa, Turkey |
We sat in one of the cafés and smoked a nargileh pipe watching children play in the sprinklers and small boys climbing trees. The walk back to the flat took us all round town, we got very lost, and just after sunset everything went quiet and most shops we walked past had set up small tables and chairs outside for staff and children to eat the first meal of the day. It was a lovely atmosphere and we were invited to eat or drink something at almost every table, the only sounds were of eating and cutlery scraping plates.
The next day we left early to get the bus to Kahta, Mt Nemrut and it took us almost all day to get there.
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