5/9-5/10: Jack picked us up at 9:50am, got to SFO at 10:20. There were tons of people waiting to pass security check point, Anita was pulled to have her luggage examined due to the knife look-like chopsticks she carried. Arrived at Frankfurt at 9:37 am (9 hours ahead of San Jose time), going through security checkpoint (Germany was different, they don't require people removing shoes or belt but do require tablets being taken out of backpack), we are ready to board Turkish Airlines to Istanbul. Turkish Airlines uses Airbus 340 for this service, even though it was not brand new, the long leg space and LED TV for every seat was much much better than United airlines' outdated 747. The flight took off on time and arrived 20 minutes early. It was easy to get the $20 landing visa after getting into the airport lobby, but there was a huge crowd trying to pass custom, airport official,finally decided to open up another check point to relieve the wait. There was at least 3 dozen people outside the custom, all holding name(s) they want to pickup, we checked several times but could.not find Anita's name, but finally decided upon another pickup service - the same price. Traffic to the hostel was pretty bad (not sure if caused by usual commute or something else), it took more than 45 minutes. Paid（to the hostel）€25 for the shuttle - kind of expensive but did save some hassle. The Sur hotel room was small but neat, a total of $225 for 3 nights. We rest for a while then walked to Blue Mosque, male must not were short, female must not show arms or legs, plus all shoes must be removed to see the inside. Walked along Divan Yolu Cd, populated with tourists, much like our 夜市. The Sur hotel has bad sound-proofing rooms, you can hear people talking in the lobby downstairs, or walking up/down the stairs, we could not fall asleep until all was quiet but then it's jet lag take-over time.
5/11: Woke up early - 2:00 am, managed to relieve by drinking a lot of water and consume more food. Went out to walk on the wharf, wasn't an easy access, need to walk along a very busy street, cross one wide road, and pass a garbage filled field, there were a dozen people fly-fishing on the wharf, some kind of small silver fishes appeared to be their only catches. Buffet breakfast was served on the top floor, vegetables are fresh, scramble eggs are tasty, and instant nestcoffee was actually very nice. Our plan was to visit Hagia Sophia, but there wad long lines already even though we arrived before it was open, we decided to visit Topkapi Palace instead, this one was easier to get in (ticket was TL25) but required 5 to 10 minutes wait to enter each of the display chamber/room. We spent 2 hours total in Topkapi Palace then went back to Hagia Sophia, there were three lines now, as we got close to the ticket office, Anita discovered the third line was considerably longer and that it was for people to get in after getting the tickets, we decided to come back tomorrow morning - earlier! Visited the Basilica Cistern, an ancient underground water storage structure built in the 6th century - the largest of several hundred of them under Instanbul. After taking a short break and some food, we started walking toward the ruins of Bozdogan Aqueduct - an ancient structure that convey water to the city. We walked nearly 40 minutes back to our hotel room at 3:30, we were exhausted and slept until 8:00, so instead of going out for dinner, we consumed what's left of our bring-over food plus some chips.
5/12:
First thing today is to finish what we missed yesterday - Hagia Sophia/Ayasofya - there were less than 50 people waiting in line for the ticket, maybe there were fewer (or no) cruise ships today. Constructed about 300 A.C.E as Orthodox church, converted to Catholic church, then to Muslum mosque, and finally to museum. BTW, ticket was TL25 each.
As we walked toward the pier, Anita noticed a €10 deal for a two-hour ride, we took it. Someone lead us to a shuttle which then took us to the boat e minutes away, it was an old and not too big boat, this may explain the price. First half of the ride was not bad as there were quite a few photo opportunities, the second half was on the Asia continent side of the bay and not much to see.
After getting off the bay cruiser, we crossed the street(?) and found Egyptian Market (?), took some photos and bought about 1 kilo Turkist delight(1/2 kilo of dry figs for TL8, 1/2 kilo of pistacho mashmellow for TL16, plus 1/2 kilo ? for TL16). We lost our direction and had to ask around to get back to the hotel.
We had burgers for dinner at a stand near Ayasofya - TL4 cheese burger, TL3.5 burger, and TL3.5 fresh screezed O.J. This possibly the fisrt time eating buger without fries and coke.
5/13: Got up at 6:30 and started packing, the consumption of one Pringle chips seemed to balance the addition of the Turkish delight box for the luggage space. The shuttle was scheduled at 10:35 but was late by 30 minutes, it took only 20 minutes to get to Atatuk airport, the driver was nice to take us to domestic part of the airport, we were a little scared when he had to get out of the airport then turn around to enter domestic section. It was very confusing that we had to go through security check again when we wanted to enter boarding area, this was after an exactly the same security check process when we entered the airport building, to me, this was totally a waste of time. We bought a mazrella salad from the food court, costs TL12, a bottle of water costs TL2.50, quite expensive. A Muslim lady gave us an apple and orange without any reason, this was the first good will we received today. TK2750 to Van took off on time at 2:00 and landed on time at 4:00, there was even a meal on board, which we saved the sandwich for dinner. Got out of the Van airport and hop on a taxi, they charge fare by meter, the cost to Merit Sahmaran hotel was TL35.
After checking in, we immediately head out to town center to get map since the hotel does not have any. Since taxi was expensive to get around, we decided to use the popular transportation - minibus - ,you simply stand and wait by the roadside and wave off one and tell them where you are going, fare was distance dependent. While we werewaiting by the roadside, a nice guy told us that for our destination, we need to go to the other side. As we were crossing the street, a lady driver stopped her car and ask if she could offer us a ride, but too bad we were not going her way :-( We finally got on a minbus, we found out none of the people on the minibus spoke any English, we tried hard to communicate where we were going and how much the fare was, after some struggle, we kind of understand that they were taking us to the place where we could get a map and there will be no charge, it's confusing on the latter part but we gladly accepted their offer. After they dropped us off, Anita asked a few girl students on how to get to Van castle, they were also happy to gave us directions. According to one gentleman on the sidewalk, it'll only be 10 more minutes from where we were, but it ended a lot longer, we finally hopped on another minibus for TL3 to take us both there - 5 minutes later, this would have taken us another 30 minutes if we had walked. Van castle was a fortress built in the 7th to 9th centries BC. A local boy (we learnt later that he's actually dumb - unable to speak) approached us indicating he can take us and see the fortress, so we followed him around, climbing a lot of the time (in my sandles), we would not have climbed so much and accessed to so many amazing views if it weren't for our dumb guide. It's time to go back, as Anita to a minibus look-alike car, it stopped, but it's a private car but the people in that car offerred us a ride, we were only hope they would drop us off at the cross road and we'll get on a minibus to the hotel, but they insisted taking us all the way, and they even stopped the car to ask for directions at a police station. We were so touched by their good gesture. We each took photos in front of the hotel as memento, we should have asked for their e-mail address so we could send them the photos.
5/14: Merit Sahmaran looked like a 4 star hotel by its appearance, hallway, room, amenities but when we enthusiastically went into their breakfast dinning hall, we were shocked to see the food they served, the only thing we could consume were boiled eggs, coffee, and small quantities of vegetables, no bread except big baked 餅, not only it wasn't up to a big hotel standard, it was even much worse than the breakfast in Sur hotel in Istanbul, sigh.
We caught a minibus across the street and headed toward the town center, the fare was TL2 each, that appeared to be commonly followed price. We got off at the corner of iPek Yolu Cd and Melen Cd, Anita realized that we could still ride alone as the minibus turned right, in our direction. But I wasn't able to walk fast because of leg problem, so we had to settle for walking, as Anita asked around as we walked, an old gentleman started showing how/where to go, this continued for more than 30 minutes before we arrived at a minibus stop of sort, there's a minibus heading toward Hosap Castle but they won't take off until 10:00 while it was only 9:00, Anita then found out there's another bus about to take off so we jumped ship. It took the bus about an hour to get there. The castle was right next to a Kurd village(we thought so as the people there spoke in some sort of accent), the castle was part of a joint excavation/conservation/restoration study, not open to the public (as far as we know), plus it was not in a convenient area to attract public. It was no surprise that we were the only visitors not from the neighborhood village. We got on a minibus and headed back to Van, stepped on Van soil at 12:05, since our next stop was Akdamar island in Lake Van, but we are having problem getting there, even though there was a good samaritan leading us to the places/people he knew to find a solution for us, but all these seemed to go in vain, taxi too expensive (TL100), no other minibus want to go (not enough people going), and even if we went there, no ferry would set sail with fewer than 4 person. It than started to became very cold and windy so we decided to head back to the hotel. As we were getting some hot food to take back for lunch as well for dinner, it started to rain, this sealed the idea of going back to our hotel. Entered our room at 1:35. Anita was not comfortable without getting the tickets to Batman in hand first, so she took the trouble going to otogar (auto garage/bus terminal) to buy the tickets - 2 minibus rides each way, took her one and an half hour to do that, really appreciated that.
Our good samaritan (photo taken) in Van :
5/15: Wake up at 1:00, did some packing then went back to bed, repeated several times and finally got up at 5:00. Breakfast was the same except the addition of 2 new kind of baked buns, taste better though. Hotel shuttle took us to otogar, this much like our own 公路局, we met three guys and one girl from Belgium, they were here to visit one of the guy's uncle (turned out we would meet them 3 more times during our trip). The Batman bound bus (a full size) left the station at 9:00, actually passed our hotel enroute. We had a good view of the lake shore for nearly 2 hours, we even saw the Adkamar island, a couple of zoom photos were able to capture the church on the island. Even though we are well in Turkey territory, there was a check point where a military personnel came on board amd check everyone's paper. Bus stopped for lunch at 12:00 and left at 12:27, we bought 4 bananas for TL4 at the grocery store there. We entered Batman at 2:06, the total driving time was 4 and half an hour. We were lead to a bus that's actually taking us to the minibus bounded to Hasankeyf, but we didn't find out until a gentleman who works for Turkey government and spoke fluent English, told us the fare for the first bus was free but the bus taking us to Hasankeyf would be TL3. The bus left Batman at 2:33 and arrived at Hasankeyf at 3:05, didn't take long to find Hasbache Guest house, the owner wanted TL100 for room and breakfast which was TL20 more than what Anita read online from people who visited here in March, we decided to forfeit the breakfast and pay only TL80. We plan to get some stuff from the market for breakfast. Crossing the bridge, we explored the ruins of a bridge from the old silk road. And, the people here are very aggressive , even the kids - they would come chat with you (hello, where are you from, your name, and usually comes the next question, do you have money...), this pattern appeared after several kids did the same. We bought some vegetables from a truck, 4 peaches for TL2, 4 cucumbers for TL1, some strawberry for TL1. Also purchased a Turkish baked bun for TL1, a 1.5 L bottle water for TL1.
The two boys were interesting, so we took a photo of the owner with his truck of vegetables/fruits. He left his address so we could send him the photo.
Produce truck owner address:
Kesme Köprü 3 - o 與 u 上各有兩點
Hasan Key_Batman
Ozan Tapkan
Baris Tapkan
5/16: Breakfast - Strawberry, banana, peach, cucumber, Turkey baked bun. Took a walk to the places we visited yesterday to see them from a different angle - amazing view. Crossing the bridge the last time. Also saw the ruin of an old mosque (name?), in a residential area. Checked out at 8:30, got on the Midyat bound bus at 8:50, fare was TL8, but the ticket master only took TL15 from Anita (turned out the guy did not have proper change, we later paid the shorted one lira. Arriving Midyat at 9:45, found a taxi station nearby, the taxi driver demanded TL70 to take us to Mor Gabriel Monastery he wouldn't budge the price and we relented. The trip began at 9:51. Arriving Mor Gabriel Monastery at 10:10, spent about an hour in the monastery, started heading back at 11:14, the taxi driver took us to the otogar at 11:35 where we took the bus to Mardin, this saved us some trouble looking for otogar. The bus left otogar after 10 minutes, picking up customers from main streets and came back to otogar where a few more passengers got on before we were on our way to Mardin. We entered Mardin city limit at 2:40. When it's time to get off, Anita showed the driver the hotel we want to go but he had no idea, a fellow lady passenger warm-heartedly tried to help us figuring out where the hotel was, made phone call, asked passers-by and took us across the street, the hotel was apparently on a different section of the city, told us to get on the city bus when it came along, also asked driver to tell us where to get off - what a nice lady. After we got off the bus and asked around, we started walking in the direction given. A lady passerby showed us how to get there, 10 minutes later we were at the lobby of a hotel but turned out to be the wrong one, we were told the right one was 4 blocks away, it took us nearly 30 minutes to find it - very tiresome since the road was under repair, the sidewalk was narrow, it was uphill most of the time, and we were pulling our luggages with backpacks. Our room in Reyhani Kasri Hotel had a nice view of Mesopotamia, it had a modern bathroom, a nice lighting design, a balcony, a strong WiFi signal, and total privacy, plus plenty of power outlets. Anita found a deal with the hotel sending a taxi to take us to and from Dara for TL120. Later we found out that the hotel manager Ali would take us instead, according to him, taxi was asking more for the same trip. He drove a nice/new hotel car, very comfortable, he drove fast but safe - I didn't even have seat belt on. The goal was to see the ruins of the East Roman fortress in Dara, current excavation started in 2008 but stopped in 2010, only 20% had been excavated as of now, no plan for new excavation was in place. Ali accompanied us throughout the trip, he lined up a local guide for us and helped translate since the guide spoke limited English. With his help, we were able to see a lot more than with a taxi driver. For TL50 more we also visited Deyrulzafaran Manostery on our way back to Mardin - which left us more time tomorrow to casually walk about the town. Spent TL22 for some skewed beef and stewed beef for dinner, consumed only half.
5/17: Got up at 7:00, intentionaly late since breakfast buffett won't open until 7:30, plus we will only be visiting the old town and they in walking distance. The breakfast was much better than Merit Sahmaran in Van, various kind of breads and hot egg, potatoes plus true professional services are the main difference. Got some info from the front desk and we were off to trek the town. Had lunch at a local store, food was OK, the rice was surprisingly good, all other dishes were too salty to consume without rice or bread, not a real fan of Turkish food.
After finished visiting Mardin Museum (TL5 each), we came back to the hotel. Had to go to the front desk to get Anita's iPad WiFi activated (with my passport number) as the activation provided by Ali expired.
5/18:
Taxi (pickup us at the hotel at 7:50) to otogar 8:05
Bus start 8:08(TL10 each)
Stopped to get gas at 8:55
At otopark ucretlidir (9:22)
Minibus (TL1.5) to hotel 9:30
Thank heaven for a smooth transportation.
Rested until 12:00, had the rolls made last night and head out to see the city at 12:35.
There does not appear to be much too see in Diyarbakir, the few places we visited do not, in my opinion worth the stay here.
Went see the so-called city wall, it was the second longest in the world (since we could not climb up to explore the wall, there wasn't much to say about it. We did encounter an unexpected strong gust that prompted us looking for cover, as the situation did not improve, we headed back to the hotel for shelter. Ordered a lamb döner kebab meal to go on our way, this would be the first true Turkish dish we had.
5/19: Got up at 5:50, went for another look at the city wall at 6:30, this time we were lucky and met the old man who was the care taker of that part of city wall where we were, we did not have any small change lira, but he finally accepted €1 and allowed both of us in. Had breakfast at 7:05, they had scrambled eggs and varieties of breads. Checked out at 7:40, a taxi took us to otogar (small minibus only) at 7:55. The bus (fare was TL8 each) left the otogar at 8:35. As usual, picking up additional passengers along the way before heading out to the highway. Arrived Siverek at 10:10. Got on the minibus to Kahta (prounced ke' ta) at 10:11, the driver came over to find out the address of our hotel in Kahta, he called the hotel but not sure why though. The bus did not leave until 11:01.
Arriving ferry dock at 11:35, missed the 11:30 ferry, had to wait for the scheduled 1:30 daily departure. It's going to be a long wait. Luckily, we were able to sit down drinking tea while waiting for our ferry. A ferry came back from the other side at 12:01, this meant we could leave earlier, at 12:05, our driver signaled us to walk onto the ferry, and our bus moved up to its parking space, the ferry left the docking area at 12:15. The ferry docked at 11:30 and we were on our way to Kahta. Weekend ferry, apparently, had more runs due to higher demand. The minibus dropped us right in front of the New Kommagene Hotel at 1:30. Taking off with hotel tour (TL120 each) at 2:10, first stop was Black Bird Hill/Karakuş, Nemrut Dağı or Mount Nemrut was a man-made tomb from the Kingdom of Commagene. Met the group from Belgium the fourth time, one of the guy lent me his jacket so I didn't have to suffer the extreme cold wind and/or catch a cold. Next stop was Kahta castle, not open to the public, could only take photos afar. Zesi coffee (no caffeine), at Rome Cafe at the bottom of Kahta castle, was made from special Menegig Kah Zesi, it was different but not that good. The guy was selling half kilo for TL40 (stiff price for any coffee), we were going to get some but later found out it was in liquid gel form which we could not take with us. Also stopped at Severan bridge, a Roman bridge constructed in the 3rd century. Came back to the hotel at 7:40, explored the neighborhood and bought the following for dinner as well as for lunch tomorrow:
4 apples: TL4
6 cucumbers: TL1
4 bananas: TL3
Grilled chicken wings with rice, fries, baked bun, and vegetables: TL10
5/20: Our room in New Kommagene Hotel had only a single power outlet, I had to quickly charge the batteries one at a time, managed to get Nexus 7, two Sony NP-BG1 95% charged. IPod touch was on last minute charge while we had breakfast. Breakfast plate contained slices of tomato and cucumber, some salty oliver, 3 kinds of cheese (only one wasn't too salty), one slice orange, and one slice salami, plus a basket of bread (pretty good, went well with butter). The couple who camped outside actually travelled on bike, it's amazing that they can pack everything they need (including their tent) onto the bikes they rode, they (from Netherland) appeared in their 60th. A number of different types of travelers stayed here - by minibus like us, by rental cars, on bike, or in van with bed. We were told our tour bus won't come until 9:35, at that time the owner revealed that the third person for the trip won't be joining us because she's sick, hmm, our guess was that he invented the third person to help sell the tour, but since he lower the price from TL350 to TL250 for two, we are happy for the result plus that he refunded the park entrance fee (to Mount Nemrut yesterday) of TL18. First stop was the Ataturk Dam, Turkey's largest and world's 5th largest.
The world's first temple in Harran, dated back 11,000 year ago, Gobeklitepe was discovered by a German archaeologist in 1995 and had been excavated ever since. Harran ruin was considered the first university of the world. The driver sent us to the hotel in Sanliurfa after finishing the tour, the hotel upgraded us to a better room with balcony and a great view because the driver and the hotel (New Kommogene) he worked for has business relationship with this hotel, how nice. After we get in the room, Anita suspected if we were in the wrong hotel because the name does not match, she went to the front desk and found out that we are OK, most likely the original booking was for the guest house (a hostel style housing) next door and they have the same owner, an upgrade really lifted us, had to thank the driver. Explored the neighborhood - the Fish Pond, Abraham's birth cave, local street market, bought a chicken kebab wrapped in a large thin 麵餅, looked like 春捲 for TL2.5, very tasting. Also bought the following:
6 apples: TL3
3 bagels: TL1.5
This hotel did not have WiFi, first ever in our trip. Found out that they did have WiFi, only available in the lobby - password 6363636363.
5/21: Got up at 6:45, their breakfast started at 7:00. There was a crowd when we went there, sounded like German. This hotel had the best breakfast in our whole trip, 4 different types of egg preparations, cantalope, watermelon, a whole selection of breads, plus Danish bread (cookie?).
We checked out at 8:45, got on taxi at 8:55 and arrived otogar at 9:10, got tickets (TL20 each) to Gaziantep at 9:13. This was a long haul bus which stops at Gaziantep, Adana, Ankara, and final stop was Istanbul. We took the very front seats on the right , had a great view of the bus ahead, should be able to take some good photos. Bus left otogar at 10:00. We were told to move to our assigned seats 13 and 14, too early to be happy ^_^.
The bus turned south heading Suruc which was only 10 miles from Syria boarder, the bus stopped in Onbirnisan, which was about 12 miles from Syria boarder, picked up several passengers before heading northwest to the main freeway. Bus stopped in Birecik at 10:55 for more passengers. The national freeway system can be seen here enroute to Gaziantep, it's very well maintained and has 3-lane on each direction most of the way. Arriving Gaziantep bus terminal at 12:22. Taxi took us to hotel Ugurlu. Since we were early, we had to wait about 10 minutes (for them to clean up the room) before checking in. Took a minibus (TL1.5 each) to Zeugma Mosaic Museum, spent one and half an hour there, amazing display, especially the Egyptian Girl - major feature of the museum. Rested in the hotel for a short while before walking to Imam Çağdaş (a famous local restaurant) with the assistance of Google map, it was only a short 8 minutes walk, with occasional consulting of passers-by of course. We were going to have the meal (TL17.5) takeout but we probably did not communicate too well, we dined there which was good because it tasted great. We also purchased half kilo of mixed Baklava - TL24. We accidently found the must see "Old Grand Bazaar" right across the street, Anita bought a "Egyptian Girl Mosaic" magnet and a string of prayer beads. This hotel did not provide hot water until 7:45pm, took a while to figure out - a first in all our hostel stay but I guess you couldn't ask too much for €35 per night. WiFi was available but was kind of slow. On the plus side, this hotel provides hairdryer, TV with one English channel (CNN), multiple power receptacles.
5/22: There was breakfast afterall, it was behind a less noticeable door. The food provided was more than adequate for the room charge. After Anita took care of the online check-in issue, we headed to "Gaziantep Kale/Castle", it wasn't special but we spent sometime exploring the nearby neighborhood, bought some Pistachio (TL14.5) and Pican delight(TL38). A little later we saw the same Pistachio delight selling for half the price in the street. Went back to the hotel at 11:20 - lunch our style (apple, cucumber, Turkish bagel, Baklava from Imam Çağdaş, and bottle water. Explored the neighborhood again, discovered that there were a number musical instrument stores as well as used bookstores just up the street from the hotel, somewhat resembled our 菇嶺街. Bought a small piece of Pistachio sweet (TL3.75) two circular sweets (TL1) and dinner (TL15). Dinner consisted of rice, french fries, patato half, ground lamb sticks (4), tomato half, and salad.
5/23: Got up at 4:45, had everything packed by 5:30, 6:00 taxi, arrived at the airport at 6:30. since there's only one gate for all departures, we had to wait until 7:30 to pass the second security check point. Bottle water was TL1.5 - forgot we could not bring the water pass security check point, left it half filled. Flight took off on time at 8:20, arriving Istanbul on time at 10:00. Istanbul airport was quite big, we had to take 5 minutes shuttle (from the plane) to get to airport building. Lufthansa airlines counter was way back - all easy access counters were assigned to Turkish airlines, understandable. Got our boarding passes (4) from their Kiosk(?), went through security check point - always a hassle but we have to live with it. After we sat down in gate 221, Anita went looking for souvenir, some guy came over and asked everyone to leave the room because they need to check boarding pass, I wasn't able to get back in because our flight was still early and gate number may change. Waited outside until Anita came back (empty handed), bought a bottle of drinking water for TL3, twice the cost at Gaziantep airport, and 3/6 times that of street stores. Our gate number was changed to 220, even though the flight time was only one hour and 40 minutes, a simple but appreciated meal was served. Lufthansa 1299 took off at 2:40, delayed by 45 minutes. There were quite a few empty seats, I switched (I was 2 rows behind) to the seat next to Anita's. This Airbus A310 has a different design, seats were very roomy and comfortable, and there wasn't a single TV display in the cabin area, kind of strange for a new plane. A meal was also server on this flight, chicken, rice, bell pepper, chocolate bar, and a small bottle of water, oh, I had a nice cup of red wine. We landed at Frankfurt airport at 4:20 (scheduled boarding/taking off times were 4:35 and 5:05 respectively), we walked 10 minutes before getting to inter terminal tram, then walked another 5 minutes before getting to gate Z25. We have never been questioned so much by gate security (this was after the security check point) at boarding area, it took 30 minutes to get through, I believe this applied to people who visited certain countries. We finally boarded the plane at 5:06, but the plane did not take off until 6:02 (Frankfurt time) - apparently some luggages had to be taken off the plane for unknown reason (perhaps someone wasn't allowed to board). Anita and I sat at seats 61G and 61D, after a long wait, the two seats between us remained unoccupied, thank heaven. We landed at SFO at 7:50, flight time was about 10 hours and 50 minutes. Joe (from 㨗達 service) picked us up, met him at UA arrival door 4 center island, commercial transportation service only section($145 round trip, tips included). Home sweet home at 9:27pm.
