To say we’ve been driving all day, there’s sure been a lot happening on the roads.
Lovely quiet night by the river followed by a surreal moment this morning as we were filling up with water. Firstly, the grassy area had filled up with women all dressed in black robes having a breakfast picnic. There were children around too but I think the men had gone to sit in the cafe with a packet of cigarettes. Then, two armed army personnel appear and have a casual walk around – all felt very weird.
Had to drive further east before we could turn north and the first town we hit was Siverek. You would not want to break down or stop there for any reason. Looked like a rubbish strewn hell hole.
Then, the huge city of Diyarbakir, the same but with a thousand high rise apartment blocks. Army checkpoints everywhere. This whole region is predominantly Kurdish and there are regular clashes between the PKK and Turkish military hence the very visible security. Apparently, it has some nice UNESCO city walls but we weren’t prepared to stop and look for them.
Turning north, it started to rain heavily with fork lightning shooting down over the golden fields around us. No drainage = a lot of water on the road. Add in cows wandering across the dual carriageway, cars coming up the hard shoulder on the wrong side, horse and carts, beggars knocking on the window at traffic lights and it’s all a bit full on.
The roads, in general, are really good though – certainly better than the UK, it’s the stuff on them that’s the problem. After being stopped at a checkpoint where we had to show passports, we started to notice regular hilltop fortifications and gun turrets – not historical stuff either. They even had machine guns in some places. Understandable I suppose, if you border Syria, Iraq and Iran!
Managed to pull into the front of a derelict shop for lunch and we were joined by a stray dog. Gave him some cheese and it seemed to cheer him up – works with Guy too.
We were lucky to find this pull in as there was absolutely nowhere else for the rest of the day.
Next, the windscreen wiper arm stopped working properly- perfect!!
Called at a Fiat garage who redirected us to one of the crazy garage street areas where everything is happening at once. A young boy of about 12 came out and started to remove the wiper arm – I thought he was going to break it. How wrong can you be? He took it off and fitted the new one and charged us £1.88. We gave him £4 – he seemed thrilled. Same thing cost us about 50 euros in Spain earlier this year.
Gradually, we came out of the ultra dodgy area and started climbing up to Erzurum in the mountains. Seems like a nice city, with castle walls, museums and mosques. Again, it’s a very conservative place, with many women in black with just their eyes visible. That’s no problem to me today – it’s flipping freezing, so I’ve got trousers and padded jacket on anyway.
So, exhausted from the travelling, we decided to have a Çag Kebab (Lamb cooked horizontally over a wood fire)in what looked like a nice warm restaurant. We were ushered in, and the owner, his daughter, and the chef crowded around us to see how they could best help these English people who don’t speak enough Turkish to order a meal! Plates, bread, drinks, spices and dips all landed on the table quickly, then the chef brought over two skewers of meat. He showed us how to scoop it off onto a flatbread, then they all crowded around and watched as we took the first few bites. 🤣 “Good?” It was lovely, full of flavour from the fire, just a bit chewy in places. Then, another skewer appeared, then another. Stop now!
Guy took the chef’s photo, so then he appeared with a kind of heavy scone and broke it in half for us. Can’t move now – we’ve had more meat today than the last four weeks added together. Total bill £12!
It reaches -30°C here in Winter, so you’d need sustenance.
