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Gercüş and Hasankeyf

Posted Mon, 16 Feb 2015 15:07:32 GMT Turkey Traveling "Kurdistan"

I hitchhiked to (nanananana) Batman as I found a couch there via Couchrail (Facebook group for Couchsurfing in turkey). I wanted to visit Hasankeyf which is 30km south of Batman. When I arrived I heard my couch has changed to another person in a small village close to Hasankeyf: Gercüş. My host picked me up in Batman and we went back south to Gercüş.

My host in Gercüş owned the villages "Kültür Cafe" with internet café, Playstations and lots of tea. We played some PES and TEKKEN and I met some former PKK members with whom I had good discussions about "Kurdistan", Erdoğan and capitalism. Eventually the gifted me a kurdish ring and Keffiyeh (kurdish scarf) and gave me a kurdish name, "Bahoz", as they couldn't remember my european name.

At the day I arrived in Gercüş, Kobanı was liberated from Işid (turkish name for Isis), which was followed by lots of celebrations all over the kurdish areas with fireworks and life music until late in the night (about 21:00).

  • PES after dinner

  • Some local folks, they gave me my Kurdish name: Bahoz

The next day me and the cousin of my host, went for a day trip to Hasankeyf. Hasankeyf is a old kurdish city which will be submerged soon when the new dam is finished.

In Gercüş we went to a Çay Cafe, a place where there's only men playing Tabla and Okey, a game similar to Rommee. I was taught Okey and played a round (7 games) with some locals. At these places you always play for the tea bill which isn't getting to expensive as one tea costs about 10 Eurocents.

  • Hasankeyf

  • Hüseyins cousin, Sedat, and me above Hasankeyf

  • Muuuhh

  • A turkish tea house: Playing Tabla and Okey - no women allowed!

Mardin

Posted Sat, 14 Feb 2015 15:33:12 GMT Turkey Traveling "Kurdistan"

I hitchhiked from Şanlıurfa to Kızıltepe with a truck and continued by bus to Mardin. My truck driver paid the bus to Mardin, as it was not on his route and he agreed to drive me to Mardin (It's not possible to decline a offer to get something paid in Turkey).

Mardin is a historic city built into a mountain at the edge of the Mesopotamian flats with a nice views over Mesopotamya. It features mosques, churches and a university.

  • Yenişehir (new city) of Mardin

  • Very narrow streets, a bit too narrow for some cars/drivers :)

  • The old town of Mardin at the planes of Mesopotamya in the background

  • The citadel of Mardin

My Couchsurfers were people trying to escape the reach of their family, because they don't give them much freedom. They were talking only little english and I found myself again in teaching some english words.

They showed me the full scope of turkish and kurdish hospitality by giving me way too much food. I had to eat all the food. At some point I started to stop eating long before I was full, so they made me only eat twice as much as I needed :)

  • Dinner prepared by my host

  • Breakfast made by the girlfriend of my host

Şanlıurfa and Harran

Posted Thu, 12 Feb 2015 17:00:13 GMT Turkey Traveling "Kurdistan"

After I arrived in Şanlıurfa and met Halil, my host in Urfa, we went to his language school, where he was learning english. I met his friend and teacher, Sinan, and I attended a english class. I was seated next to Sinan, and was asked some questions about me, my travels, german culture and Europe. In return I asked some questions to the students.

As Halil had to work turing the day, we met every evening at the language school and I attended two more classes with more questions. The classes consisted of people from 15 to about 40 years.

To my surprise, their english was a lot better, when Sinan was not present in the room. Sometimes it happened by accident, that we talked about politics (We said before we should try to avoid that topic). Erdoğan is not an easy topic to talk about, as he polarizes very strong. But most people were very open to talk about politics: "Istanbul is far away, here we can talk".

  • My class :)

  • Şanlıurfa

Şanliurfa is a very hard place when you are on a vegetarian diet. When I told Sinan and Halil, that I'm vegetarian, their first reaction was: "No meat, no life". It seems like most people in Urfa life by this mantra. It was really hard to find a restaurant which had vegetarian food on the menu.

We had breakfast in a "Vitamina": Yoghurt with honey, olives, warm cheese and fresh, warm bread. The only other local foods I had, was grilled chillies and a really good dessert called "Şıllık": Crepes made with nut flour topped with crushed nuts and fruit syrup.

  • Owner of vitamina breakfast restaurant

  • Feeding the fish at fish lake (on of the big tourist sites of Urfa)

I visited Harran, a historic city 50km south of Urfa. There I met a local guy who was studying to become a tour guide. He had two weeks off university and visited his parents in Harran. He showed me all around the town and explained its thousands years old history. In the end, he introduced me to Jamal, another local boy.

Jamal had a motorbike and made a 130km tour with me, to show me lots of other interesting sights in the region. We visited some old caves, (moon- and sun-) temples and rural villages. And we saw the new road, which was in construction, to prepare the region to be a new touristic spot in turkey. He said I might be one of the last tourists who visited, before the region is commercialized (The big roads will be finished in march).

  • Traditional house in Harran and my guide

  • Children on the way home after school

  • Village life

  • Construction of the new road for the tourists

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