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Gaziantep

Posted Tue, 10 Feb 2015 12:03:25 GMT Turkey Traveling "Kurdistan"

Antep is close to the Syrian border and made a lot of capitalistic progress in the last 10 years. This leads to a very interesting city. On my first day in Antep I met Turkish and Kurdish people, Syrian refugees, Europeans who volunteer in helping the Syrians and American capitalists who try to make money in Antep.

I met people who are very pro capitalism and people who are on the opposing side. This lead to many good discussions about capitalism and socialism. I got the impression, that turkey is making many mistakes which other capitalistic countries made before. Some turks believe money equals happiness, but forget about its consequences on people, the nature and life quality.

Initially I only wanted to stay one night, but the many discussions and interesting people made it worth to stay for 4 days.

  • The main shopping street of Antep

  • Mosque with traditional black and white pattern

  • My hosts chilling with some tea and hookah

  • Syrian kid at work

Antep is known all over turkey for its good food. Many people say it has the best kitchen in Turkey. You probably heard of Baklava before, it originates in Antep and is made with locally grown pistachios and wheat.

More dishes from Antep:

  • Atom, a beverage with lots of fruits, nuts and honey
  • Katmer, another sweet dish made with local nuts and lots of sugar
  • Gözleme, looks like filled crepes, but is made without eggs

One event describes very good, how hospitable and generous the local people are to foreigners. One day, I walked through the industry district of Antep on the way to a museum and got hungry. I went into a small restaurant and got lots of food and tea. The moment I wanted to pay, the owner of the restaurant said it was free for me and offered me to pay the bus to the museum for me. I refused as I needed a walk after three large plates of fried vegetables, smoked aubergines, chickpeas and bread.

  • Preparing Atom: Blended fruits, nuts and honey

  • Atom :)

I went to a 500 year old Hamam in Antep, "Tarihi Naib Hamamı". I expected to have sauna, pools and maybe some steam rooms. In reality it had one big hot stone and some rooms with washing basins. So it actually is a bath house. I paid a strong guy for "Kese" and massage. "Kese" is a strong scrub which feels like you got your skin peeled off.

  • Shoe cleaner

  • My favorite mosaik at the mosaik museum

Hitchhiking works really well in Turkey, as there's lots of helpful people and it's very common. I tried to hitchhike from Antep to Urfa and waited at the wrong spot. After 5 minutes of waiting, there were about 10 people explaining me in kurdish, syrian and turkish, that I'm at the wrong spot. Eventually one of them organized a car to the bus station and they paid me a bus to Urfa without a chance for me to refuse the money.

Capadoccia

Posted Sun, 08 Feb 2015 18:09:53 GMT Traveling Turkey

The morning we arrived in in Capadoccia we didn't have a couch as we only started one day before to wrote 5 requests in Nevşehir. So we got asked by the bus driver where we want to get off the bus, luckily we landed in Göreme. Göreme is a small touristy city in the center of the national park of Capadoccia. In the mid of january there's not much tourists, so it is easy to get in contact with the local people.

Capadoccia was used around the 11th century by christian people to hide from the muslims. It is a region of very soft stones which were formed into many caves used as houses, monasteries, churches, chapels, schools and stables.

We stayed in a dorm which was a cave itself, like most accommodations in Göreme.

  • Christian hiding places/caves

  • We didn't find a host, so we stayed in the "Cave Dorm"

The first day we had a good stroll around the caves and met some dogs which follow you everywhere once you gave them eye contact. We also went to the Göreme Outdoor Museum which is about 10 cave churches nicely decorated by paintings as old as 1000 years. One church, the black church, had very intense colors which looked like it was painted just a month ago.

In the evening we went to a restaurant recommended by Foursquare. Later we heard by the locals, that it really is the best restaurant in town. We had the first turkish dish we didn't know from Germany: Mezes. Mezes are vegetarian cold starters like aubergines in all forms (fried, smoked, pickled), filled wine leaves and sauces made with a shitload of garlic. We also discovered, that they make good wine ın capadoccia, especially the Turasan Peribacasi(a dry white wine) tasted really good to me.

  • We found a dog..

  • We found a good restaurant..

After the food, Ela was tired and went back to our dorm, and I continued to look if there's any place where people meet in the evening. I got invited to a barber shop for a tea (at that point i was already highly addicted to turkish tea) and got my first professional beard trim.

Later I walked by a carpet store and was invited to join them for a talk and some Raki. The owner of the shop, Fatih had this saying: "Raki makes you lucky". I found out that Fatih is also on Couchsurfing and even the first person you find when you search for Göreme on Couchsurfing. He had one Couchsurfing guest at that evening, Tia and his business partner and brothers. İ really enjoyed the cozy atmosphere and stayed until the Raki was empty.

  • I got my first professional shave :-{)>

  • Fatih

The next day, Ela and I went for a hike through Rose Valley. We discovered that hitchhiking is the easiest way of transportation in turkey as it was almost always the first car which stopped for us. (The longest wait was about 10 cars/5 minutes).

Halfway of the hiking path we stopped at a café for some turkish tea and freshly made juice. There we met Spencer, he is traveling alone and joined us for the rest of our hike to the old greek village of Çavuşin.

  • Hiking route through rose valley

  • Path through rose valley

  • ..close look at the café

  • And old greek village (Çavuşin)

At the evening I visited Fathi again and brought Ela and Spencer with me. We stayed only for a short time as we began talking about balloon rides (a big thing in Capadoccia) and eventually bought a balloon ride for all three of us, the next morning at 5:40. Initially we didn't want to do a balloon ride as it was very expensive, but Fatih had good contacts and could get some special Couchsurfing discounts for us.

The balloon flight itself was one of the most beautifull experiences I had. Capadoccia is a really lovely place. But it looks best, seen from a balloon in perfect weather around sunrise. We flew from Göreme to the "Love Valley" (name because of many penis shaped rocks).

  • Yup Yup Yup!

  • We are flying!

  • Love valley

  • We survived!

After the balloon ride, Ela and me visited the underground cities of Derinkuyu and Kaymakli. It is like the overground caves, but goes very deep into the ground (deepest point is 86 meters). So far about 36 underground cities have been found in Capadoccia, but more are found every year.

Derinkuyu isn't really worth a visit, as it is frequented by tours and not a really when you have a cave full of people and you sometimes can't move anymore. Kaymakli is wider, had almost no visitors and was more interesting as people actually lived in there and you could see kitchens, living rooms and stables, not just churches and tombs.

  • Old style (single use) emergency door

  • A mortar stone and Ela for size reference

The last evening in Göreme we visited Fatih again for some Raki, talking, dancing to local music and even life music by some neighbors. I also got to know Lili, Fatihs new Couchsurfer. Lili lived 2 month in Gaziantep before and could give me good informations about it and helped me get accommodation with some of her friends in Antep.

  • Some friends/neighbours of Fatih

  • Lili dancing to hungarian music

Black Sea

Posted Fri, 06 Feb 2015 20:59:55 GMT Caucasus Traveling Georgia Turkey

Eventually we left Tbilisi to go west to the black sea. We took a nice train on the day, so we could see how the landscape and climate changed on the way. In some places between Tbilisi and Batumi there was no snow and it looked warm, but when we arrived at the black see, we were greeted by palm trees and snow.

  • Train from Tbilisi to Batumi

  • Welcome to the black sea!

Batumi is surrounded by gorgeous landscapes, mountains which end by the seaside. But the city is all about rich tourists from turkey and russia who come to play in a casino or buy cheap booze. The inner city basically consists only of casinos and hotels.

We stayed one night at a Couchsurfer, Gorgi, who was depending on Couchsurfers as a replacement for friends. That's a concept I have not heard of before, but he seems to be alright with it. I think it's based on his work as a sailor on a oil tanker every other half year (which includes all habits you would expect from a cliché sailor). His other big think is Rock'n Roll, so we had a good round of guitar riff guessing and we heard the word "fuck" about ten times a minute (10 fpm).

As I had not been at the black sea before, I had to jump it, which is very Rock'n Roll!

  • Gorgi, our couchsurfer in Batumi

  • Isn't it appealing for having a swim?

After one night and being the big attraction at the local market (Dreads are not a common thing in Georgia), Ela and me continued to Hopa, a small town directly after the turkish border, where I inadvertently wrote a couch request.

We took a Marchutka to Hopa. Transporting people doesn't seem to be the main business though, as we saw them smuggling alcohol, gasoline and tobacco. Smuggling gasoline involves a good shake of the car at the last gas station before the border. This shakes out the air of the tank and system and makes more space for gasoline, which is then sold in turkey (gas costs about twice as much in Turkey).

Hopa is a small beautiful city at the black sea. It is surrounded by green mountains and it is not touristy at all. Our Couchsurfer, Yusuf, was extremely friendly and hospitable. It was the best welcome we could get into turkey, as we had good talks about the current political situation, about Erdoğan and his plans to make turkey a more islamic country. He was well informed and teached us some basic turkish words. It felt really good to have a warm shower and sleep in a heated room, which I didn't experience in Georgia.

  • Hopa bay :)

  • Wohoo, warm weather at the sea

We only stayed for one night and continued to Trabzon by Minibüs. Trabzon is a ugly, big city with lots of dirt, smog and broken houses. We did not like it at all and Ela was getting headaches from the bad air. We stayed one night together with a Couchsurfer from Berlin, Peter, at his hosts flat. Peter was staying in Trabzon to wait for his Iranian visa so he could keep on traveling towards India.

Barboros, his host, is the most uncomplicated host I can imagine. He never bothered us, but also didn't do anything to comfort us. Barboros let Couchsurfers stay at his house and all he requested in return was some housekeeping. The next concept I never heard of before: Couchsurfers as housekeepers.

After one night in Trabzon we had to leave, at the daytime it was packed with cars and people and in the night time (after 22:00), it was a dead city. We took a overnight bus to our next station in the middle of turkey, Capadoccia.

  • Nightlife in Trabzon

  • Some fresh air in the morning and Peter, our "host"

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