After passing thru Cappadocia - possibly my favorite part of Turkey, we made our way over the Taurus mountains towards the distinctly Kurdish-Arabic towns of Kahta and Urfa. It was an 8 hour drive with intermittent stops along the way, one in particular for a photo op/snowball fight stop. We were supposed to be driving to Mount Nemrut where some ancient kingdom ruler with a giant ego had ordered massive statues be carved out of stone as a monument to his own greatness, at the peak of the mountain - but they were under 6 feet of snow and couldn't be seen. The snowfight was a fun, but scant consolation.
Urfa is believed to be the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, and is a sacred place of pilgrimage for Muslims. The legend states that after angering the evil rule King Nimrod, Abraham was thrown from a castle on a cliff top into a burning pit. At the last moment God intervened and transformed the fire into water and the burning logs into fish, and he landed safely. This lake still exists and forms part of an amazing holy site with the mosque, citadel and surrounding buildings dating back close to the time of Christ (don't know the exact century).
Our last day in Turkey was spent mostly on the road, our only stop before the Syrian border being for lunch in Kilis - a non-descript and typical frontier town - dirty, run down and worn out looking, but with the friendliest people and cheapest kebabs in the country. A final, quick border-crossing, duty-free shop stop (all they sold was alcohol and cigarettes - just the essentials! - altho strangely enough there was not a single smoker on this tour group!!), and i bought a 750ml bottle of Turkish Raki, a clear, aniseed smelling/tasting moonshine liquor - 45%, for only US$11!! Look out when i hit Vancouver and crack it open (along with my 70% Czech absinth!!).
Here we said goodby to 5 of our tour group, our Turkish tour leader, and driver (a guy named Orhan who had almost zero English, but was funny as feck, and laughed like Dr Hibbert from The Simpsons), and comfortable bus, and we were 11 driving in a cramped mini-bus to Aleppo.
Our introduction to Aleppo and Syria was a visit to an awesome 1001 Arabian Nights style restaurant, and the most amazing food. I know i raved about Turkish cuisine, but this place was top-notch. There was a whole lot of menu items i had never heard of before, so it was a case of point and hope. I don't think any of us were disappointed. We finished off the meal smoking a 'nargileh' water pipe with raspberry flavoured tobacco - a perfect, relaxing way to finish off an awesome meal.
Today, I went wandering around the city of 4 million people, in amongst the labyrinthine alleyways and hidden corners of the souks (markets). There were all manner of spice stalls, entire sides of lamb hanging on hooks outside butchers - and the heads on a tray beside, brightly coloured reams of cloth, jewellery, carpets (of course!) - you name it, it was there, in a crazy, cacophanous din of noise and shouting and hard bargaining in fast, furious Arabic language. Loads of kids running about as well, working for their family business - these guys are the greatest - every time they see a camera, they all clamour about to have thier photo taken. The most obvious difference here is all of the women with their head scarves and clothing covering their entire bodies except their eyes, and the men with their sheikh style head scarves.
The 10th Century citadel, built on a hill in the centre of the old town as a focal point in times past, provided a panoramic view of the city, and it is densly packed with light-brown stone housing as far as the eye could see in all directions. It's just a shame we only have this one full day here to explore and discover it.
talk soon.
tony peace love and happy faces
