Once more we chose the wrong place for camping. As soon as the sun rise the heat didn’t let us stay at the tent no more, it was 8.00 in the morning! Luckily the tavern was open. The smiley employee made coffee for us and we enjoyed the lake view. By the time we start packing our Russian friends wake up. We exchanged e-mail addresses and we left. Next stop the Syrian-Turkish borders of Tar Adyad, distance 150 km.
The distinctiveness of this particular frontier is that they operate periodically… The latest information we got says that it was open and the vehicles were passing normally. As we did not have any official information we thought that it would be wise to start looking for alternatives. The road was monotonous. The only interesting part was that at some points you could see desert on one side and crops on the other!!!
On the way, following the signs for Tar Adyad, I kept on watching the license numbers of the cars that were coming from the opposite direction. But, in vein! No Turkish plate numbers and that was giving no end to my anxiety. Soon enough I realized that we were lucky. Everything was working properly. We finished all paperwork very quickly, no delays, no lines, no yelling… In fact they were very helpful and kind. We left Syria behind with a big smile and a lot of memories... A country that we will sure revisit in the future!
At the Turkish border, although we caught them at lunch time, we finished fast also. Around 2.00 o’clock we got started for the area of Nemrut Dagi. I felt something really familiar on our entrance to Turkey… The language, different standards of living, the Latin characters on the signs, the vegetation, everything seemed familiar. Turkey is closer to Europe than to Asia…
We followed the route through Sanliurfa-Bozova-Adiyaman-Kahta-Karadut. Feeling really exhausted, we stopped in a grocery at Adiyaman. The owner’s children were staring at us speechless! Next stop the next gas station. They offered us tea and we got some rest while talking with the locals which came close to us, full of curiosity.
For the next 55 km till Karadut we were crossing an area with a few oil wells, we pasted through Kahta and we reached the most spectacular road of the day. A route without trees or plants, easy bends and an amazing view of the area around. At Narince we turned left and continue on a narrow but scenic road (partly dirt road though)
About 12 km before the top of the mountain Nemrut Dagi, we chose a pension (Pansion Karadut: 40YTL/double room+breakfast) to stay overnight. We had a pleasant afternoon enjoying the mountain view, the Turkish kebab and the nargile (we bought at Amman). The whole scenery was reminding me of Greece…
