Made it to Sanliurfa!

 

Okay, so there are days and there are DAYS.  This was an interesting one, for sure!  Up about 7 and reassembled everything and to breakfast about 7:30 am.  Finally out to the car a little after 8:15 to get on the road for our fairly long drive to Sanliurfa, which will be our farthest point east.  No problems getting out of town, and made our way to Goksun, about two hours from Kayseri, after which things got a little crazy!  

General scenery pictures through the mountains

From Kayseri to Şanlıurfa

 

Turns out that we needed to pass through a tunnel in the mountains to get to Kahramanmaras – which was closed!  However, while it was difficult to get to the road, there was nothing that we could see that said that the road was closed – so here I am driving blithely along and wondering why there were cars coming directly towards us!  I mean, Turkish drivers are normally very well behaved!  And then suddenly, up ahead, there was a big pile of dirt, and an overhead sign with two huge red X’s, indicating that the tunnel was – surprise! Closed!  Well!  Our bad, as they say!  How we managed not to get killed going up the road those 5 – 6 km, I’m not sure, but somebody was watching out for us, that’s for sure!  At this point, I turned around, and headed back down the mountain, and we pulled over to see what to do next.  Found an alternative road to Kahramanmaras, and started up it – turns out, in about 15-20 km, we merged back onto the highway we were supposed to have been on, so all was right with the world – but it was a tiny bit gut wrenching while it was happening, I have to admit!  And again, NO signage saying:  ROAD CLOSED!  Oh well!  Also, it isn’t helpful that our “new” book of road maps is dated 2008 and the roads we are traveling on are not on the maps!  They are on the GPS, so that worked out.

 

So, soon thereafter, we hit the motorway on to Gaziantep and Sanliurfa, which was really lovely!  Arrived about 3:30 pm, and all I can say is, Sanliurfa has really changed since we were here last, about 5-6 years ago!  It has REALLY grown up!  There was a major earthquake in these parts just a couple of years ago, but more than that even, there are now huge shopping malls and lots more retail stores than I remember from our last two visits!  It’s amazing! 

 

For our last two visits, we had stayed at a very nice Hilton Garden Inn, but as they now have a shiny new DoubleTree, we decided to give it a try.  As it turns out, we were notified a couple of days ago that we would be upgraded to a one-bedroom suite, and it is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous!  (Thank you, Hilary!)  We’re on the 10^th floor (out of 11) in room 1004, and are comfortably ensconced for the next four nights!  It actually has a stunning bathtub and a shower, as well as a separate half-bath in the living room!   

 

Our lovely suite 1004

Before we moved in, of course!

As our suite wasn’t quite ready, we had a drink in the lobby (really, this is a very religious and conservative part of Turkiye, and a Western-style hotel is about the only place you can find alcohol at all!)  I at least was a bit concerned that the only food service was something called BigChef which we had noticed earlier in Çorum; obviously a Turkish chain, but as we neither of us felt like going farther afield tonight, decided it would have to do!  

 

So, headed down for dinner about 5:30 pm, and really had the place to ourselves!  Fortunately for us, they had several English menus, and a really surprising variety of choices!  Everything from burgers to pizza to full meals, which was what we were looking for!  R chose their beef tenderloin, which came with spinach, green beans, mashed potatoes and salad.  I chose their beef medallions which came on a bed or rocket lettuce with parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar, with French fries!  We also both had glasses of Turkish cabernet Sauvignon as well as sparkling water.  Well … to say that everything was fabulous is an understatement!  I mean, we were both really impressed, first with the quality, and presentation!  Our apologies to BigChef – someone in that kitchen knows how to cook a steak!  We will definitely be back that’s for sure!

 

My wonderful beef medallions on rocket lettuce

R's tenderloin with mashed potatoes!

Waddled out of the restaurant, very full and satisfied, and are back in our room and it’s 6:30.  We’ve got lots of channels on TV, with multiple sports channels, but as everything that I’ve found so far is in Turkish, it’s difficult to know what’s going on!

 

Not many pictures today, and no history – although R wanted me to point out that we cross the EuphratesRiver on our way here, so that’s kind of interesting, I think!  You know – the Tigris and the Euphrates forming the Fertile Crescent that we all learned about in school, as the “cradle of civilization!”  Tomorrow we’ll be heading out to see Gobeckli Tepe (where we’ve been twice already) and Karahan Tepe, which will be a new site for us!  So!  More pictures tomorrow!! Promise!

 

Much love,

m

xxx