Malatya

"Nemrut Dağı: An Amusing Little Place" Oldrover's photos around Karadut, Turkey (kemal malatia)

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• published: 17 Dec 2010
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Preview of Oldrover's blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oldrover/1/1246596910/tpod.html This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Karadut, Turkey Entry Title: "Nemrut Dağı: An Amusing Little Place" Entry: "Nemrut Dağı is an archeological site, the images from which form some of the iconographic tourist pictures of Turkey. Basically, the big crumbly-looking heads. The site is a mountain top, and it is in a Turkish national park. It is not on a major highway route. And therefore it can only be approached from one side or the other. There is no through connection by road. It is, however, possible to walk across the gap. And this is what I planned to do. The gap, from one parking lot across the site to the other parking lot is only about a quarter of a mile. My guide book told that the City of Malatya arranged guided tours to Nemrut Dağı. So I chose that option as a way to approach the place; then take my chances on catching a ride down the other side. In the previous blog I told of arriving to Malatya and meeting Kemal, the Malatya Tourist Office representative. He said that a tour went every day. So, after a couple of days of rest and recovery from a cold, I showed up for the tour to leave on the late morning of June 30. In the summers Kemal holds his office in a tea garden. And there I met with others attending this days' tour, an Australian family of three from Tasmania. The mini-bus arrived and Kemal saw us off. On the bus already were a Turkish couple. The 90TL ( US$58.62) price includes transportation to Nemrut Dağı, an evening meal at the nearby hotel, a night in the hotel, breakfast, and a return to Malatya. The schedule is that you arrive in the late afternoon, check into the hotel, have an hour or more to do whatever, then are driven the about 3/4 mile up to the site to have a look around until sunset, then return to the hotel for the evening meal. The following morning you are awakened around 4am for a return to the top to watch the sunrise. Then return to the hotel for breakfast before the return to Malatya. For my free time on the first day I chose to look for picture compositions and which included a climb up above the hotel. The Australian family chose to walk on up the road to the site. All I can say is that on these visits neither the sunset nor sunrise were anything to get excited about. If you've ever seen a sunset or sunrise, well, there you are. The only value added were the brief color added to the site and the views of the dramatic scenery surrounding. The site itself is amusing for its quirkiness. It is more chaotic than I had expected, not as neat as publicity pictures make it seem. And, judging by some pictures I have seen even more disrupted now than before, where some stelle were in place. It is if they had restored things, then thought better of it and returned things, partially, to the originally chaotic tumbled-down condition that the site may first have presented. I don't know what the deal was. Well, unlike the others, at the 4am wake-up call I had to pack my gear up and take it along to the top. I am traveling with a backpack, a day pack, and a rolling suitcase, which was my "library." It is now greatly lightened as I sent many of my books home from Konya. The ones I've read and those that delt with history and sites I've since passed. But, the ground is rough. The Australian gent was kind to carry the suitcase up from the parking lot to the site platform. After the sunrise there was naught to do but pack my gear over to the parking lot on the other side. Fortunately, the other, southern, parking lot was at a lower elevation. The evening before a young Turkish fellow had said hello to me. And again on this morning he again made contact. I found out that he was a friendly tout. And he offered me a ride down the other side. What it turned out to be was a mini-bus hired by two young Turkish ..." Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oldrover/1/1246596910/tpod.html Photos from this trip: 1. "Kemal Sees Us Off" 2. "To Nemrut Scenery" 3. "More To Nemrut Scenery" 4. "The Hotel Below Nemrut Dag" 5. "Nemrut from Above the Hotel" 6. "The West Platform" 7. "Fallen Nemrut Stelle" 8. "Mithradates Rocks Out" 9. "Sunrise At Nemrut Dag" 10. "Mithradates With Hercules" 11. "Mithradates' and Hercules' Eternal View" 12. "Rocks Full of Ladybugs" 13. "Giving Me the Goat Eye" 14. "Nemrut from Hotel Room" 15. "Moon Over Nemrut Dag" 16. "Whatever the Sign Says" 17. "Nice Place You Have Here, King" 18. "And, Who Might This Be?" 19. "The Septimius Severus Bridge" See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00c0-e3d0-26d5?ytv4=1