Turkey (one last time)

Sep 23, 2006 23:06



Behold... the last instalment of my Turkey Saga. This will be my last text entry for a while; from now on I'll be focussing on photos again.

Most thrilling moment: On our way back from Balık Gölü to Doğubeyazıt, our taxi was attacked not only by enormous Kangal dogs, but also, very excitingly, by a falcon, which shot up from the depths of the ravine beside the road, stopped right beside my window, peered inside for a moment and then majestically swooped down again. This manoeuvre was repeated several times, and on each occasion my heart skipped a beat. Seeing a falcon in action from up that close is a genuinely breath-taking sight.



Near the ravine where I had my encounter with the inquisitive (or is that "aggressive"?) falcon. The lake you see in the background is Balık Gölü (Fish Lake), of which I posted a picture a few days ago.



Cairns on the way to Balık Gölü.

Bravest thing I did: Going up the hill at Pamukkale amidst a pack of wild dogs. As some of you know, I'm not really a dog person; barking dogs tend to scare me, especially when they bare their teeth and look very aggressive. So you can imagine I wasn't all that pleased when I walked to the Pamukkale entrance early one morning only to find seven very aggressive stray dogs awaiting me. I came close to ditching my plan of going up the hill and photographing the sunrise from there; only when I turned back to the hotel, the dogs followed me there, too. I quickly realised that it didn't matter where I went; the dogs would follow me anyway, so I might as well try and go up the hill with them. At this point two good things happened: (1) the most aggressive dog decided to stay in the village, after which the remaining six calmed down a little, and (2) I realised the dogs weren't being aggressive towards me, just towards each other, so I had little to fear. Once I'd convinced myself that I'd probably survive the experience without being torn to pieces, up we went, the six dogs and I. And guess what? Less than two hundred metres into our ascent, I found myself talking to the dogs, patting them on the head, etc. Truth be told, I had a splendid time with them. Naturally, they ruined quite a few photos (why can't animals just sit still and pose?), but all the same I really enjoyed being on the hill with them, just the seven of us, long before any other tourists showed up. I actually felt a little betrayed when a few dogs later abandoned me for some Spanish tourists who had food with them. But I guess the dogs who remained loyal to me must have felt similarly betrayed when after keeping me company for two and a half hours, they didn't actually get any food from me. I would have fed them if they had accompanied me back to the village, but since they elected to stay on the hilltop, there was little I could do for them. Thus came an end to an unlikely but unexpectedly pleasant fellowship. Now if I could only overcome my arachnophobia in a similarly pleasant way...



The trees and travertines of Pamukkale in the dark. My dogs and I had the place completely to ourselves.

Food I'll miss most: Fried aubergine, Adana kebab, butter rice and peaches for dessert. Oh, yes.

Scent I'll miss most: Cologne. If you think cologne producers will go out of business once your grandmother dies, you've never been to Turkey. To Turks of all ages and genders, cologne is a way of life. They're so obsessed with the stuff that it's nearly impossible to visit a restaurant, home or even bus without being offered cologne at some point. During long bus journeys, you'll be offered cologne several times. And they won't just give you a little drop of the stuff, or a discreet moist towelette with which to dab at your face; no, they'll pour half a bottle over your hands, enough not only to drench your face and arms but also to soak your clothes. The sad thing is that many Turks really seem to need those cologne showers. I hate to say it, but Turkey is home to some of the smelliest people I've ever come across. K and I occasionally had to sit next to people who smelled as though they hadn't bathed or washed their clothes for a year; on one memorable occasion, a very smelly elderly lady actually sat in K's lap for half an hour. K has a very acute sense of smell, so she was rather mortified by the experience. We're glad we'll be spared that kind of thing now that we're back in Holland, but we both miss the scent of cologne. Particularly as it rather reminded us of our beloved grandmother, who passed away a few years ago.

Greatest miracle: The fact that neither my head nor my sunglasses sustained any serious damage. Considering the number of times I bumped my head against things, frequently with my sunglasses on, I should have had a concussion and a pair of broken sunglasses at the very least.

Greatest regret: As always, being unable to take certain potentially gorgeous photos, either because I was in a moving vehicle, because the light wasn't right, because I didn't have a wide-angle lens or because there were a million unsightly powerlines in the way. I must have missed out on at least three dozen utterly wonderful photos, mostly of trees. Sigh.

And there you have it -- Turkey 2006 in a nutshell. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures. More Turkey photos will follow at some point, but first I'm going to focus on something else!

turkey, text, mountains, nature, colour photos

Previous post Next post
Up