Tatvan - Hasankeyf

Got up in Tatvan to a glorious day, Van Golü the most intense blue I'd ever seen water take. This was about to change. I took the bus to Ahlat and stumbled around the 12thC Seljuk cemetary, constantly harrassed by Kurdish kids screaming 'Halo! Money!' Museum was closed. So I went back to Tatvan and walked pointlessly around town, having random conversations.

Getting back to the hotel I found a very pleasant surprise - a package from Sevda's mother containing freshly-baked bread. So I went to the backlava shop, got some backlava and went for a visit. Lovely, lovely people.

This morning's bus ride to Hasankeyf was rather intense. The road winds through the steep canyons, a swift stream flowing by. Army checkpoints everywhere with M60 machine guns at every control booth. The look I got from the soldier looking at my passport was, 'what the hell are you doing here.' The driver usually had the steering wheel in one hand and a cigarette in the other, overtaking whenever and whatever (donkeys, trucks with a 10m load, busses). The result: projectile vomiting from the 3 of the passangers.

Right now I'm in Hasankeyf. LP barely has a paragraph on the place. It deserves a chapter. On the hill overlooking the Tygrys is a huge, abandoned 13thC city - mosques, houses and a castle. Unfortunately, there is nowhere to stay in town and so I have to leave. A Kurdish guy offered for me to stay with him in Batman. I'm kicking myself for refusing - it's 5 pm (dark), raining, and maybe there are no more busses.