Mt. Nemrut - Gün 1

To Kahta, land of dust, men in Ottoman pants, and scams! ...not to mention, minarets attached to gas stations.

Sharon, Lisa, and I survived the 12 hour bus ride to the slight-southeast. AŞTİ Otogar was absolutely packed with people fleeing the city to go home for the Şeker Bayram Holiday this week, so we were lucky to have tickets.

Upon arrival at 6am, we checked into some shady pension and slept for a few hours. By 1pm, we had arranged a tour to Mt. Nemrut- haggling 15 lira off the price by excluding dinner.


Sharon and Lisa crossing the Cendere bridge, our second stop.
The Cendere (pronounced jen-DARE-eh) Bridge was built by the Romans, who "borrowed" the limestone from a nearby, pre-Roman burial mound. It was built in honor of an emporor, his wife, and two sons. When one of the sons was killed, the remaining son commanded one of the columns to be removed, leaving just 3 to stand at the corners of the bridge.

Our driver dropped us off at the Bridge, and told us our van would be there to pick us up. He gave us his credit card for assurance. Meanwhile, we spent our time feeding the local kitten and looking at carpets.


A villager man transporting goods by donkey
Our ride eventually showed up, and we were off, stopping occassionally to take photographs of the amazing view.


The Village of Eski Kahta
The village of Eski Kahta is the current location of the Yeni Kale (New Castle). But it also houses a carpet-weaving school where local women learn to make carpets (they sell for very high prices on the Western Coast).


Yeni Kale (New Castle)


Inside the carpet School


Iris at the Seljuk Bridge
We made our way to the Seljuk Bridge, which crosses the Kahta River.


The profile of the Mithras Stele
The next stop was at a few steles (stone reliefs). Below, you can see one of the best preserved steles- Mithradates I is shaking the hand of Hercules.


Mithradates-Hercules Stele


The last stop was the summit. We spent a half hour driving over the bumpiest cobblestone road I'd ever seen- going straight up the mountain. Once to the parking lot, it was a bit of a hike to the summit. So, some older tourists opted to use donkeys such as the one pictured above.

It was still cold enough up there to keep some snow.


Fallen heads/bodies on the Eastern Side
A basic history of Mt Nemrut: King Antiochus ordered several statues (depicting himself alongside the gods) to be built atop this mountain. However, earthquakes have shaken many of the heads from their bodies, leaving the statues as they are today. It is suspected that the large burial mound the statues surround possibly contains King Antiochus' remains.


Fallen heads and bodies on the Western side


Iris at the Western Face, with the artificial mountain (burial mound) in view


Sunset on the Western Side


Reliefs lined up on the Western Side


A view from the mountain- with a waterway in the distance

We returned to Kahta, and scrounged up some dinner at the only open restaurant in town. We headed back to our pension for çay with our host (and apparently 4 of his male friends). His "restaurant" had a slow flow of men coming in and out, but no one was eating, just drinking. The rest of the town was the same way- no women, just men of all ages meandering about.

After spending 12 hours on the bus the night before, the bed felt good.