On The Road

The Ten and I check out of the holy Kral hotel in the morning .

It’s fast going on a four lane highway all the way to Erzincan. The landscape isn’t boring but it’s hard to stop once you get going fast. In Erzincan I fuel up again and have a lunch for champions

I continue on minor roads and it gets more interesting.

I stop again for tea at a Seljuk cemetery

before I tackle the last few kilometers

Not far from Kemaliye I spot a village with the architecture that is typical for the area: lots of wood and corrugated iron.

The bridge over the Euphrates

gets me to the tunnel leading to Kemaliye

Kemaliye is obviously named after some very famous Mustafa Kemal and was formerly known as Eğin. The reason I chose to come here is the Kemaliyeliler Tasyolu, the “Rock Road”. The road was cut by the locals with no government support over a 130 period. By the time it was finally opened in 2002 it wasn’t technically needed anymore because there are now other roads to the town. The story goes that the locals decided to finish the road anyway out of respect for their forefathers, which leaves us with one hell of a road to ride a motorcycle on. For the most part it’s a long tunnel cut close to the Euphrates. There are openings in the side of the tunnels, which where used to push the debris down into the river. The narrow tunnels have a great acoustic and if you hit the revs just right you will hear, or shall I say feel, a very deep roar. Before I even got a room I rode the Tasyol twice. I got some last minute information at the local store. Some old geezers where hanging out and when they found out I was German they pushed one forward. His German was a little rusty and he didn’t say much. I went outside to eat my ice cream and the old fella came out to chat. Now that the others weren’t looking on his German was actually quite good. He told me his story, how he worked in Germany for a long time and came back here to his local village for retirement. He seemed a very happy man.

Anyway, here are the pitures of the “Rock Road”

I eventually got a very nice room. This is the view from my hotel balcony

Kemaliye is a fun town to walk around in. The locals are friendly and for the most part the houses are very nice to look at. Just walking up the narrow winding streets there something new to be discovered around every corner.

The Kiwi in me gives three cheers for using corrugated iron as an architectural feature. They even have a corrugated iron minaret!

One of the many water fountains

Before I can see it I hear the distinct sound of a watermill. The guy invites me in and gives the grand tour.

He even gets me a walnut paste sample from next door, telling me that it is an aphrodisiac. Well, that’s a bit of a lost cause.

I always thought rear view mirrors are purely ornamental in Turkey. This guy has a lot.

Still not convinced.

I start the day by riding the Tasyol once again and continue on to Divriği,

where I visit the Great Mosque and Hospital (Divriği Ulu Cami ve Darüşşifa), a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was built in the 13th century under a Seljuk ruler. Outside shots would have been great in the evening sun but I have to make the best of it.

Kids noisily play catch inside the mosque.

There are also plenty of other ruins around Divriği.

Pretty nice landscape between Divriği and Kengal,

where I’m greeted by a whimsical statue of the famous Kangal dog.

I have to say that the Kangals and I are not the best of friends. I used to think that Turkish sheep dogs are incredibly stupid because they can’t tell the difference between a sheep and a motorbike, whereas the New Zealand sheep dogs clearly can. Many a Kengal has chased me here. Well, it turns out they are not sheep dogs in the sense that they are herding their charges. Instead they are livestock guardian dogs and thus try to protect their charges from real or imagined threats, i.e. me on a motorbike. You just don’t want to hit a Kangal when it runs in front of you. Not good for both of us. They are huge and they can be incredibly fast.

It stays nice and quiet

until I hit Kayseri. I get a bit of a reverse culture shock. It’s a huge modern city with all the modern trappings like shopping malls, car dealerships, and fast food places. Oh, and heavy traffic. Welcome back to civilization!

From Kayseri it’s just a quick hop to Göreme, where I plunk myself at the pool and do nothing for the rest of the day.