We are in Gaziantep

24 Sep Antep, Turkey

Dear Friends

We are on our trip, finally! Yesterday we flew from Stansted to Istanbul to Gaziantep (South Turkey).
It was good fun and so far we only noticed that we have forgotten the phone charger, but Turkey be thanked that is already sorted out for 2.5 Euros in Antep.

But let´s start at the beginning. We managed our packing well. We finished at 3am (sorry housemates for the late hoovering) Then Carlos rushed at 7am to shave (he was afraid that in a muslım country people do not know how to shave as they wear beards) and on to the storageroom to leave the last few forgotten items.
I in the meantime dragged the bags downstairs and made the sandwiches as Pegasus air is only offering meal if you pay. No worries there the last tıme ham in a while was a good option, specially as the dessert was berries from the garden.

The Taxi arrived in time and with enought space for all the things.

Oh at that time it was still sunny in England but once aboard the taxi we were seen off with increasing bad weather and torrential rain in Stanstead.

The surprise was Pegasus Airlınes. Helpful check in staff, even asking if we deflated the tires on the bikes. No probs at the customs and a quick noodle meal before boarding. OK 20 min delay due to rainstorm but they acctually did keep us informed.

Then we took off and Carlos and me had a snooze. The plane was full and seating like Easy jet, only wıthout the sales pitch. Over Bayreuth we started looking out of the window and munching our delicious lunch. I think İ know where to go on our next trip already. Along the Danube lookes great from above, just need to make sure I start in Austria as Bulgaria is terribly hılly.

Then we set foot into Turkey. We already had our boarding pass for the flight to Antep so we thought 1hour 20 is plenty. Most of the people were queueing on the counter for Vısas which we ignored only to arrive at the passport control and finding out that Carlos had to go back and to get a Visa too... Barbara and her white cross on red background PP was of course welcomed without any Visa needed. VIVA la SUISSE.

A major sweat broke out not because of the high temperature, while Carlos tried to jump the queue.
Well I never run through a airport that fast and normally I am not early. We managed but were not able to change any money into Turkısh Liras (TL). Nevermind.
On the flight we met Marion. An English Lady on her way to a mayor dig in Sanlıurfa our next destination. We had a very enjoyable conversation on the flight and could not believe how quickly we arrived.

When stepping out of the aircraft a heatwave welcomed us. 25 degrees easily at 9.30pm. Welcome to the summer.
Antep airport is a little desolate, specially as the international passengers are imediately segregated from the national arrivals.
Anyhow guess what we saw first moment out of the plane. The unloading of our very fragil bike box. Uuuuppps it just slipped through the hands of the loading staff and fell off the other side. Carlos was ignoring it, holding Barbara back so she could not have a word with them.

But hey at least they were here. We then had to let customs x ray the bags. "What is in the box?" " A bike" "Two boxes,two bikes? You like bikes". We decided not to try to explain that a girl can ride a bike too.
After splitting up into 2 taxis for the ride to our lovely hotel Barbara tried to change some Euros into TL so the taxi driver does not need to wait to long. In Turkey it seems Taxi drıver do not matter much "they can wait" was the answer when she asked that the money is changed before all the hotel formalities are comleted.

After that we crashed, without dinner.

Then on the 24 we had our first holiday lay in, then we went to get some food (Antep is the capital of good eating and İ think it is true). But what is really amazing are the Pistacio nuts. So many variaties. And they are very very tasty. They have the untoasted unsalted ones too yummie.

After a hour or so out we came back to the hotel, no not to enjoy the 30 degreed at the pool, but to assemble the bikes (los caballos) in the otoupark. Luckily there were not many cars down there and it was about 20 degrees only. By 6pm we were done and ready for dinner.

So we went but the restaurant we chosen was closing, but the owner passed the phone over and hıs wife explained in best german (less accent than Barbara) that her husband will send us to somewhere else where the food is deli. And so it was. Very shiny place wıth super food and somebody explaining what we should try. Some of the food was on Ayfer`s list and yes they are very very good. (İf you ever need good food, friendly people go to Antep).
After a extensive dinner (yes İ know we are trying to lose some weıght on this trip so we fit in some nice clothes for the wedding (not ours)).

After dinner we went to buy a map for the area between Antep and Urfa because traffic is manic on the big roads. The two kids palying on the computer in the offıcematerial shop we passed imediately understood the word Atlas and they understood we need one for this area. So they called Dady away from his tea. So Mumy came too. We then tried to have a conversation Dady said he was born in Germany Barbara tried to explain she is from Switzerland. Well it was not easy, but at least we learned that he is not Turkish but Kurdish. Barbara had a smile with the mother and the bıgger kid charged us for the map with his brothers assistance in knowing the number 5 in english.
İn short it was great!

Then we decided to walk the long way home and to stroll via the castle back to the hotel. Well tomorrow we will also stay in Antep to see some more. This was a good taster. The old houses look very interesting and many families, men and wifes were sitting on their doorsteps for a chat. Ahh and the fırst shoe incident was witnessed. A naughty boy got a shoe thrown at him by his mother.

I promise we will not be so lenghty with all our entries, but we have such a good impression so far. İf this keeps going this way then this will be the destination of choice for the future.
Ahh and by the way woman are wearıng short sleeves, no headscarfs etc. What a misconception İ carried in my mind!

Spirits are high hope this stays on when we start cycling!

Cheers Barbara and Carlos


Liebes Mami wir haben eine super Zeit. Die Leute sind so freundlich und hilfsbereit wie ich es selten erlebt habe. Mach Dir keine Sorgen wir geben sorg. Aber ich moechte nochmals sagen dass ich einen ganz falsches Bıild von der Turkei hatte. Auf jeden Fall hat sie sich bis jetzt im besten Licht praesentiert.

Dir wuerde es hier auch gefallen! Aber es ist ein bisschen heiss.

Kuss Barbara