Thursday, September 10 Mardin
Not a very interesting day. Saw
nothing of particular note other then perhaps the view from the
hotel terrace out across the expansive countryside. Being in my
room is akin to being in a dungeon. It is so dark that I need to
wear my headlight in order to read. You almost need to be
technician to operate the television and once you get it on to
try and locate a channel to watch in English. The fan in the
bathroom sounds like a freight train coming through and it is not
on a searate switch. The walls are all rock of varying sizes and
colours. There is a nice fireplace but that is hardly needed in
these temperatures. On the plus side they do have a laundry
service so I am able to get my shirts done for the first time.
It took us all morning to drive
from Urfa to Mardin with one stop for a smoke and one for some
tea. The landscape was hilly but brown except for the corn
fields.
When we arrived here we had a very
difficult time finding a place to get food as the restaurants in
the area are all closed until after sunset when people who are
fasting can eat. We finally found a place that would let us sit
and another small shop that would cook some food and bring it to
us. I didn't see the shop but gather the choice was extremely
limited. We all ended up with lamb shish at twice the price of
anywhere else we've eaten. At least this time the meat was
chewable. I had skipped breakfast so was starving but still could
come nowhere close to eating all of the flatbread on my plate.
Even Mehmet did not finish his!
After lunch we checked into the
hotel and I read and napped until 5:30 when the temperature was
more moderate. No wonder people in many similar countries have
mid day siestas. When we went out I was feeling strange and not
up to doing anything so Omer and I went to a cafe with a pleasant
breeze and a view across the landscape. He had several glasses of
tea annd I had a bottle of water. Omer and Mehmet went off to
have dinner and I came to the room and read and watched a bit of
tv.
Tomorrow's agenda looks pretty
light with only a walk to see some Arabic houses on narrow
streets and then a trip to visit an old monestary. Saturday's
looks like another all day drive.BackBack