Day 19 - Don Curry with the Gods

Don Curry startled as his smartphone alarm went off at 4:30 AM. He had inquired yesterday about the time to start climbing Mount Nemrut to watch the sunrise. '5:00 AM,' came the daunting reply. And so, Don Curry actually started at 5:00 AM to be among the gods early in the morning.

Yesterday, he had already gained enough experience driving up the winding 10 km to the visitor center in complete darkness. Today, the barrier lifted when Don Curry showed his museum pass to the controller. The visitor parking lot is located around 500 m above the center. Since most tourists arrive in organized tours by minibus, it doesn't need to be particularly big. But now the really challenging part began. In complete darkness, stairs had to be climbed for 20 minutes to reach the summit. In addition, the temperature here at over 2000 m altitude was freezing cold at 6°C, causing Don Curry to shiver despite wearing a thick sweater and hooded jacket. Continuous movement is the best remedy against the cold; so Don Curry trudged steadily uphill, passing several busloads of Turkish tourists. A faint reddish glow appeared on the eastern horizon, but it would probably take another 50 minutes until the actual sunrise. Don Curry and many others used the time to take extensive photos of the statues and heads of the gods in the light of the full moon and the dawning of the day. The bus groups also warmed themselves up with Raki, which was poured generously. Don Curry made very good use of the long wait by occasionally walking to the west terrace and being able to admire the monuments there all alone. Back on the east terrace, the sun quickly developed its warming power, making the ancient stones glow as if on fire. Truly divine moments...

Don Curry returned to the hotel around 7:30 AM, took a nap, and then went for breakfast. In addition to freshly baked flatbreads, he was served three porcelain plates with a rich selection of everything that belongs to a Turkish breakfast: tomatoes, cucumbers, various types of cheese, various types of jam, various types of olives; even some sausage was on offer. Although he had already run 2.5 km before breakfast today, he could only eat a small portion of the food.

Then it was time to leave again. Insignia turned out to be a true gourmet among vehicles. It preferred not only diesel, but also AdBlue. Don Curry had heard of the AdBlue concept, but had no experience with it. However, since yesterday, Insignia had been rather insistent that the AdBlue level was low. Today, it increased its threat potential and clearly indicated how many kilometers it would take until the engine could no longer start. It was still more than 800 km, but Don Curry recognized that he needed to find AdBlue as soon as possible.

But first, he visited Arsameia, one of the royal cities of the former Kingdom of Commagene, whose king, Antiochus, had created his tomb on Mount Nemrut. Arsameia was considered the summer capital because the mountains here were always pleasantly cooler than the lowlands. Surprisingly, no building ruins remained of this ancient settlement, but there were two excavated tunnels, one of which was over 150 m long, and several outstanding monuments. The highlight is a larger-than-life relief of Hercules and King Antiochus warmly greeting each other. In addition to these works of art standing freely in the landscape, Don Curry was particularly impressed by the majestic mountain landscape, stretching in all directions. On the way, he also caught sight of the distinctive summit of Mount Nemrut several times from a distance.

His next destination was only 60 km away as the crow flies, but on the other side of the mountain range. So, Don Curry had to invest almost 150 minutes to reach this destination on a 100 km road route - 100 km almost entirely uphill and downhill on serpentines. The extremely varied landscape images of this mountain world at least compensated somewhat for this prolonged exertion. At the end of the route was the large city of Malatya, and the first thing Don Curry saw and drove to there was a gas station. In the meantime, Insignia not only demanded AdBlue but also diesel. A young and very communicative gas station attendant took care of Don Curry. He quickly made it clear that he didn't understand Turkish, but that didn't bother the gas station attendant much, he continued to talk to Don Curry anyway. When Don Curry made it clear that he also needed AdBlue, the young man seemed puzzled. He quickly asked a colleague for advice. The colleague made it clear that Don Curry had to buy a canister of AdBlue, the contents of which could then be poured into the AdBlue tank of the car. Don Curry understood the procedure, but the talkative gas station attendant preferred to accompany Don Curry, continuing to talk - or rather to talk at Don Curry. When the canister was empty, Don Curry thanked him in Turkish, got in the car, and drove away before the young man could resume his flow of words. Somehow, Don Curry would be interested to know what the gas station attendant and the cashier had been telling him all the time...

After Insignia's needs were doubly satisfied and no new threats came, Don Curry headed to Arslantepe, a excavation mound on the outskirts of Malatya that had been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site just a few months ago. Although the mound can only be visited with a guided tour, the museum employee did not offer one due to a lack of English skills, and Don Curry had the entire area to himself. Recently installed information boards, also in English, helped him greatly with the historical orientation. For the non-archaeologist, there was not much to see: the foundations of a palace and some adjacent houses, all built of mud bricks. The information boards told about the beginnings, the heyday, and the decline of this settlement. All the artifacts were not on site, but could be seen in the museum of Malatya. However, Don Curry didn't have time for that. He briefly drove to Battalgazi, the old town of Malatya. Recently, an Ottoman caravanserai had been restored there. However, this restoration was so clinically clean that the building looked like a sober, modern new building, devoid of all historical charm. Quite disappointed, Don Curry left the place and finally wanted to treat himself to a lunch today.

In the travel guide, there was a mention of a restaurant with regional cuisine in the city center of Malatya. Since Malatya is basically a modern city, Don Curry was not afraid of wandering into any old town alleys. Instead, he ended up in a huge construction site. An entire traffic axis of the city center had been completely stripped of asphalt because new supply lines had to be laid there. But that's no reason to close the road or even put up detour signs; no, the traffic just has to somehow squeeze through the construction site and try to avoid the working excavators. It was even more difficult because the excavators had pushed parts of the soil into various side streets, turning them into dead ends without warning - mostly without a way to turn around. Don Curry quickly gave up his plan for a restaurant and just wanted to get out of the chaos, just like many other vehicles. Finally, it was possible to cross the area of a gas station to another main road and leave the city center.

A little outside of Malatya, Don Curry discovered signs pointing to a restaurant at a gas station. He drove there and ended up at a typical grill restaurant. As a guest, you choose the different types of skewers from a large showcase, which are then prepared on the charcoal grill; the side dishes are always the same. Don Curry ordered two chicken skewers and was served plenty of bread, tzatziki, chili paste, and salad. After a waiting tea, the excellently grilled skewers followed: crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, not too dry. Then he ordered a Turkish coffee, which was served with a small plate of sweets. The entire meal with tea, 1 liter of water, 2 cans of Coke Zero, and the coffee amounted to 4 €. And Don Curry was properly full.

He now needed this energy for the return journey. Although he had Google Maps calculate many routes, the shortest and most time-saving route remained the winding route he already knew. So, once again through the mountains! He made a small stop at the mighty Septimius Severus Bridge from Roman times. Until a few years ago, it had served without alteration until a fully loaded tanker truck caused it to collapse. It has since been well restored, but is now only accessible to pedestrians.

Originally, Don Curry wanted to go back to Mount Nemrut in the evening to also experience the sunset. But it was already too late for that. Don Curry reached his hotel while it was still daylight, but the sun had long disappeared behind the mountains. But one visit to the gods is enough for the day...