Dam and Damn

So I woke up this morning earlier than Luke again to a cacophony of animal sounds; cows, goats, sheep, roosters and one donkey.

Being hungry with no one else up and all the coolers with food in them locked I decided to forage. The trees were full of green and black figs.

Mount Nemrut next. Luke offered that I ride with him, I accepted since it was full of hairpin turns with that oh so fun gravel. 2800 meters high, you could feel the sun cooking you.

A new kind of payphone, just connect your cell phone and place a call from here (no cell phone service from the peak)

Mount Nemrut. I forgot to bring my Teva's so I hiked up to this barefoot. Luke tried to comfort me by saying it was therapeutic since important nerve endings are in the feet, I can barely feel them anymore, they have cooked inside my boots.

Cool wall of stone, they cut out a grove in the bottom stone and place the tall wall stone in it but the earthquakes knocked them all down.

And this one is my favorite.

Sun just coming up over the man-made pyramid of gravel, the sonar/radar readings show an open cavity underneath so they are excavating to get to it.

Back to camp for a feast again *sigh*. Fresh figs, olives, this egg, tomato, chili dish called Menemen (sp?) and honey to die for oh and don't forget the fresh cheese.

Took a ferry across the vast lake created by the 4th largest Dam in the world, Ataturk Dam. 

I parked on the right side of this truck and as you can see the sides are very high, the truck was rocking back and forth a lot, come to find that it's full of cows.

Forgot the floaties at home for the munchkin...no problem, just tie a bunch of empty soda pop bottles together.

Controlled Chaos getting on the ferry.

So I thought of a little trick....wet my body armor and let the wind dry it, sort of a cooling vest so we stopped here at this gas station in the middle of nowhere and the kind attendants cut a watermelon for us and remember they can't eat or drink all day.  Turkish Hospitality.

Of course it could be that they felt bad for the poor girl who tumbled to the ground as soon as she got off her bike. :) 102 degrees

Tried to find the famous fortified walls in a city on the way to Mardin and everyone came out to help....

This was our primary destination...Mor Gabriel Monastary. Fortunately the guide book was wrong and we made the last tour...

I was not feeling like a Grecian Beauty but I could not resist posing in this alcove.

So this is the second Damn. Found a hotel that I was hoping would be nice and for the money $100 US, it should be but it's not much better than a Motel 6 and this is the pool we cannot swim in until all the Muslims finish gorging themselves on food, post sunset. I totally blew a fuse in the lobby...

But I'll end this blog on a funnier note. These door handles have built in anti theft systems....they are so squeeky and noisy that the neighbors can hear you going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.