Oh no!!

11.9.21  

When we left Şanlıurfa last night we headed 12km north to Gobeklitepe, for today’s visit. When we arrived there were several security personnel who said we couldn’t park there overnight. One suggested 15km back to the central park or 3km to the forest track. We saw a sign for the forest but it was a rocky track and would leave a tight squeeze for any other vehicles. As it was getting narrower we had to find enough room to turn around.

So John was out there shifting rocks to make a turning track while I was having kittens about living there for the rest of my life. Poor Naz.

Next time we’ll get a 4×4 motorhome or convert a tractor. The relief from getting out of that track was massive.

A few metres down the main road was a huge gravelled area, home for the night. It certainly was very peaceful.

Gobeklitepe opens at 8.30am and as we’d already noticed there were no trees for shade in the car park  for the dogs we were almost the first visitors.

We’d have been first if we hadn’t had a traffic jam!

One of the lads asked for a glass of water so we gave him a bottle from the fridge.

Admission for Göbeklitepe is 65tl, but free with our museum cards. There’s a very smart entrance area with an incredible 3D special effects.

There’s a shuttle bus to the entrance, after learning our lesson from Sumela Monastery and walking miles we got in it. The distance was actually very short.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/

Fabulous, feeling truly blessed to see this remarkable, unique place.

Our next destination was Mount Nemrut. It was 190km away, we decided to press on and maybe stop somewhere en route. We want to be there for sunset.

We stopped at a bakers and took pot luck with what turned out to be dry as a bone biscuits and tasty sesame biscuits. It was a bit of a palaver as the guy was filling up a bag because they’re sold by the kilo. John didn’t like any of them. All the more for me.

The landscape is pretty barren, hilly but no mountains around us and only the occasional tractor shop and overloaded lorries.

As we got closer to Nemrut the landscape became stunning again and there are a lot of small lakes here and there. Just beautiful.

Nemrut is 24km upwards from the main road. It was getting steeper and steeper. Naz was getting hotter and hotter. We stopped a couple of times to let her recover.

Off we went again next thing… BANG!!! OMG!!!

John looked under the bonnet and announced that the radiator had blown. The black plastic part on the top was no longer attached, the bonnet has a dent where the thing blew upwards, she’s lost her Merc badge and the bonnet catch is playing up because of the metal whatever across the top.

John recovered her front badge 100m away.

Now what?? I don’t even remember how John managed to turn her around.

I suggested we stop at the small pansiyon we passed in Karadut village and ask if they know anyone that can help.

After various comings and goings and an old man who kept saying just put some water in it (thought we might have to slap him) the outcome was no one could come as too far. The guy said it was 14km to the sanay and put the directions in my phone.

4 teee km, yes 4 teen, no 4 teee, oh sorry…

This was terrifying. John found some thin rope in his tat bag, tied down the top plastic part, filled up with water when the old man wasn’t looking and we proceeded to coast down the hill. Inevitably there were some uncoastable parts.

Shortly before a petrol station she got hot again, water pouring out and we had to stop.

I walked over to the petrol station, was immediately invited to sit with the 3 of them and drink çay while I explained what had happened. One of them called a break down truck while the older of the 3 had my life with him in Europe planned out. If the circumstances weren’t so horrible it would have been far funnier than it actually was.

John managed to limp Naz to the petrol station. I escaped from my future husband and joined John while we waited.

Seeing her loaded onto the breakdown truck was scary and very sad.

I went in the cab with the driver and he phoned around for radiators on the way.

We arrived at what would be our new home until Monday. First job çay. It was nearly 5.30pm on Saturday and no one is open on Sunday. The new radiator will arrive on Monday.

Initially the garage guy said via google translate that we aren’t allowed to sleep in the sanay. He seemed quite surly. I explained to him in my best Turkish that we have 2 dogs with us and no way to get to a hotel. He softened then and the truck driver made a call to the Bekçi, the security guys, and they said they would let us stay, no problem. There are toilets and washing facilities at the mosque we can use if we want to.

The radiator will be around 1500tl, 1650 tl with fitting. £140. We were offered a cheaper Italian radiator but would rather pay the extra.

I was scared to ask about the tow truck… 150tl. £13. I hope the relief didn’t show too much on my face or the next poor soul will get charged double.

We later went for a wander and found a little stall on the corner of the main road. He was selling kavurma in a large cauldron, fish, meatballs and liver.

We tried the kavurma, like a spicy mince, John opted for that and I had the liver. It came wrapped in huge soft, thick bread and was delicious. As soon as we were finished we were plied with çay. After asking us for around £1.50 we gave him extra for all the tea he refused to charge for.

We felt really sad at sunset knowing we should have been watching it surrounded by one of Turkey’s most iconic statues.

The garage workers didn’t pack up until almost 10.30pm. They brought us çay and looked really tired.

I’m determined not to let this get me down. We’re going to rig up a washing line, do some laundry and I need to upload photos and write the blurb for re renting my UK house.

We love Naz, we’re happy to get this sorted but we’re both worried that there’s an underlying issue causing the overheating. John is going to watch them closely tomorrow and ask them to check everything.