16th May - Gaziantep

 Onto another bus headed to Gaziantep. A city of 2 million+ surrounded by thousands of hectares of pistachio plantings. 

Taken from the bus window. Pistacios as far as the eye can see.

Gaziantep a place of many small trades, crafts. We got to the Otogar and we thought were pretty smart finding our way to the local bus stop only to find the bus we identified, that would get us the 6km in the centre,  would not be for another hour. Decided to hop onto the next dolmus, follow our google map on the cellphone and hope it headed to the centre. We were in luck. Absolute chaos on the roads with weekend traffic, throngs of people. Passengers see our packs, say "tourist" and try to help in Turkish. Bus driver intimated "you get off now". We walked last km or so, all good.

Everywhere, since Istanbul, we have not seen any non Turk tourists on the intercity, local buses, bus stations or wandering the towns as we have. They are on coach tours or private black Mercedes vans, if at all. Saw a German tour group at tbe Sanliurfa Mosaics (they needed a big bus). So we are a novelty and get stared at a fair bit but never any concerns.

Chap making shoes

Knife sharpener.

Always piles of nuts and spices everywhere.

Chap repairing bicycles. 

Making womens clothing.

Our hotel room at Andalou Everli. Is in a coverted school some 220 years old, 14 rooms, 34 staff, one cat with four kittens. A goldfish pond under threat by kittens. Comfortable bed, quiet ever thankful for. Shower works, taps are around the right way; amazing for Turkey where intentions are good but not quite the finishing workmanship. Drives Jeff mad things off square.

The outdoor dining area.

Baklava is a speciality of Gaziantep (pistachios in pastry). We are not big fans. And of course the Turkish are meat mad - kebabs with liver, kidney, sheep fat? I think not. struggled to find green salad at the end of the day so resorted to cheese on tea biscuits in our room. 

Next day set out to take in the Coppersmith Bazaar and then the Zeugma Museum. Pretty quiet 9am so did not have to plough our way through weekend shoppers.

Need a tin plate. Tinsmith knocking out another dish.

Lots of pieces catch your eye but really we do not need anything.

Delighted to come across a sieve maker. Reminded us of the one we own of my grandfathers which we use to sieve soil but here they are used to winnow grains.

Walked the long way to the museum on the lookout for an HSBC Atm but to no avail. They are the only bank that do not charge fees on cash withdrawals and will dispense currencies other than Turkish lira (many places only take Turkish lira in cash so you have carry wodge of it). Anyway no joy on the HSBC.

Zeugma Mosaic Museum has a 3,000 metre collection of mosaics from the Roman to Byzantine era.  You can identify the difference by the move away from Roman; pictures of people and animals to the more islamically acceptable geometric patterns of the Byzantine era. We felt Sanliurfa was fabulous but these mosaics in Gaziantep were on a whole different level. Most mosaics came from the  ancient township of Zeugma, 50km to the east on the Euphrates River. They were moved because the area was going to be flooded by a new dam early 2000.

Was a very reasonable NZD$25 each to get in and busy as being Sunday.

The detail using these finger nail sized pieces was exquisite

Very large Roman vila floors shown here from above. Must have been painstaking for the restorers to put back together.

The famous mosaic the museum holds is treated like the Mona Lisa, has its own security guard and held in a darkened alleyway to the room of its own.  It is famous because " the gypsy girl" eyes follow you due to the unique artistry of the mosaics. We felt she looks like the girl whose photo was taken in Afghanistan by the National Geograhic. Her eyes were haunting blue reflecting her life thus far.

Tomorrow we make the 5hr bus trip up to Goreme in the Cappadocia region.