Dead End

Today we woke up at 4:45AM in the morning to hop on a hot air balloon and witness Cappadocia from the sky. We got back to the hotel at about 7AM, took a quick cold shower, had breakfast and hit the road. We wanted to visit Mt. Nemrut and were given an interesting choice of routes – approach the mountain from the North via 98 km of a secondary road or approach the mountain from the South primarily via main roads but with about 200 more kilometers.

We read on the guide that the Northern route included many unpaved sections and we decided to play it safe and the the southern route. After about 600 km we reached the top of Mt. Nemrut with plans to drive another 300 km.

The route to Mt. Nemrut was a gorgeous drive between valleys, through a canyon of carved out stones. A steep road towards the top proved to be challenging for the Punto, which struggled at times but in the end proved itself as a worthy challenger to the terrain – making it all the way to the top. Once there we were greeted by an enigmatic site full of colossal statues and a beautiful sunset.

We hoped back to the car and started driving towards Siderek. The sun was down and we found ourselves driving in the dark again, but it seemed necessary since we’re a bit behind schedule. Halfway between Mt. Nemrut and Siderek, Andrés noticed something odd in our map – a light red line along our route that crossed a tiny body of water. After referencing the legend and telling us that it meant “maritime route”, we decided to continue driving since there were clear road signage for Siderek with distance markings. And then we saw an interesting sign – the picture of a car falling into a body of water (400 m). Another sign – same picture, but now only 200 m. And once again, now at 100 m. And then we saw it. A body of water. Impossible to cross.

It was 9:15pm and we were surrounded by empty shops and restaurants. We saw a sign that read “Ferryboat” and listed some times, starting with 8:00 and ending with 21:30. It seemed like we were in luck! A ferry would come in 15 minutes and help us cross to the other side. So we waited, and we waited, and the ferry never came. The place we were was completely deserted.

After some time we decided to head back and ask for directions. Not entirely sure how we were able to communicate, but we think we understood the following:
1. No more ferryboats today. The next one is at 8AM.
2. Going around the body of water that’s preventing us to get to Siderek would take approximately 6 hours.

We kept going back with hopes of finding a place to stay. Luckily our guides had some recommendations nearby. We drove back, stopped for a Kebab, got an offer to drink tea at a Turkish home which we politely turned down, and eventually found a pretty good and cheap place to stay with WiFi!

Tomorrow we will attempt to cross with the ferry at 7AM and drive all the way to Iran. Let’s see if we make it this time around.