Mount Nemrut (Repost with Pics/Video)

I went with my buddies John and Mike to Mount Nemrut last summer. This is the story John emailed to his family. I have finally got around to adding the videos/pics.
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This weekend me and my two mountain biking buddies decided to go to a place called Mt Nemrut. Mt Nemrut is a mountain about 5 hours north east of the base. On the top of the roughly 7000 foot mountain (the only high peek around), there are a half dozen statues. The heads of the statues are about 6 feet tall, and the monument is about 2500 years old.

We left Friday night after work and drove for about 2 hours before stopping in a major town called Gaziantep. Along the way we tested the tolerance of the Turkish Polis.



We drove there without reservations or even any knowledge of the area the hotels were in. Once we got close, we just decided to exit the freeway and head to the tall buildings which ended up being a neighborhood of apartment towers. We kept going past them and ended up in a village on dirt road full of tractors and livestock. This was at about 08:00 pm, so it was completely dark. All of a sudden we popped out into a small city and there were a few decent looking hotels around.

We decided to try out a nice British looking place. The price was $100 for 3 people so that's where we stayed.









We had 2 single beds and a couch that folded out into a bed, so it was a good choice to stay. While driving to the hotel we noticed a party going on in one of the alleys about a block away from the hotel so we decide to check it out.





Right after we shot this video, someone on a roof near by sent up a bunch of fire works to add to the party; and a young man in his late 20s pulled out a pistol and fired a few rounds into the air to add to the celebration. We decide to go grab dinner at that point. We found a local joint about two blocks away and around the corner.

On the way back to the hotel we heard some music coming from behind the hotel and after a quick investigation we noticed a bar and a disco in the back basement of the hotel. The "disco" had one girl dancing in the center and a few groups of guys sitting around at he tables. We sat down and the waitress brought us some chips and peanuts...we thought sweet, free food. Later we found out that they were $10 a piece-for a small bowl of imitation Lays! The "disco" wasn't really happening (two girls just kept switching out), so we decided to check out the bar.

It was a nice place with a singer and band and everything. After grabbing a table near the side, we started noticed that the guys and girls were segregated at this place. The tables consisted of 4 or 5 guys sitting at a table with groups of 4-5 girls sitting at other tables. After closer observation we noticed that about half of the tables with girls at them had candles lit; none of the tables with guys at them had candles. We also noticed that there was a guy sitting at a corner near the door in a very nice white suit sitting alone and watching the crowd, not the show. Axel used what little Turkish he knew to confirm our suspicions; that yes, in fact, the girls were for 'sale' (we later learned that at this place you bought companionship and it wasn't a full brothel). We finished our drinks and called it a night. (BTW, I am fired up because I was sure that I had video of the lady singing...I'll have to see if Jon has it.)

We got up around 8 the next morning and feasted on the hotel breakfast; lots of bread, cheese, meat, eggs, and other good things. By 9 we were on the road again.

After about 3 hours on the road and a little "I think its in that direction;" we arrived at Mt Nemrut.

We hiked up the hill, took some pictures, froze our buts off, and headed back down the hill. The view was cool and it was pretty amazing that those huge statues were somehow brought up there.




















On the way back, I (Jon) noticed an alternate road down the hill, and after a little convincing (because we were low on gas and out of gas coupons), we headed down that way. We found the old capitol of the builders of Nemrut (along with a bunch of tour buses).








At the bottom of the hill we found a Roman (there was a sign) bridge over a large stream. On the other side of the stream, and on top of a large rock formation (about 1000 ft tall) was a large castle. We drove up around the hill to the entrance. That castle was worth the entire trip. It was mostly intact so we climbed around it for about a half hour.























We found a path down the back side towards the river. The stairway down to the river looked a little rough but doable.











Most of the stairway was covered with a few windows for light, but some of it had fallen onto the path making it slippery at times. The stairway degraded fast and kept getting worse. But we where committed to finding the bottom so we kept going. After a while we started having to take turns going down because of the rocks that got kicked loose.








We got to one point where the shelter around the stairs had been totally destroyed and new steps had been cut into the smooth rock cliff. Luckily there was a cable that we were able to use for support.





About 100 feet from the river we noticed the path ahead get very dark. My friend climbed as far down as he could see and took a picture to see if there was a path down. It was blocked. At the lowest window, we noticed a place to tie ropes to and a few broken steps before a drop to the stream.





We were still too high to get down; so we climbed back up the stairs. After turning around, we realized just how bad the stairs were (imagine Frodo and Sam climbing the stairs in Lord of the Rings). About 2 hours after we found the stairs, we made it back up to the top again. When we got back to the road, we took some pictures from the bridge back up to the castle.











We hoped in the car and drove to the nearest town. Here is another bridge we saw along the way.





Once we got to the town we were starving and ate as much as we could get our hands on.





The ride home was about a 5 hour trip and we did it on an empty tank of gas, the air off and the windows rolled up. We added the last 20 Turkish dollars we had left to the tank and prayed… we made it back to the base at 11 pm after driving the last dozen miles with the gas light on, tired and covered in dust. Luckily we had Sunday to recover and rest up.