Mount Aratat & the Wonders of Turkey Expedition Dispatch
July 21, 2013 – Leaving for Eastern Turkey
Charles Gielen at our first break – Muradiye Waterfall
We woke up this morning ready to go. Everyone is excited to move on to the next phase of our trip – climbing Mount Ararat. Not all of us will be attempting the summit; Laurens and Jan have another plan for this part of the trip; they will be visiting Kurdish shepherd families around the mountain. I am sure they will have a great time and learn a lot about the rich way of living in this part of the world.
Today was a transfer day. We started with a one-hour drive from Uchisar to Kayseri where we boarded our flight to Istanbul and then took a connecting flight to Van.
Our flights were right on schedule. Our 19 duffel bags arrived promptly as well. Jamal who will be on the mountain with us met us at the airport and soon we were off in a bus for Dogubeyazit where we will spend the night before moving to the mountain tomorrow morning.
Along the road to Dogubeyazit we stopped at a lovely spot, the Muradiye Waterfall. We then drove north along the Iranian border and at about 6:30 PM we had our first view of our goal: the imposing snowcapped summit of Ararat came into view from the highway.
We stopped for dinner before going to the hotel and we experienced a fun dinner evening at a unique local restaurant. I will let you judge the by the photos the uniqueness of this place!
Although we had to connect in Istanbul we were actually on the same plane for both flights.
No better way to kill time between connections than checking out our dispatches on the Berg Adventures website.
Evert Broekers and Peter Broekveldt enjoy a beverage with a beautiful view.
Charles and Richard – roommates and friends
A smiling Bart Peek
Laurens Brinkhorst and Peter Idenburg enjoying the day
Evert and Wally together on our break
Peter Broekveldt deep in thought
Jan Eisenloeffel- a great spot for a photo
Jan Eisenloeffel and Peter Broekveldt
Bart Peek with one of our Ararat Mountain guides
Our first view of Ararat at 6:30pm
Everyone got out of the bus to make sure they had a good photo; it was “foto maken” time.
We saw several beautiful local markets on our drive.
The group at the restaurant
Fons enjoying the food and the company
Richard taking in the uniqueness of the restaurant
The owner of the restaurant came to display the dinner options.
Richard and Peter ready to try the fresh bread