Six-month ASIA ADVENTURE__PART--5

Soon we reached the "Turkish Riviera". On the shores of the here deep blue Mediterranean Sea lies the picturesquely beautiful beach landscape that is downright fascinating between Alanya and Tasuch. In addition, that part of Turkey is full of - mostly well-preserved - remnants of bygone eras. The empires of the Romans, Persians, Turks, Byzantines, Hittites, Selschuks etc. have had a particularly strong impact on the "Aegean area" and the "Mediterranean region". The Bible City of Tarsus 30 km north of Mersin is the Bible City of Tarsus. The day was drawing to a close when we stopped in front of a restaurant there. Soon the obligatory "evening drink" ran down our dry throats. And then the same thing happened again and again. We had been "identified" as strangers and immediately people sat and stood around us in large numbers. Those who spoke English asked many questions. To our delight, we experienced genuinely warm hospitality in almost every country.

It turned out to be another long, enjoyable night with Turkish friends. To top it all off, a knowledgeable teacher from Tarsus took us to the sights of the city. We walked through the "Cleopatra Gate": one of the six city gates that existed in ancient times. "In Gözlükule, the port of Tarsus, the Roman general Antonius received his beloved, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, with great pomp," explained our companion. They then entered the city through the gate, which was then called "Sea Gate" and now bears the name "Cleopatra Gate". A little later we reached the place where Cleopatra and Antonius met for the first time and used to spend their nights of love: the "Cleopatra Hill". A walk to the "St. Paul's Fountain", which is the fountain of the house where the apostle Paul is said to have lived, ended the midnight trip. "

...ADANA, MERSIN, ELAZIG, ERZURUM and the first snow on Mount ARARAT" It was still so sunny and warm in southern Turkey at the end of November that we were able to enjoy swimming in the Mediterranean several times - that's how it turned out it is getting colder and colder in the east - not least because of the considerable altitude. The first snow fell shortly after Erzurum. To our bad luck, the windscreen wiper system failed right now and the engine also often went on strike. So one of us had to get out every 100 meters to either remove the snow from the windshield or to push the car with the help of locals. Finally we reached - it was now evening - the Persian border. Here - at the Bazargan border checkpoint - we practically pushed the VW from Turkey to Persia. Reason: the engine once again did not start during the decisive passage across the border...

" Thundering into the Great Salt Desert " . . .


 (to be continued)
 

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