Traveling in Turkey During the Corona Restrictions – Part 4

The most unusual way to enter into the new year was additionally aided by the Turkish authorities, who from the evening of December 31st and until the morning of January 1st introduced and strictly enforced a curfew. Although this didn't apply to tourists, the evening tour of the city was very unusual, as the otherwise full streets and anticipation of the New Year's Eve were replaced by piercing silence, and almost the only decoration were traffic lights, toying with changing colors from green to yellow and then to red and back again out of boredom and in a hopeless anticipation of a vehicle. Unfortunately, the traffic lights that evening had to be satisfied only with a pedestrian from Slovenia, who crossed a completely empty road in the emptied two-million Adana on his way back from a night photography trip to the city's two most important sights. The 300-meter stone bridge over the Seyhan River was first built by Hadrian and later rebuilt by Justinian. At the same time, it's probably not necessary to explain that the construction of such a bridge, which has been preserved to this day, was a great engineering feat in the Roman times.

Another attraction that I chased into the lens from all sides was the mighty central Sabanci Mosque, named after the modern-day Turkish magnate Sakip Sabanci, who also provided funds for the construction. The modern mosque with six minarets is the largest mosque between Istanbul and Saudi Arabia and can hold up to 28,000 worshipers at a time.

New Year's Eve in a hotel room

Upon returning to the hotel, the moment for a bizarre farewell to 2020 slowly arrived in my hotel room; all this coupled with a can of local beer and the countdown on one of the Turkish TV channels.

But even in the morning, on New Year’s Day, it wasn’t significantly different. A walk through Adana, named after the founder Adanus, son of Uranus (Greek god of the sky), and located in the middle of the Cilician lowland, was even more reminiscent of a visit to the city of Pripyat next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But despite its size, all the important city sights are in an area as large as about one square kilometer, and because it was only possible to see the city, but not experience it. The walk, on which I saw from the outside almost everything tourist guides advise (a large clock tower, a large 16th-century Ulu Camii mosque, both famous hamams and the Catholic Church of St. Paul), lasted only a good hour. Experiences, such as shopping at the market, sipping Turkish coffee by the river and visiting museums in Adana, will unfortunately have to wait for better times.

During the curfew, only the essentials were available in Adana. And it's what is understood as an essential that says a great deal about the culture of a particular nation. Thus, in Adana, in addition to rare grocery stores, some gas stations, rare food stalls and pharmacies on-duty, almost all confectioneries were open, offering delicacies in all their glory.

After a good hour of walking around the city, I had no choice but to dedicate myself to exploring the interior of the Turkish eastern Mediterranean, which was a very good decision. In the north of Adana, I could only observe from the car an artificial lake intended for rest and relaxation, as parking and stopping in otherwise empty parking lots was prohibited.

Railway between Basra and Berlin

The main destination of this half-day trip, of course, was open, as it's the Kapikaya Canyon, carved out by the Çakit stream, one of the main tributaries of the Seyhan River. Despite the closed stalls, or because of that, the tour of the canyon, which measures about 5.5 kilometers in length, was all the more authentic. Accompanied by dogs who kindly accompanied me all the way through the canyon, I met only a few tourists there who, like me, felt the canyon in all its grandeur. Similar to the canyon, the Varda viaduct, built by German builders on the Istanbul-Baghdad line between Konya and Adana and financed by the German Deutsche Bank, is also impressive. The railway project also included a 12-kilometer section with as many as 22 tunnels through the Taurus Mountains. The reason for the German investment in this line, of course, wasn't the kindness or aid to Turkey, but Germany's supply of oil, as the line, after the construction of this section, connected Basra with Berlin via Baghdad and Istanbul. The construction of the viaduct, which was the last missing part of this line, began in 1905 and was completed in 1912.

The next day came a moment of farewell, but before saying goodbye to the central Turkish Mediterranean, we stop in the village of Anavarza or Anazarbus, where the fortress on the hill testifies to the power and importance of the Roman Empire. The fortress, originally called Caesarea ad Anazarbum, was built by the Romans on their arrival in 19 BC. The location was very well thought out as they were able to control the fertile fields in the Cilician lowland from the fortress. The exceptional location and importance of the fortress are confirmed by the fact that its owners changed at least ten times and the Romans were followed by the Persians, Arabs, Byzantines, Hamdanid princes from Aleppo, the Crusaders, the local Armenian king, and again the Byzantines, Turks, Mamluks and finally the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia until 1375 when the fortress lay abandoned over the Cilician lowland. Six centuries ago, a maintained staircase led to the fortress, which has been largely destroyed by the ravages of time, so suitable footwear is required for the ascent. Even on the fortress itself, certain paths are almost completely destroyed, but you can still visit it with sufficient caution.

Before returning to Kayseri, where we started this travelogue, we stop at the Kapuzbaşi waterfalls, not far from Büyükçakir. If it's sometimes considered that the route is more important than the destination, in this case I can't say for sure, because the main road was under construction, and the average speed on the bypass road, despite all efforts, was about 30 km/h for about 50 kilometers.

But even here, the effort paid off; as it's one of the most unusual waterfalls I've ever seen in my life. The main waterfall, despite its beauty, isn't something that can't be compared to other waterfalls, but a walk along the river, into which about ten smaller waterfalls literally gush from the rock, makes these waterfalls unique and, despite the ride, worth a visit.

But before we say goodbye to Turkey, let's say a few words about the city, which was both the beginning and the end of the New Year's trip.

Imperial end of a journey through Turkey

Kayseri, once a Roman Caesarea, lies at the foot of the extinct, nearly 4,000-foot-high volcano Mt. Erciyes, which today offers top ski runs and is one of the most important ski resorts in Turkey. With a population of one million, Kayseri is the largest city in Cappadocia and an important business, cultural, religious and educational center of central Anatolia. Due to the remarkable development in recent decades, Kayseria has also adopted the name "Anatolian Tiger", but despite all the architecture, museums, culture and history, few visitors dedicate themselves to the city, which is otherwise the starting point for exploring Cappadocia. I was also one of those who spent too little time on Kayseri, just one evening before returning to Slovenia, but I still want to summarize some impressions and combine them with everything I learned about Kayseri from the literature.

Kayseri is an interesting combination of Seljuk tombs, mosques and the modern. But other than modern suburbs, we won’t see anything interesting on the way from the airport to central Cappadocia, even though the airport is only a few miles away from the old city center.

The central attraction of Kayseri is certainly the castle in the city center, built by the Roman emperor Gordian III and renovated by the Byzantine emperor Justinian 300 years later. The last to change the appearance of the castle, however, was the Seljuk Sultan Kayqubad I in the 13th century. The next attraction is the Museum of the Seljuk Civilization, but for ease of understanding it may be better to at least visit the ethnographic museum first, if not also the archaeological museum. Unobtrusively, the historic Atatürk House Museum, where the founder of modern Turkey lived in August 1919 during a visit to Kayseri, soon sneaks into the itinerary. In the city, among the many mighty mosques, there's also the church of St. Gregory the Illuminator. Finally, let me mention the Mahperi Hunat Hatun complex from the 13th century, which is the most important Seljuk monument in the city.

Kayseri is also famous for carpets

Although culture can also be viewed as a kind of food, it's necessary to have a meal in the original sense of the word during your trip. Of course, there are both traditional and modern restaurants in Kayseri, but if you'd like to try something truly indigenous, I suggest a manti, ravioli-like dish, or pastirmo – beef bacon.

For anyone who would like to return from Turkey with a modern or traditional carpet, Kayseri is the most important carpet production center in Anatolia.

Although it's quite unlikely, it makes sense to ask when buying carpets if they have a flying carpet in stock, and if the answer is no, you can still get home with your plane ticket.

More important than a negative answer to the question about the flying carpet is a negative test for the coronavirus (at least at the time of writing), because otherwise quarantine awaits you in Slovenia or any other country you're from. But I hope that everything related to the draconian coronavirus measures in this travelogue at the time of reading will be only part of a painful memory, suppressed forever a long time ago.