Elazig – Malatya
2nd September 2014 39℃ 306km
Elazig – Malatya
Leaving Elazig, I headed up into the mountains to explore Nemrut Dağı. The ride was pretty much awesome until the last 3km, winding mountain roads, with very little traffic and spectacular views. The last 3km was steep, loose rocks and a bit of effort to climb, especially as I missed the correct trail and managed to reach a dead-end where it was too narrow to turn around.
The peak at 2100M was really quite amazing, huge sculpted heads sitting atop the mountain, facing out into the distance. The heads are believed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BC. I was the only tourist present, and walking around the ancient site, looking out over the valleys amongst these historic sculptures was simply spectacular.
On descending the mountain, I made my way to Malatya, the commercial hub of a city. Fortunately the traffic was reasonable, and the hotels even more so. I found a great, spotless hotel right in the centre of town for a super cheap price, and settled in for the night.
Wow – The sculptures are amazing, surprised that it is so empty there and no other tourists around.
Yeah, really amazing. A German engineer discovered them in the 1950’s. The road there is really shite, maybe that has something to do with the few tourists.
That’s good, it should be better preserved with a shite road