Hasankeyf, Turkey

The end is here; the trip finally comes to a close. It’s a bit depressing to leave the traveling life and back into reality. I’ve been living a dream; seeing amazing places, meeting new people, trying new foods, experiencing different cultures. A book can’t describe it, a game can’t simulate it, a movie can’t make you feel what you feel when you travel. I’m such a novice traveler too; these past two months have been amazing. I’ve met people who’s traveled for so long that their passport are bursting at the seams with extra inserts and visa stamps.

Remains of a bridge and a Hasankeyf Castel built on and into the cliff.

This is the last exciting place we traveled with Josh, Rajay, and Yosuke. We took a bus from Mardin to here passing by this place called Batman. Really Batman? We were dropped off at the entrance to a bridge with the hostel at the foot of it. We set out to get some lunch, but we found out that this place didn’t have any functioning kitchens at the moment because of Ramadan. Most touristy places will have something available for tourists, but one: we were in Eastern Turkey, two: it was a small town, three: apparently the castle we came to see was closed for a few months due to a wall falling down and it being hazardous to tourists. So we resorted to eating ice cream and a bag of chips…

Wai trekking up to the rear entrance of Hasankeyf castle.

The next morning I walked out to my terrace overlooking the river and found Rajay cutting up some incredibly delicious watermelon. I swear, watermelon has never tasted so good. We talked to some people who worked at the hostel and they hooked us up with a guy who would be willing to show us a hidden pathway to the castle. We jumped on the opportunity after some haggling and grabbed our cameras. We walked through some hanging rugs into a hidden pathway down to the river, walked along the Cliffside until we found this carved out tunnel to the backside of a valley, trekked up a pathway to the top of the mountain and climbed through a hole that was obviously meant to be blocked. And there we were, on top of a ruined castle with caverns, holes, arches, and what not.

Staring over the ruins of the castle.

This was amazing, the entire place was to ourselves. No guards, no tourists, no peddlers. Well apparently there were guards in the front so we had to avoid visual contact with them. But otherwise the entire place was ours to explore. We walked into a church with only a partial roof. We hopped a fence to check out an ongoing excavation that the tour guide was working on. It was the best time of day where the sun had about two hours left until it set. Perfect weather and lighting.

Flock of birds above the river.


Until I travel again.