A day by the Tigris
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2010
1
22
35
Trip End
Dec 16, 2010
Arriving in Hasankyef I headed towards the old city, but was told by some police officers that it was closed... looking at the layout of the land I decided to walk all the way around the mountain and try to come out on the other side. After nearly 2 hours walking, I succeeded in making my way around and up the hill to the old city of Hasankyef. I was confronted by some of the site's reconstruction supervisors, but they eventually let me go up as long as I promised to be back down by 3. At the top I found some architects from Ankara who spoke pretty amazing Italian (per quelli che capiscono l'italiano, uno di loro mi ha perfino detto "chi va piano va sano e va lontano... ma non arriva mai") As the sun was setting I walked down to the bank of the Tigris where I found a young boy and his older brother fishing under the ancient bridge.. only they weren't using wooden boats or fishing poles, but rather zapping the fish with an electric wire that was plugged into an extension chord that came down from their house and made their way across this timeless river on inner tubes, sometimes wading knee-deep in the freezing water... all that to catch some tiny fish, which would make for the family's dinner. Hasankyef doesn't have much going on after dark and I was the only one staying at the only hotel in town (the Hasankyef Motel) that night. I ended the day by hanging out at the local internet/computer/games cafe with some of the young guys in town, discussing football/soccer while some of them played FIFA 2009.
