Ani to Diyarbakır (bus); 13th September

13 September

We left for the bus station, but before leaving we handed the note from Mustafa to the hotel owner. He smiled broadly on reading it, shook our hands and we said goodbye.

At the bus station we managed to pack the bike into the back of a minibus. The minibus was to take us to the outskirts of Kars, where the big bus would collect us and and drive to Diybarkar.

We were dropped of st a petrol station with the other passengers. We paid 400 extra to take the bike on the bus.

The bus itself was comfortable. Air con, fast WiFi, and a cute little refreshments trolley pushed by the bus attendant serving complimentary coffee or soft drinks.

Cute little complementary refreshments cart of the bus. It also had super fast WiFi, so we watched some Netflix

There were a couple of police check points where officers got on and asked to see everyone’s ID or passports. At one of the breaks, there was a military presence too, where they had blocked the road for sometime for some reason. I wondered if this police presence was related to the history between the Turkish state and the Kurdish people.

Short road block with some military presence. Not sure what it was about but it soon cleared up.

When we got to Diyarbakir the bus attendant walked us to the taxi rank. It was dark and we had no desire to cycle from the outskirts to the centre with no good lights.

After a rejection, a taxi agreed to take us and the bike for 100 L extra. After fitting the two parts of the bike into the back of his normal sized taxi, he drove us to the hotel.

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