Severek - Nemrut; 19th September
September 19th
Left Severek to go to Nemrut ruins -- it is on the cover of the Turkey Lonely Planet and something I had been looking forward to since before the trip.
We had lunch at a roadside cafe just off the main road before the ruins. We set next to a group of students and their teacher and chatted whilst we ate a delicious serving of Pide. As they left, the teacher paid for our meal -- when we realised, we insisted to pay him back, to which he refused. He then suggested we come visit the school, just up the road, if we liked.
As we left the wind picked up significtly, knocking over some bins on the street. We rushed into a shop to take shelter, when some light rain started. Taking this as an opportunity to take the teacher up on his offer, we went to visit the school.
On entering the courtyard, we attracted a huge amount of attention from the students who were on their break. Obviously they had no idea why we were there, and as we started to turn back, slightly uncomfortable with the fact that we were being thronged, the teacher came out and invited us in for a cup of tea.
We chatted with the teachers in their common room, and then were given a short tour of the school, popping our heads in to some of the classes and saying hello.
The class with the best performing students, about 15 of them, was almost exclusivley or entirely girls. The teacher explained that if they didn't get into university (which is free), their job opportunities would be much more limited than if they were boys -- and therefore they were much more motivated to study hard.
After taking a picture outside the school we headed up the climb to Ani. Rolling hills in perfect tarmack and very little traffic thankfully. After finding a BnB at the village of Karadut, we paid the owner for a lift to the mountain top.
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