Category: Travels

On my last trip to Gaziantep in the South of Turkey to give training with Gap Consulting, we flew over the city as we came into land on a clear night. Down below, illuminated in a bright orange light, was the round fortress that once stood guard over Gaziantep from invaders.

To visit the fortress of Gaziantep was not on my timetable, nor in fact any sightseeing trip, but I found that I had a spare day with no training. A Sunday, with nothing to do, so I decided to go for a walk, just around the shops near to my hotel.

It surprised me that even though it was 11am, there were very few shoppers, and very few shops open, so I just walked and walked, taking in the sights, sounds and smells.

 hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil, sit over a café in Gaziantep

I then noticed the fort in the distance, and aimed myself towards it, keeping track of the landmarks, so that I could find my way back to the hotel.

Turning a corner, there in front of me was the fort, sitting on top of a hill. I could see visitors on the battlements, and walking into the fort through a dark doorway entrance.

                                                                   The Fortress of Gaziantep

I followed the road around the base of the hill and fort passing a mosque with a beautifully decorated minaret, until I came to the entrance to Gaziantep Fortress. It is obvious that in the near future, visitors will have to pay to gain entrance to the Fort, as they are building a visitor center and ticket booths, rebuilding the entrance, but today it was free.

   
                               A mosque with a beautifully decorated minaret at the base of the Fortress of Gaziantep

                                               Perhaps the site of a drawbridge of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Once passing the yet to be completed visitor entrance to the Fortress, I passed through a stone gateway and over what would have been a drawbridge to climb a steep set of stairs to the doorway into a dark corridor leading up and into the Fort its’ self.

                            
                                               The dark entrance and steep interior climb of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Once into the sunlight within the walls of the Fortress of Gaziantep, it is obvious that there is a lot of restoration work being undertaken, with one area covered by a corrugated steel roof. But there was not much to see, just an empty interior, with  what appears to be the foundations of what would have been buildings.

                            
                                                           Views of the interior of the Fortress of Gaziantep

Old guns, from what year I have know idea, were on display, and from the Fort walls, looking sometimes through cuttings/windows in the thick stonework, the views over Gaziantep were spectacular, the flat roofs of the houses and buildings, some of the old historical areas, and the newer buildings, plus the big football ground. I think there was a match on, and Gaziantep lost. The view also showed where some of the pollution was coming from. (click to read previous article).

The History of Gaziantep Fort

The history of the site may be older than 6,000 years, but the first fortress of Gaziantep, having several towers but none to be seen today, was believed to have been built in the 3rd Century BC by the Romans.

In the 6th Century, the Fortress was repaired and expanded by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, with more towers added.

Further repairs were undertaken by the Egyptian Sultan Kayitbay (1481), and by Sultan Sulieman in the Ottoman period of 1557. Later additional buildings and towers were added by Melik Sahil Ahmet.

The Fort of Gaziantep has been used for defense, even up to and including Turkey’s War of Independence.

I must have drunk too much tea last night before going to bed, as I needed to go to the toilet so many times during the night.

Listening to the radio, BBC Radio Five Live, all night with my little ear piece, I heard the news.

Just before 1am, the UK was hit by an earthquake, at 5.2 on the Richter scale, centered on Market Rasen in county of Lincolnshire in the East of England.

The UK is not susceptible to earthquakes, not laying on any major fault lines or the movements of the tectonic plates. But, about every thirty years, the UK experiences, what in UK terms is considered a major earthquake. The last one occurred 24 years ago, and measured 5.4 on the Richter scale.

Living in Kingston upon Thames, London, I felt nothing, yet on the radio, people from many parts of the UK reported feeling their beds move, windows and doors moaning, houses creaking, dogs barking and birds singing.

The last time I felt the Earth move for me was in Turkey. It was the only time I have experienced an earthquake. Sitting on a high stool, giving an NLP course in Ankara, (click for pictures), the chair began to move from side to side, just for a few seconds.

Last night nothing for me.

Today I can relax after my trip to Bahrain. Actually I was back yesterday, (Sunday), but after a full daze (9am – 6pm) course Saturday and the overnight flight (BA 0124, at 02:10am) back to Heathrow, Sunday was a blur.

So today is catch-up day, post, emails, telephone messages, plus a client to see in Windsor.

Sorry folks if you have missed the daily blog, or my thoughts, but, I did not have internet access in the hotel. Well, OK, I did, but not at £3 an hour, and also by the time I had closed the days course, had a meal, it was time for bed.

Sitting here on British Airways flight BA0125, from London to Bahrain, we have just finished lunch, and the seat belt sign has just been switch on. It is getting rather bumpy.

Below is Istanbul, to think I was down there only 5 days ago, not considering that I would be back, albeit at 37,000 feet, so soon.

I wonder what those that know me are doing right now. They would not know how close I am.

I know that Asu and Halil, two of my translators are somewhere in those snow covered mountains, skiing, or perhaps trying to. Do they know I am here?

How many people are up in the sky, unaware of the people below them? How many people realise that high above their head, sitting in metal tubes, thousands of people are racing through the sky to go to some far away country?

Oh well, I had better sit back, and watch a film. Another three hours before we land.

I know I had my mobile phone in the CIP lounge of Turkish Airlines in Ataturk Airport on Monday, but now, I cannot find my phone.

See picture of my watch phone idea, click here.

So those of you that had my Turkish telephone number, you had better delete it as I will not be using that one again. On my next trip I will have to buy another phone and sim card, so I will let you know my new number.

What a silly boy I am.

Today I find myself back in the UK, in my home town of Kingston upon Thames, to another bed, and yes as I woke-up, I had a quick think as to where I was.   (See blog Where am I? Click).

It was 6am in the morning, and nature called. Looking out of the window of my flat in Norbiton Hall, fog had descended in the area, reminding me of my training trip with Gap Consultancy to Gaziantep in the south of Turkey a few weeks previously, where a similar scene presented itself.

 Fog already lifting at 8am in Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames.

The difference between Norbiton fog to Gaziantep fog, is that the fog in Norbiton is clouds touching the ground. In Gaxiantep it is pollution from the fossil fuels being burnt for the factories and homes of the area, especially coal.
 
As you drive into the city of Gaziantep on a cold day, you can smell the coal smoke, and getting into the center of the city vision is very much impaired.

I remember as a young boy in the heavily industrial Midlands of the UK, called the Black Country, due the homes factories belching out thick smoke, and on days when the clouds touched the grown, the result was that the smoke and water droplets combined to make a thick soup. So thick there were times when you could not see your hand extended in front of you, and the colour of this smog was yellow.

Gaziantep is in the process of banning the use of fossil fuels like coal which creates this smog, and in the next year will convert to natural gas, as they are laying the gas pipes now in the streets in preparation.

 Houses belching coal smoke causing smog, seen from Gaziantep Fortress.

                                         Smog descends over Gaziantep, seen from my hotel

I hope other cities take a similar view to pollution as Gaziantep has, so that the people can enjoy the fresh air and beauty of their home towns.