As we move east in Turkey, we get closer to the rest of the Middle East. Turkey grows less and less European and there are fewer tourists. When we arrived in Malatya, we could tell we finally ditched the tourist trail. Val and I get stared at here worse than we ever did in Japan. The people on the streets are an eclectic mix of the traditional with a younger crowd wearing designer labels and with the women never wearing a headscarf. Yet both sets stare at us with equal amazement, much to our amusement.

There isn’t much here except an easy and hassle-free way to get to Mt. Nemrut, our real destination. The guidebook says this is the Turkish apricot capital, and comes close with cherries too. All over town are shops selling dried fruits of all kinds, but always out in front are the mounds of dried apricots. Their raisins, nuts and seeds all look appetizing, as well as the fresh Turkish Delight.

The hotel we’re staying in has a buffet breakfast, and we saw people in there eating after sunrise (we definitely weren’t up before sunrise). As we’ve mentioned before, there are people eating during the day during Ramadan, but here in Malatya almost everyone is fasting. When it became time for lunch, we set out looking for a restaurant of some kind. We saw a few shops with rotisserie chicken in the window, as well as small markets selling fruit and vegetables, but we couldn’t find any restaurants. They were all either closed or undergoing renovation. Apparently Ramadan is a good time to fix up your restaurant.

We found a kebab shop that looked open, but when we walked in they kind of shrugged and shook their heads. So we bought some fruit, bread, and chicken and ate it in our hotel. On the way back to eat we found a few open kebab places, but they all had curtains on the windows and doors. A peek inside revealed a few men sitting at the cramped tables eating kebabs, but they were obviously not doing it blatantly. We figured that the curtains were both a courtesy to everyone keeping the fast, as well as to make the people eating a little more comfortable.

We took a walk at about 4:30 (the sun sets at 6) looking for bus tickets, and all of a sudden all the restaurants were open and there was food everywhere. The hunger in the air was almost palpable, and everyone everywhere had food on the brain. The shops were cooking everything up, displaying it all in the windows, unloading truckloads of supplies, and everyone on the street was just waiting for the sun to go down. More people are fasting in this town than anywhere else we’ve been, and it was just amazing to see the pre-sunset preparations on the streets.

Today we’re heading off to Mt. Nemrut, which is supposed to be amazing. The summit is over 2,000 meters tall, and on top there is a tomb-sanctuary built by King Antiochus. It was lost to history until the 1800’s. The main attraction are the huge statues of Antiochus and various gods. Earthquakes and time have removed all the heads, so they are all scattered around the complext. We’re taking a tour organized by the Malatya tourist office that gets us up there for sunset tonight, and then we wake up and see it during the sunrise before heading back down.