Gaziantep is a city you’re not supposed to go to. That’s not what we think, but that’s what the people who live there think.

When we got off the bus from Malatya, everyone at the crowded otogar (bus station) kept asking us where we were going, trying to put us right on another bus and send us off to where we must have “really” been going. “Ankara? Antalya? Istanbul?” We just shook our heads and pointed to the ground and said, “Gaziantep.” Everyone seemed surprised that we wanted to stay.

It was really easy to get into town from the otogar, even though it’s 5 kilometers out of town. We hopped on a local bus and were speeding dangerously through the streets in no time. It’s usually easier to get on a bus leaving a train station, bus station, or airport in a strange place than it is to get off. Just because you have a map and know the name doesn’t mean that you will be able to recognize it or that your pronunciation of where you want to go will help the bus driver understand. But lately we’ve found that they always know where to drop off the foreigners with the backpacks.

After being deposited in the center of town, we whipped out the Lonely Planet and started trying to find our way to our chosen hotel. Before we had a real chance to get our bearings, a man walked up to us and said, “Hotel?” And we told him which one we wanted, and then another man came up and they started talking. One of them motioned for us to follow, then another man came up and they all three started talking, then he ended up showing us the way. It was only a few blocks and we would have found it without too much trouble, but it was really nice (and amusing) to have so much help so quickly. People really don’t go to Gaziantep very often it seems.

That night we made a point to eat some pistachio baklava, as Gaziantep is renowned for two things: pistachios and baklava. A marriage of the two was sure to blow our culinary minds. After grabbing a quick dinner we went to a place recommended by The Book, and managed to order more than enough baklava. Every time we move further east, the level of English drops a little more. In Gaziantep it was virtually zero (but the guy at our hotel offered to speak German to us).

We had decided to look like dorks and film a little for the next episode of BTBtv (coming soon!) no matter what, so we did. The guy spied me filming the insides, so he came over and opened one up so I could capture all of the honeyed, pistachio goodness inside the flaky pastry. Needless to say it was awesome, but you can see it all in glorious streaming video so I won’t waste any more space describing it here.

The next morning we woke up early and planned to hit the old castle, the bazaar, and maybe one more attraction before getting a bus to our real destination around these parts, Sanliurfa, or Urfa, as it’s more commonly called. Quick aside: Gaziantep is usually called Antep, its old name. Gazi means “war hero” and was added to the name after the war for Turkish Independence. Sanli means “Glorious” and was added to Urfa at the same time.

We found the castle first, and which didn’t look too impressive but has a long history. If you look at the map you’ll see that we’re getting close to the greater Middle East. More specifically, what was once called Mesopotamia. So all of these settlements have been inhabited and fought over by humans for thousands and thousands of years. So the hill that has the current Gaziantep castle on it has had a castle on it for longer than humans have been writing things down.

When we tried to walk in a guy in a uniform saw us and motioned for us to stop, then he radioed something and another guy showed up. He pointed us in the right direction, we read the sign, and then he showed us up and around the castle, giving us plenty of what we assume were useful tidbits of information in Turkish. The gate was locked up, so he had to unlock everything and he showed us around. The Book said that the castle was free, so I was thinking we had to tip this guy or something.

At the end of the tour (which due to our lack of Turkish language comprehension we weren’t quite sure was the end), he asked us for money. I pulled out 5 Turkish Lira ($3.50 or so) and he said more. So I pulled out 10 and he said more. He was happy with 20 Lira ($14) and I was pissed. We walked off and he insisted on shaking our hands, which I had decided I didn’t want to do because I knew he was being a jerk and ripping us off.

As we walked down the street, Val and I talked and got really irritated and decided we had to do something about it. 20 lira is a lot of money in Turkey. Two people can have a very nice meal for that, or take a 4 hour bus journey somewhere, or get into the most expensive, premier tourist attractions in Istanbul. I was prepared to give him some money for the guided tour, even though we never asked for one, but he was greedy and tried to take advantage of us.

So we found the tourist information office, where they have people that speak English. We told them what happened, and after a few times they finally understood that we didn’t want to go to the castle (which they said was closed) but that we had already been and had been ripped off. When they finally understood the man and woman we were speaking to got really upset and started making phone calls. They brought in some tea for us and said they would take care of it.

At this point Val showed him a picture of me and the guy that she took at the top of the castle. They thought this was funny because now the guy was toast. Val and I didn’t really expect to get our money back, we just wanted them to know that it happened so if it happened again something would be done. But eventually a woman from the city came, and a tourist police officer, and we all drove in a guy’s car back to the castle.

Val and I were nervous, because we weren’t sure what was going to happen. We walked up and the guy denied it at first, then finally admitted to it, and everything touched off. All the people that came with us were really angry at the guy, even his partner. Gaziantep would love some of the tourist money that their neighbors are getting, so they don’t need stuff like this happening to the only tourists in town. After a while and lots of intense discussion, he took out our 20 lira and handed it to me. Then they made him apologize, and I got the Turkish Apology. He grabbed my hand and kissed me on each cheek, and meant it.

We decided we had had enough and went straight back to our hotel, got our things, and got on a bus to Sanliurfa.