Don McCullin and his wife, Catherine Fairweather, take in the dramtic view at dawn as our new travelling companion and local Hüseyin Bey nonchalantly strolls, feeling very much at home on the fire altar and in the mountains.
Nemrut, how to visit: Nemrut can be reached from both the Adiyaman and Malatya airports. Direct flights from Istanbul on Turkish and Pegasus airlines vary in frequency depending on the season. There are several simple hotels near the peak but the closest one we found was the Güneş Motel, only 2,3 kilometers from the peak. It takes 20 to 40 minutes to walk it or a short drive and some stairs to reach the top.
Catching an early flight from Adiyaman enables you to fit in some impressive sites, such as the beautiful Roman Cendere Bridge, the Karakus Tumulus and the fortress of Kahta Kalesi (all featured in Cortnucopia 67) if you want to go directly to the hotel and visit them the following day. it is roughly 1,40 minutes from Adıyaman airprort, Alternatively, if you come from Malatya Aroport, it takes about two hours, and you can visit the Aslantepe Mound, a UNESCO-protected World Heritage site.
We hired a comfortable 6-seater van, and the part-owner of the Güneş Motel, Hüseyin Aydın kindly offered to drive us to Mardin. The mountainous road was spectacular and we stopped along the way for photographs and a lunch break in Dyarbakir.
Two men sit at the entrance of the Güneș Hotel, chatting before dinner in a moon-like setting.
After this late-September sunset and quick nightfall we all slept early to prepare for the adventure at dawn.
Subtle shades of blue slowly stream over the huge sculpted heads as we patiently wait for the golden hour on the Eastern terrace.
Surreally, a security guard appears out of nowhere and passes through the layers of light.
Finally the sun momentarily brushes the Godess Commagene's crown, and then it's gone again.
Barnaby Rogerson breaks the early morning silence and rejoices: ' had to pinch myself before I could believe that we had finally made it.'
The Western Terrace is just as impressive in the shade with its subtle tones of green and blue.
On the road again towards Mardin, with some wonderful autumnal landscapes.
We took a short rest here in a café faceing the Kahta Kalesi after visiting the Cendere Bridge and Karakuş Tumulus.
Don photographs the grand Corithian columns at the entrance to the Cendere bridge.
The direct drive to Mardin normally takes four hours, but we spent a leisurely day visiting the sites, with a stop in Diyarbakir at the lovely Sidem Cafe by the 'Ten Eyed Bridge' over the Tigris - as recommended by food critic Filiz Hosukoğlu.
Don and Barnaby can't resist a quick browse through the bazaar before leaving Mardin
