Stop one of our road trip through Southeastern Turkey was supposed to be Nemrut Dağı to see the mysterious toppled heads of the gods. Things didn't go to plan and one of our great travelling fails (read here) meant a night in Malatya and then hopping on a tour that picked us up in Malatya, drove us to accommodation just below the mountain peak, fed us and sent us up to see the heads at sunset and sunrise.
Before I jump into the photos, here's a little bit of necessary history. Up until 1881, outside of a few locals, nobody knew anything about Nemrut Dağı until a German Engineer came across the sight while assessing transport routes for the Ottomans. It wasn't until 1953 that archaeological work commenced on the sight and it was brought to the world's attention.
The story goes that a pre-Roman local king with a serious ego filled either side of an artificial 2150m peak with statues of himself and the gods (supposedly his equals) and that his tomb and those of three female relatives possibly lie beneath the peak.
Earthquakes have since toppled the heads from the statues which makes for one of the more unique sunsets and sunrises that you'll ever see. Regardless of any of that, they look pretty f*cking cool sat up there looking out across the world.
Nemrut Dağı by sunset.
And Nemrut Dağı by sunrise.
The dicking around in Malatya and then a 4am start proved to be worthwhile.
