In our last blog post – part one of our east Turkey road trip – we took you to Muradiye Şelalesi (waterfalls) in the Van region. In today’s post, we’re heading north and back into the Ağrı region. We pass very close to the border with Iran and it’s strange to see road signs reading, ‘Doğubeyazıt,’ ‘Kars,’ ‘Iran.’ Iran has always felt like one of those untouchable faraway countries, and now, here we are, sharing the road with lorries with Iranian number plates and being pointed to the direction of the border by a road sign.
We ask our friend if she’s ever been to the border. Yeah, it’s just a load of lorries, is her reply. But that’s what borders are isn’t it? An exciting thought of being so close to another country – but the reality is, it’s a big queue with lots of bureaucracy – especially for the lorry drivers of this world. Any thoughts of a detour are dismissed and we continue northwards to Doğübeyazıt.