Throughout Turkey by prepare: using the Mesopotamia Categorical

It’s 11.30am in Diyarbakır’s railway station. Girls in outsized sun shades and hijabs are posing for footage beneath retro clocks bearing the TCDD emblem of Turkey’s state rail community. A younger, evenly bearded man reclines on a bench, his heart-shaped balloon on a string wafting within the breeze taking the sting off right now’s 38C scorch. Purple bunting hangs from the platform ceiling. Shrill whistles lower by piped bağlama music because the Mesopotamia Categorical pulls up.

Working 653 miles (1,051km) between Turkey’s capital Ankara and Diyarbakır, the Kurdish-majority metropolis not removed from the Syrian and Iraqi borders, the Mesopotamia Categorical was launched in April, working as soon as a month in every route for 3 months. I’m taking its remaining service of 2024, with the TCDD saying it ought to return in 2025.

Making lengthy stops at a couple of cities and solely providing non-public two-berth cabins, the Mesopotamia Categorical is a extra snug, sightseeing-friendly model of the prevailing Güney Kurtalan Express, which travels the identical route however makes 52 brief stops between Ankara and Diyarbakır. I paid 8,000 lira (£194) for my Mesopotamia Categorical cabin; a government-subsidised seat on the Güney Kurtalan Categorical prices £8.50.

This two-tier mannequin was additionally rolled out in April for the Van Gölü Express between Ankara and Tatvan, a metropolis by Lake Van, Turkey’s largest lake. The “touristic” service can also be reportedly a part of the Turkish authorities’ drive to get extra vacationers considering past its hotspots, resembling Istanbul and Antalya.

The Doğu Express, working between Ankara and Kars, close to the Armenian and Georgian borders, was liable for this Turkish night time prepare notion shift from purposeful in direction of enjoyable. After vloggers showcased the Caninĕu Categorical’s mountainously lovely route, vacationers started reserving tickets alongside rurally primarily based locals on the prepare, earlier than the “official” touristic model was launched in 2019.

To see if considered one of these new providers is definitely worth the spend, I booked the westbound Mesopotamia Categorical, starting in Diyarbakır, the place guests are normally drawn to the historic centre’s antiques shops and smoke-billowing grill eating places. Cafes have been constructed round historical metropolis wall sections; others stay derelict after clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants, primarily within the mid-2010s.

Following a tip from artist Erkan Özgen, I am going to a residential space a 20-minute drive west from the outdated city. Right here, within the shadows of high-rise flats, Rıdvan Kuday Gallery not too long ago opened to showcase Kurdish artwork. As I arrive, giggly younger artists are pegging recent prints on washing traces to dry them. Dainty ceramic shoe sculptures by Sinan Kaplan line the gallery’s white partitions. Color-saturated portraits by Bedran Tekin depict residents in entrance of black-and-white constructing destruction. The gallery is a blast of up to date freshness within the historical, sand-hewn metropolis, and never simply because the air-con is about to “tundra”.

The air-con in my prepare cabin isn’t fairly as highly effective, but it surely’s a welcome perk of the premium ticket value. I additionally get my very own sink, plug socket, door key, a fridge that doesn’t work, plus juice and chocolate to place in it. I am going to the eating carriage. Right here I meet Hayriye and Seher, two ladies from Ankara armed with a violin and guitar respectively. At noon, because the prepare departs, they tune up whereas prepare workers plonk doner meat plates round us. The passengers present their appreciation of a serene rendition of classical Turkish track Fikrimin İnce Gülü.

At 4pm, we pull into the tiny Yolçatı station for the primary of two lengthy stops. A coach convoy drives us by the close by metropolis of Elâzığ and up winding roads to a dusty, sun-blasted peak. This, it seems, is the traditional city Harput. A person in a crimson baseball cap, some form of information I assume, leads us previous the semi-derelict Harput Fort and into Harput Nice Mosque. This constructing, violinist Hayriye explains by way of Google Translate, was constructed round 1157 and is famed for its crooked stone tower. A big bent tree subsequent to the mosque will get intensive commentary too. We’re instructed that the tree can also be well-known as a result of it appears to be like prefer it’s prostrating itself.

Admiring the bent tree proves to be fairly the ice-breaker. A fellow passenger, travelling along with his two youngsters, invitations me to eat adana kebab in a close-by restaurant. A prepare crew member, in his wine-red waistcoat and TCDD pin badge, begins calling me “Tolstoy” after listening to that I’m a journalist. The college journey vibes kick in even more durable when the coach takes us again to the prepare, and I take part with passengers manically singing Turkish pop. Effectively, I clap and sing “lalala”, seemingly being the one non-Turk on the journey.

After a mercifully snore-free night time, we arrive within the metropolis of Kayseri at 9am. We’re purported to have three hours right here however, as a result of the prepare is late, we get two. This cease was promoted as an opportunity to go to Kayseri’s Grand Mosque and Seljuk Civilisation Museum, however there isn’t time. The musicians and I decide a restaurant close to the station and make sandwiches out of wealthy, darkish purple pastirma: a Kayseri cured beef speciality.

I want this cease to the coach-herded Harput tour. Perched on stools outdoors the Kayseri restaurant, then again within the eating carriage, passengers share bread, sugared nuts and moist wipes, whereas I horrify many with tales of placing milk in tea. Earlier than our 7pm arrival in Ankara, I accumulate a protracted listing of advisable eating places to go to, albeit all of them kebab joints.

So, is the Mesopotamia Categorical definitely worth the expense? I cherished it, primarily when having fun with the music within the eating carriage. With lengthy stops permitting you to go to 4 cities over two days (on the east-bound route it’s three cities: Ankara, Malatya and Diyarbakır), it’s choice in the event you’re pressed for time – and if the prepare isn’t too late. Regardless of the prepare formally being a “touristic” service, I felt a way of function and drive as we trundled in direction of the capital.

Nevertheless, in the event you don’t thoughts stretches in spine-bothering open-plan seating, you may take the “commonplace” Güney Kurtalan Categorical on the identical route because the Mesopotamia Categorical, spend a couple of days in the identical metropolis stops, and pay a lot of your resort expense with the cash saved. Whereas the Mesopotamia Categorical is completed for 2024, the Güney Kurtalan Categorical runs all 12 months, 5 instances per week in every route.

Nonetheless, whether or not formally “touristic” or not, a nasty east Turkey night time prepare choice in all probability doesn’t exist. Now I’m eyeing up Van Gölü Categorical tickets to finish the set.

The Mesopotamia Categorical is anticipated to return in 2025. A two-person cabin prices 9,000 Turkish lira (£218) Ankara to Diyarbakır one-way, and £194 in the other way. Practice tickets are offered by way of Turkey’s state rail community’s (TCDD) website and app (on Apple’s App Retailer and Google Play), in addition to by English-speaking businesses, resembling Amber Travel. Lodging in Diyarbakır was offered by Radisson Blu Hotel, Diyarbakır (doubles from £115 B&B). Lodging in Ankara was offered by Crowne Plaza Ankara (doubles from £125 B&B)