It's a beautiful thing to have lungs that allow you to breathe air and legs that allow you to climb mountains, and it's a shame that sometimes we don't realize that that's enough.
Mount Nemrut (2552m) is located in southeastern Turkey, 87 km from Adıyaman, and is part of the Taurus Mountain range, above the Euphrates River valley. It is the site of extensive ruins of the tomb of Antiochos I (69-36 BC) of the Commagene Kingdom (163 BC – 72 AD). This is one of the most ambitious and amazing constructions of Hellenistic period. Nemrut was called the temple-tomb or the house of gods. It was built by the King Antiochos I of Commagene as a monument to himself.
As you might have understood, this story has nothing to do with Albania but I decided to write about my best experience abroad by far. I spend one month in Turkey on a volunteery program and with the group we did a lot of unforgetable trips. So, the level of subjectivity will reach the sky in this story. Let's begin !
Nemrut is a place that brings together lots of tourists from all over the world and it's very famous for the sunrises and sunsets. And that's why we went there...To see the sunrise like we never did before ! We started the journey at 11:00 PM in order to arrive there at 5:00 AM. It started with a great enthusiam and energy despite having had such a long and tiring day with activities. Everyone was laughing, singing, saying to each other some turkish words and the road seemed to pass quickly.
Around 5:00 AM, we finally arrived there. It was still dark but I remember I just wanted to go out of the bus and reach the top before sunrise. It gave me the impression of a race with time but it was one of those special races when you don't feel pressured of time, instead you feel moved by its energy. We walked the entire road up to the mountain and it was a never-ending road. At some point I was finding it hard to breathe by walking so fact but I was determined to win the race. Slowly, the sky was filling itself with colours and I remember that I had the camera in my hands but in that moment it was enough for me to just capture the panorama in my mind. I was watching my friends while gazing at the sky and I felt so so good that I was sharing the same moment with them.
Picture © Credits to Ozbalci
Eventually, we reached the top and we were not the only one waiting for the sunrise.Maybe 100 more were there. Cameras everywhere waiting for the perfect photo, people sitting alone or with their loved ones and enjoying what nature was giving to them, children being happy and playful and there’s us breaking that magnificient silence. Always talking, taking photos, saying out loud what we were feeling, hugging each other and acting like kids who finally got that toy that always wanted. And…here comes the sun,Lights filling up the sky and saying to darkness ”Your time is over”.
Picture © Credits to mturhanlar
I felt like that was the first time to be so close with my life and really felt a superboundance of energy and silence in me in the same time ready to explode and to add some more colours of that sky that was tormenting me with its beauty. I was alive and amazed of being alive.
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Elda Ndoja
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