Old, Old Bridge!

 

OK, here we are at the old, old bridge.  But I have to tell you that getting there was an utter ordeal.  The roads were steep and terrible.  Drops from them were sheer and endless.  I basically couldn't look out the window for an hour because we were always almost driving over the edge of something.  Somehow, we made it.  And now, the bridge:

It was built (not personally) by Septimius Severus around 198AD.  I'm always confusing him with Vespasian for some reason.  Severus ruled around 100 years after Vespasian.  It's also worth noting that Severus was succeeded by the suave, charming and thoroughly mad Caracalla.  Enough history, sweet people!  Dig the bridge! 

The last time I was here, it was still the only game in town.  Traffic drove over it without a care - trucks, cars, tractors, buses - all manner of vehicles.  Now it's been replaced by a modern bridge that I didn't take a picture of.  

Here's what it looks like with nobody on it. 

I was feeling pretty woozy, so I didn't do like some in my group and run down a ways the river to take a full-profile shot of the bridge.  This is all you get. 

As we headed away from the morning's sights, someone pointed out Nemrut in the distance.  There it is in the middle.  See it?  It looks weird on account of the artificial pile of rocks over Antiochos' tomb.  See it?  Anyhow, it was our final view of the mountain.  I took this shot from out the window.  The roads had improved enough for that.  Earlier in the morning there was absolutely no chance of that and besides, who the hell wants to take pictures of 200-300 ft. sheer drops anyway?  

So we made it back to Adiyaman to collect our stuff, but it was only 9:30 in the morning.  We still had a lot of sightseeing to do.  Instead of eating breakfast, I took a quick nap.  I awoke feeling worse than ever.  Hooray!