A friend of mine from university, Christian, flew in from Cyprus last week, and we spent the past few days touring around the Adana/Mersin area, climbing around on some ruins yesterday at Alahan and communing with the spirit of St. Paul today in Tarsus.

Christian is headed back to Cyprus now, and I’m at the bus station waiting for an overnight bus to Konya. If all goes well this week, by the end of the week I’ll be done walking the Central Anatolia plateau.

I’ll be back in this area (Adana/Mersin) in December, except, of course, I’ll be walking it rather than riding a minibus.

By the way, Christian is a more adventurous eater than I am. I stuck with my favorites like lentil soup and kebab, but Christian was actually seeking out opportunities to try sheep brain soup and kokorec (sheep intestines). To each his own.