Braid in trains 
- solidarity with 
#AzadiRail day 6 was a relaxed day in the downtown of #Diyarbakır. Now preparing to leave early for tomorrow's #AzadiBus to 🇮🇶 #Erbil 🚍.
#AzadiRail day 7 begins with a Dolmus to the #AzadiBus bus station with 30 people squashed in. Always a pleasure of an experience 🤓 !
From 🇹🇷 #Diyarbakır bus terminal, my #AzadiBus will bring me to 🇮🇶 #Erbil / #Arbil / #Hewlêr in Iraqi #Kurdistan region. #AzadiRail country 8 of 9 in sigh 🎉 !
The bus is comfortable and modern though not as fancy as the bus I had on my way to Diyarbakır. To my surprise, the steward spoke decent English. This will simplify the communication at #IbrahimKhalil border crossing.
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Wow, the bus has working 220 V AC power outlets 🤯 ! #AzadiBus #AzadiRail
Some more #AzadiRail content : next to our highway, there's the railway line from 🇹🇷 Diyarbakır to Batman. A cute small single-track line, sadly unelectrified and with just one train pair per day. In round about one week, I'll be traveling here on the #GüneyEkspresi westbound 🚂 !
is present here. #AzadiBus departure in 🇹🇷 #Batman - ¼ of the travel time passed ✅. Inside temperature of the non-A/C bus : 35 ° C #AzadiRail
Miracles happen : after 2 h in my #AzadiBus, the A/C suddenly started working 🥵. #AzadiRail
#AzadiBus half time. 4 hours left. #AzadiRail
#AzadiBus stop #3 : 🇹🇷 Cizre, right at the border of 🇸🇾 Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. 30 km to the 🇮🇶 #IbrahimKhalil corder crossing. #AzadiRail
#AzadiBus stop #4 : Nerdiş - highway rest area. 3 hours travel time left. #AzadiRail
#AzadiBus #CrossBorderBus stop #5 : the 🇹🇷 #Habur / 🇮🇶 #IbrahimKhalil corder crossing. #AzadiRail
After 7 travel days, finally crossing the border to 🇮🇶 Iraq 🚍 !
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Our #AzadiBus has about 2 h delay so far. #AzadiRail
Our #AzadiBus arrived with 4 hours delay in 
#Hewlêr / #أربيل / #Erbil. The trip took 12:45 h in total. I'm just exhausted and flopping into my bed. #AzadiRail
#Hewlêr / #أربيل / #Erbil. The trip took 12:45 h in total. I'm just exhausted and flopping into my bed. #AzadiRail
#AzadiRail day 7 was : 🇹🇷 #Diyarbakır - #Hewlêr / #Erbil - 12h45 by bus.
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One day in #Hewlêr / #Erbil : I spent most of the day walking around the cozy bazar. Later, I ensured to have #AzadiRail #GadgetBahn content served from 🇮🇶 Iraqi #Kurdistan : the Hewlêr cable car - sadly out if order.
#Hewlêr / #Erbil : I spent most of the day walking around the cozy bazar. Later, I ensured to have #AzadiRail #GadgetBahn content served from 🇮🇶 Iraqi #Kurdistan : the Hewlêr cable car - sadly out if order.
#AzadiRail day 8 was : enjoying the flaire of #Hewlêr / #Erbil and recovering from an exhausting travel day - served with vegan food in the bazar and a cursed #GadgetBahn .
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It still feels somehow strange to sit in northern 🇮🇶 #Iraq in #Kurdistan region knowing I came here by public transport only. #AzadiRail
#Kurdistan region knowing I came here by public transport only. #AzadiRail#AzadiRail day 9 : I've had a relaxed morning in the downtown wasting time and money at the bazar of #Hewlêr / #Erbil. Now enjoying some tasty Çay in the sadly-not @diningcar at the international bus terminal waiting for my bus to #Zaxo / #Zakho at the Syrian border to arrive.
#Hewlêr / #Erbil. Now enjoying some tasty Çay in the sadly-not @diningcar at the international bus terminal waiting for my bus to #Zaxo / #Zakho at the Syrian border to arrive.
After I learned my #AzadiBus is 5 hours late, I decided to look for another carrier. A friendly Turkish-Iraqi guy helped me figuring out the operator leaving next, so here I am with a new ticket to #Zaxo / #Zakho for 25.000 IQD. #AzadiRail
#Zaxo / #Zakho for 25.000 IQD. #AzadiRail
After 3 hours, I arrived in #Zaxo / #Zakho, right at the border to 🇹🇷 Habur and 20 km from the border of 🇸🇾 Feyesh Khabur.
Zaxo is a fascinating city : it had around 30.000 inhabitants 50 years ago. With the de-facto autonomy of #Kurdistan in the Seventies, it suddenly attracted Kurds from all over the region and grew to the 200.000 inhabitants. Nowadays it's an economically important hub for trade between Kurdistan, 🇮🇶 Iraq, the 🇸🇾 Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria / #Rojava and 🇹🇷 Turkey.
I was highly surprised, I expected an ugly, transportation and cargo industry hub but what I got was a beautiful, clean, green and prosperous city which rather looks like in wealthy parts of Spain or Italy.
Despite its economic importance, from an international tourism perspective, Zaxo is pretty irrelevant. From a local tourism perspective, Zaxo in opposite is a major cultural attraction for Kurds from the region. Right now, Zaxo prepares for the Seluserik Festival next week. The only internationally known tourist attraction seems to be the #DelalBridge - now with a brand new, beautiful museum next to it. #AzadiRail
This said : everything prepared for trying to cross the #Pêşabûr / #FayshKhabur border crossing from 🇮🇶 Iraq / #Kurdistan to 🇸🇾 Syria #Rojava. #AzadiRail
#Kurdistan to 🇸🇾 Syria #Rojava. #AzadiRailYou will be able to enter Syria / Rojava
Kurdistan will let you leave but can't enter Syria
The border will be closed
You will strand in Faysh Khabur
Poll ended at .
Organized some more cash ✅. Heck, it's hard to find ATMs accepting international bank cards in #Kurdistan 🏧. Anyways, after a short evening walk, got enough cash to pay my remaining days of vacation. #AzadiRail
#AzadiRail day 9 was : #AzadiBus with flaws from #Hewlêr / #Erbil to #Zaxo / #Zakho, a relaxed afternoon and travel preparations for tomorrow.
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#AzadiRail day 10 : first failed attempt at the #Semalki border crossing in #Pêşabûr / #FayshKhabur. The 🇮🇶 Iraqi Kurdish officer at the border told me the border was closed on Saturdays, so here I am, back in #Zaxo / #Zakho spending another day on the bazar waiting for the border to open tomorrow morning.
But so far, this is already some progress : I now know In fact I can cross the border to 🇸🇾 #Syria / #Rojava by foot.
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After the frustrating outcome of this morning, I decided to stay in #Zaxo / #Zakho for one more day.
I took the time to visit the citadel, an ancient fortress from Roman and Byzantine times. It was beautifully renovated in past years and a pleasure to visit. The rest of the day, I was walking around on the bazar, enjoying snacks and Çay 🥰.
So far, #AzadiRail day 10 : to the border of 🇸🇾 Syria / #Rojava but sadly back to 🇮🇶 Iraqi #Kurdistan from there on. Next attempt tomorrow morning.
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#AzadiRail day 11 was a boring day : I stumbled into the city of #Dihok / #Duhok, capital of a local province. The city does not convince me at all : the much #Zaxo / #Zakho was a positive and outstanding surprise, the sad and boring Dihok feels to me. There are no sights, no historic building, no modern city center, no parks. Not even a good bazar, nor cafés.
Anyways, this is sadly already my last night in #Kurdistan. Tomorrow I'll start my trip back home 😥.
#AzadiRail day 11 : Sadly vacation is ending soon so slowly time to get back to France. Homebound day 1 : My #AzadiBus from #Dihok / #Duhok sadly was canceled. After asking each and every ticket counter in the International Bus Terminal, the conclusion seemed to be : not just my bus was canceled, but pretty every bus. Seemingly in at 5 p.m. there will be the next bus bringing me to #Êlih / 🇹🇷 Batman. That means yet another boring day doing nothing and waiting at the bus terminal since that so far is the most comfortable spot I found in this weird city.
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Since 12 p.m. I've been the only passenger in the bus terminal. In opposite, there are about 30 staff members here : about 10 different ticket offices, one for each operator, a supermarket, a car rental stand, a restaurant, a café, security ... 30 people here to operate a bus terminal. But simply no bus nor passengers to operate. #AzadiRail
#AzadiRail, 4 p.m. Still 0 other passengers at the terminal. Still supposedly 1 hour until the departure of my #AzadiBus.
In 40 minutes, I'm supposed to arrive at my destination. In fact, my #AzadiBus has not even crossed the border into Turkey. So far 4 hours of border controls. #AzadiRail
Anyways, now that I have internet, some pictures from the #AzadiBus trip :
The International Terminal of #Dihok / #Duhok is a bit of a joke : there's a giant terminal with gates to the bus platforms but since going there would mean a détour, the busses in fact stop on the sideway of the highway close by.
Some minutes prior to departure, a taxi drives over and picks up all passengers (at the end we were 3) and drives them for the 2 km to the bus's actual stop.
With 3½ h delay, our bus arrived. It's a comfortable mainline bus and the landscape of mesopotamia was yet beautiful.
After one hour, we reached the #IbrahimKhalil / 🇹🇷 #Habur border crossing. Yet another hour later waiting in front of the border crossing, we could enter it - once again featuring funny let's-walk-over-the-highway boarding. One hour later, we could get to the passport check. Yet another hour later, the Iraqi Kurdistan administration was ready checking our #AzadiBus for smuggling goods (haha, good joke) and let us leave #Kurdistan. #AzadiRail
#IbrahimKhalil / 🇹🇷 #Habur border crossing. Yet another hour later waiting in front of the border crossing, we could enter it - once again featuring funny let's-walk-over-the-highway boarding. One hour later, we could get to the passport check. Yet another hour later, the Iraqi Kurdistan administration was ready checking our #AzadiBus for smuggling goods (haha, good joke) and let us leave #Kurdistan. #AzadiRail
Almost 12 a.m. border crossed. Welcome back to Turkish Kurdistan ✊ !
#AzadiRail homeward day & night #1 :
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After one more hours, I was now taken to *another* #AzadiBus. They say my bus won't stop in #Êlih / 🇹🇷 Batman today so I should take that other one. It's not getting better, is it ?
Anyways, I'm now sitting in a bus and we're about to depart. ETA : 4 a.m. - heck, I'm tired. #AzadiRail
Finally, on our way to #Êlih !
#Êlih !Things I won't miss in Europe : People smoking in every bus I take 🙄. #AzadiRail
1 a.m., first #AzadiBus rest at a highway rest area. I'm cold. #AzadiRail
Can they just stop smoking inside the bus 🤬 ? #AzadiRail
I swear, next vacation will be less busses by night. #AzadiRail
Finally back on track ! After a week of bus travels, my first #AzadiRail train back home : I'm in #Êlih / 🇹🇷 Batman waiting for the famous 
#GüneyEkspresi / Southern Express #SleeperAndEater bringing my to 🇹🇷 #Ankara for the next 25 hours.
Êlih is a cute station, a couple of cargo carriages in the cargo terminal, a cute maintenance vehicle for display, three tracks but sadly no catenary.
The station has three train pairs per day : twice the regional link to the Kurdish capital #Amed / 🇹🇷 #Diyarbakır and six days per week a pair of my Güney Ekspresi linking #Misircê / 🇹🇷 #Kurtalan, Êlih, Amed and 🇹🇷 #Malatya with #Ankara over night.
Shortly after the arrival of the local train from #Amed / 🇹🇷 #Diyarbakır, my #SleeperAndEater #GüneyEkspresi arrived. It features most comfortable and spacious wagon-lits compartments with a desk, two proper beds, a sink and even a mini-bar - a comfortable hotel room for the next 25 hours.
The steward was already waiting for me and didn't even wanna see my ticket since I was the only passenger boarding the wagon-lits carriage.
25 hours. This is btw. my longest train leg on European gauge 😇 ! #AzadiRail
The weird thing about Turkish railways : You have three different train types but their speeds don't match :
YHT high-speed trains : Vmax 300 kph
Mainline trains : Vmax 50 kph
Regional trains : Vmax 140 kph
... ???
Enjoying lunch in a @diningcar during my #AzadiRail journey from Iraqi #Kurdistan to France, today on the famous #GüneyEkspresi / Southern Express #SleeperAndEater on my 25 hours trip from #Êlih / 🇹🇷 Batman to 🇹🇷 #Ankara 😋 !
Since the vegan choice is sadly highly limited, I decided for a plate of rice with some side salad, some fruit juice and of course a glass of #Çay 🍵!
Save travels everyone and enjoy your meal 🍽️ !
So far, #AzadiRail day #13, homebound day and night #3 : comfortable #GüneyEkspresi #SleeperAndEater from #Êlih / 🇹🇷 Batman to 🇹🇷 #Ankara 🍽️😴.
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#AzadiRail day #14, homebound day #4 begins with tasty breakfast in the @diningcar of the #GüneyEkspresi #SleeperAndEater . The vegan options are highly limited but I reached at explaining I only want #Çay , bread and jam.
40 km left until 🇹🇷 #Ankara, Vmax 50 kph and my connecting train is leaving in 40 minutes.
Am I going to miss my YHT ?
You will ...
Miss your YHT
Miss the YHT and the connecting night train
Poll ended at .
Bad news, the only other possible YHT is fully booked 🙄. #AzadiRail
Still 20 km to Ankara and 20 minutes until the last YHT departure. I fear this won't work out either. So far : 2 h delay. #AzadiRail
I still made it to the train but they didn't let me in even though they understood I'd miss my train to 🇧🇬 Софія / Sofia this way.
Some people aren't just bad but actually evil. #AzadiRail
Wrzlbrnft@lewd Crap. Maybe a chance to still get a last minute ticket for the next YHT due to some short-notice rebooked tickets? (I made some TGV experiences going this way…)
Indra Kupferschmid 💙💛@lewd Get on it anyway! It’s an emergency
@lewd I suppose it's very hard in general to live vegan in this part of the world?
slateroni@lewd thank you for your travel thread, I've been following since a couple of days and it really makes me want to explore Turkey by train soon. The current train looks rather empty, is that typical or just off-season? While travelling, do you get along well with English in the country? And may I ask if you used interrail or single tickets on Turkish trains?
Safe travels!
Safe travels!
@slateroni Well, the sleeper carriages are usually pretty full, you should book them a bit in advance.
I technically have an InterRail ticket but Turkey only accepts them in second class. Since I travel in first class, I bought single tickets for everything but the local trains. But considering the prices in Turkey, that's pretty affordable.
At the international ticket counters, they speak English, apart from that, it's rather a 50/50 chance - but at the end I always reached at explaining what I wanted to explain.
Siège avec vue@lewd I really hope all announcements regarding that station start with "Dinner, Dinner, Dinner, Dinner".