So, here we are at 07:00 in the morning arriving safely into Sivas and all was on track (I use that pun too many times) with our journey. There was a lot of snow and we were just a little behind schedule, but we still expected to arrive at not much later than 16:00 on a journey that was scheduled to take just over 22 hours.
08:11 and I wondered what was happening….. We had remained in some stations for a while, so this didn’t feel entirely abnormal.
10:19 and I thought I’d get off the train and not much seemed to be happening.
If Jonathan and I had known that we’d be here for hours, we’d have likely gone and explored the town a little. To be fair, I’m not sure that anyone knew what was happening and we just had to assume that the track was snowed up ahead. There weren’t any announcements on board and no track display information boards, so we couldn’t really work out what was happening.
We’d now been here for three hours and I was starting to wonder what time we’d be arriving into Erzurum.
At 11:02 they provided us with a free snack and drink. I’m easily bribed by food and so this made me feel more positive towards the rail network.
Then, there was lots and lots of nothing. I hardly complained about the lack of Internet and I just sat there wondering how much therapy I’d need after this 36 hours without online access. At 14:26 there was some excitement, the train horn sounded and the train went back about two metres. Then, that was that.
Then at 14:53 the train horn was sounded again and staff started blowing whistles, it looked like we were ready to go. And, six minutes later, the train started moving after eight hours sitting on the train at the platform.
Shortly after, the crew arrived with free kebabs and drinks that they had secured at the station. This pleased me.
The snowy weather that the train encountered for most of the journey, but particularly the second half.
Free food and drink secured.
The doner kebab was delicious.
Anyway, we were now set and I worked out that we’d be arriving at around midnight into Erzerum and our hotel. Whether or not they had a 24 hour reception we weren’t entirely sure, but I thought that midnight would be OK. Obviously though the arrangement wasn’t that easy, but more in the next post….