From a high mountain pass overlooking the central Anatolian plain, I watched in amazement with hundreds of others, as a tidal wave of darkness swept towards us at fantastic speed across the fields and villages far below.

A menacing wall of cloud, it looked apocalyptic - like something dreamed up by a Hollywood special effects team. Except this was the real thing.

The temperature dropped, the light turned from luminescent to purple, and the wind seemed to do strange things. Suddenly there was darkness, as the total eclipse of the sun reached our isolated viewpoint.

Clear skies

We were among the lucky ones - astronomers, tourists and locals alike - who had been gazing just a few seconds previously into cloudless blue skies. Not for us the occasional rain and general greyness of northern Europe. Turkey experienced the full force of the solar spectacular.

People around me didn't know quite how to respond, as the cloak of darkness settled around us. It was not the deep blackness of night but a twilight world, where time seemed briefly to stand still.

A number of people clapped, others cheered but most just looked on open-mouthed. Quite a few believed they saw the presence of their God.

My reaction was, sadly, rather more prosaic. I was trying not to slide down an alarmingly steep, and now rather dark, mountain slope - juggling my eclipse glasses and my mobile phone - as I struggled to describe what I saw in a live BBC interview.

Magnificent spectacle

What should you say when nature suddenly seems to stand on its head?

For an hour-and-a-half we had watched as the moon slowly ate into the corner of the sun - from a perfect orb to the tiniest of crescents. When the total eclipse came, a few seconds of blackness was followed as promised by an amazing light show.

A halo of bright light from the sun danced around the silhouetted moon, which looked more than ever, I thought, like a magnificent piece of half-eaten cheese.

The planet Venus appeared in the sky, and some say they saw other twinkling stars. It was half-past-two in the afternoon on what had been a sweltering summer day.

"Extraordinary", I muttered into my phone, feeling for once more than a little tongue-tied.

Unforgettable experience

A sign of the end of war?

Around us was the effect of a 360-degree dawn - a pale rising light along the entire horizon.

From the Black Sea to the Iraqi border, hundreds of thousands of people across Turkey experienced something they will never forget.

They had come from far and wide. Astronomers from the United States, tourists from Japan - sleeping in small hotels, in universities and on trains to glimpse the total eclipse under clear skies.

Totality lasted less than two-and-a-half minutes - but I came across no-one who was disappointed. As suddenly as it had arrived, the darkness lifted like a veil. The daily wonder of the sunrise, on fast forward in a matter of seconds.

The strange half-light gave way to a normal day again, as the immense power of the sun returned and the total eclipse hurtled forward on its path towards the heart of Asia.

The smell of wild lavender drifted past. Down below us the farmers in the fields resumed their work, bringing in their annual sun-drenched harvest.

Fireworks and parties

There were celebrations aplenty to mark the eclipse. Fireworks and parties.

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra played The Planets Suite in the town of Amasya.

Archaeologists gathered at the ancient ruins of Kerkenes, to remember the Battle of the Eclipse in 585BC. The Lydians and the Medes had decided that the disappearance of the sun on that occasion was a hint from the Gods that their six-year war should come to an abrupt end.

Special prayers

In many cities in Turkey, prayers were said for the sun, as people gathered in mosques. Some residents in the south-east of the country came out of their houses, banging drums and saucepans to help rescue the sun from the clutches of evil spirits.

The far south-east was a prime eclipse viewing site, but its appeal was limited for some visitors because of the 15-year war in the region between the Turkish army and Kurdish rebels.

The PKK rebel movement is about to begin another ceasefire.

Optimists hope the last eclipse of the century may be a sign of another long war coming to an end.