Holy Cities and the Syrian Border - Rounding Out Our Trip to the Southeast

Our second day began with breakfast overlooking the skyline of Adiyaman.  A peculiarity of these southeastern hotels is that they serve soup at breakfast (lentil), which Randy loved and vowed to start doing at home.  The day was sunny and beautiful and we headed out towards Urfa (or the modern name of Sanliurfa), nearly two hours away.  En route our first stop was Ataturk Dam.  All of us save Randy are technical people (engineers or scientists) and were enthralled with this achievement.  The dam gets power and provides irrigation water from the Euphrates (!) River.  It has powered much of Southeastern Turkey and provided water to turn a desert area into a green, fertile breadbasket which grows mainly wheat and barley.

Our hotel in Adiyaman, the Grand Isias - it said it is four stars but it is probably more like three stars

View of Adiyaman from our hotel room window - what you can't see are the ring of mountains that surround the city which are nicely visible when the sky is clear

Nedim Bey's car which served as the mobile home for Yunus, Alice, Randy and Justin

The huge Ataturk Dam

The Euphrates flows on the controlled side of the dam

Two civil engineers appreciate the design and construction of this impactful project

The guys (except Randy) get jazzed up by technology of this magnitude

Outside the dam viewing area Mehmet instructs us on edible flowers

Justin is always up for an adventure and tries the petals from the flowering tree

Urfa's main attraction is the Abraham Pool or the Balikli Gol (lake with fishes).  It does have fish - the holy carp - but is not a lake - rather a large pool.  The legend is that Abraham (of Bible and Koran fame) was to be put to death by fire by the evil King Nimrod.  God turned the fire into fishes who carried Abraham to a pool of water.  Or, something like that.  Anyway, it is an important story in the Koran.  The area is very atmospheric and pretty with historic buildings (mosques and medreses) surrounding the pool and a treed garden with tea shops next door.  The covered bazaar is also nearby.

Urfa's Balikli Gol or Abraham's Pool

The pool is surrounded by historic buildings

The pampered carp

One of the holy fish

A self portrait at the pool

Justin loved this particular attraction

Another view

The morning we were there was so beautiful and really enhanced the experience

Alice with the local visitors

Mehmet found the interesting mosque, medrese and garden across the pool

Randy at Balikli Gol

A rare picture together

The Rizvaniye Vakfi Camii

Inside the mosque - the plain but architecturally pleasing ceiling

The original carved walnut doors to the Rizvaniye Vakfi mosque

The whole gang at the pool

Yunus with his celebrity pose

The cave birthplace of Abraham

We experienced this entire area and had a glorious day to do it in.  This day was a vacation day for most of Turkey, so despite being a Monday it was full of Turkish families enjoying their day off.  In the bazaar, Justin and Mehmet went native and purchases salvar, the traditional southern Turkish pants that are very wide at the hip and leg down to below the knee, and then fit closely.  The crotch area is around the knee.  These are actually worn by some gentlemen in the area.  We are not sure when we see Mehmet or Justin in public adorned with their salvar but if anyone gets a picture of the event, please send it to us immediately (we will even pay good money for it :-) ).

Justin encounters a local woman at the bazaar and wonders if that look would work in Southern California

Inside the bazaar

Mehmet buys lavosh, a specialty of Urfa

Mehmet considers his black salvar pants

Yunus bought an "Achmed" scarf to get into the spirit of the place

He would probably not make it through U.S. TSA Security in this outfit

The castle at Urfa, sadly under construction so we could not visit

The two incredible columns on top of the castle

Achmed (oops, I mean Yunus) and Alice in the gardens next to the Abraham Pool

Mehmet feeds some lavosh to the holy carp (this is probably an offense that would include death by stoning)

Leaving Urfa, we headed south for Harran.  Now, Harran is off the beaten track and lies near the Syrian border (like 30 miles away or less).  We did feel totally safe and saw no evidence at all of the unrest in Syria.  The only thing was that the border road which we thought about taking was in poor repair and had wandering patrols (Turkish) so we were advised to backtrack to the main road between Urfa and Mardin (which we did).  The goal at Harran was to see the beehive houses.  These unique structures are built to suit the very hot climate and are only found in the world here, and in Southern Italy where they are known as Trulli Houses.  Harran was wonderfully atmospheric.  Yes, there were a few tourists but the people were living pretty much as they always had, and the beehive houses were serving as storage places (and perhaps abodes).

On the way south to Harran which lies about 12 miles from the Syrian border

In Harran a shepherd and his goats

Orhan and Justin are interested in the herd of long hair goats

One of the handsome goats in Harran

Two of the larger homes were restored and decorated as they would have been historically and we enjoyed seeing them.  As a bonus there is a large ruin of the Ulu Camii (Grand Mosque) which is the oldest mosque in Turkey.  The size of it is unbelievable and the still standing minaret impressive.  There are also some city walls and gates undergoing restoration.

Harran is famed for its beehive (Trulli) houses, most built over the past 200 years

One of the model houses

A roof detail - these are constructed with mud and straw

Mud bricks cap the chimneys on each dome

Inside - the living room

Brick ceiling detail - these were apparently reused from older structures in the area

Orhan in his Achmed gear on the traditional bed

A non traditional bed in the other bedroom

The kitchen with (plastic thankfully) sheep or goat carcass

Window detail to see both how small the windows are and how thick the walls are

At the tea shop next to the model house

Traditionally garbed gentleman at the tea house - he and Nadim Bey conversed in Arabic

The summer bed platforms - typically put on roofs to provide maximum cooling for sleeping.  The outdoor oven is beneath

The ruins (currently under restoration) of the Grand Mosque of Harran, the oldest mosque in Turkey built in the 700's and also site of the first Islamic university

The remains of the Ulu Camii

The square and huge minaret

Unfortunately, this was the time that rain decided to come (uncharacteristically, as this area is very dry).  While Randy and Alice tried to find a relief of either lions or dogs that Alice wanted to see (and were unsuccessful in this quest) Mehmet and Justin took their first camel rides.  Talk about going native!

Beehive houses still in use in the village of Harran

More of these houses - they are numerous in the village and still in daily use though not perhaps as homes

Alice had really wanted to see these houses in Harran and insisted the town be on our tour list

Another view showing the outside wall of the house

A modern house of Harran - also very interesting.  The roof is flat and has stairs leading up where the bed frame (metal instead of wood) is for summer sleeping.  A large porch enhances outdoor living.  We visited in spring and the weather was pleasant, even cool, but in summer the place becomes oven like

Justin goes native in Harran - he looks like he has a future as a camel jockey

We left this interesting spot that even Nedim Bey had not visited before and headed back to Urfa for lunch (kebab and pide) and the main road to Mardin.  It rained the entire way (about two hours) to Mardin but the rain cleared as we got to this jewel of a city.  Our first objective was the Deyrul Zafaran Monastery.   This found outside of town in a beautiful area of green hills.  The monastery had just let its last tour group in (we were quite late) and refused us entry past the gift shop area.  After some negotiations by Orhan (we still don't how he succeeded) five of us (Randy, Alice, Justin, Mehmet and Yunus) were allowed in and given the tour.

The Urfa version of salsa which contains pomegranate syrup

The yummy lentil soup

Alice's lahmacun, a specialty of the area.  This arrived folded

The city of Mardin crowned by its fortress

Welcome sign to this Syriac monastery

A view of the main building

Small olive trees were planted on the hillside

A parrot was resident in one of the gift shops

The monastery is old and consists of several chapels (both creepy and holy at the same time) and a large courtyard and upstairs rooms for pilgrims.  The upstairs was closed to visitors because it is now housing about 30 refugees from Syria.  The church was founded at this monastery around 500 AD (before that had been a Zoroastrian temple) but the headquarters moved to Syria nearly 100 years ago after the founding of the Turkish Republic and the leaving of most Christian people from Turkey.   However, a Metropolitan is still in residence and regular services are held.

The sign on the main entrance which is written also in Syriac, a version of Aramaic

Entrance to the monastery proper

Yunus and Mehmet on the balcony of the entrance

Our guide explains the first room - underground reached by a tricky stone staircase

This was originally Zoroastrian and they worshiped the sun as it came through this window

Alice and Yunus both noticed that the ceiling had no mortar.  It was constructed of interlocking blocks, an elegant method which has stood the test of time

A stone carved niche

The tomb area - a number of Metropolitans are buried here and some quite recently

Stone carved detail of the tomb room

Another stone carved niche.  This tomb dates from around 700

The wood doors, are some 300 years old

A view of the courtyard on the way to the main church

A ceremonial urn (?) in the main church

The nearly 1500 year old fresco of the order's founder

Detail of the venerable founder

The alter with enameled book in front

A modern painting of a Patriarch with mini-me Patriarchs on either side and some funky looking angels flying around

The throne room with wooden chair for the Patriarch

A model of the monastery made from more than 20,000 match sticks

The smaller chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary has a baptismal font and holds services once a year in August to mark her assumption

We went to the city center and walked a bit to find the special coffee served there (Turkish coffee with some kind of nut brewed with it) but were not able to locate a place.  It was dark but still easy to see that Mardin is a place to return to.  Set on the side of a hill crowned by an old fort (now used by the Turkish military) it is almost all old buildings but many have been restored to form boutique hotels, restaurants and wine shops.

Mardin at night with the lit fortress, very old but still in use by the Turkish military forces and off limits to visitors

We drove about an hour through Midyat (hometown of Yunus's parents) but did not stop because it was late.  We did stop to view Hasankeyf, a small town on the Tigris River.  This venerable place has cave buildings as found in Cappadocia and the remains of an old bridge across the rivers.  It is also an endangered place as there are plans for a new dam which would put the historic town under water.  Let's hope wiser heads prevail and they find another way to build the dam without destroying this treasure.

Last stop was Casa Alp, a huge modern apartment.  Makbule Hanim (Yunus's mom) and her sister had spent hours cooking us a traditional feast.  The centerpiece was stuffed lamb - a large hunk of lamb breast that is stuffed with rice pilav with nuts and sewn up.  It is then boiled and finally roasted.  Needless to say that the meat was extremely tender and the rice moist and tasty.  En familie with the Alps was a perfect end to a surprising and very special trip.

One of the pretty salads at Casa Alp

Another work of edible art

The delicious stuffed eggplant

The ingili kofte - one fried and one boiled

The guys dig in even though it is past midnight

The table could not hold us all but we squeezed as many as we could in

Enjoying the feast

The main attraction - the stuffed lamb

The ladies enjoy also - Yunus's cousin (an art teacher) and his sister-in-law (Orhan's wife)

Happiness at the table

Nedim Bey gets ready to carve into the lamb

This is intricate as he must take out the stitching which is quite elaborate

The lamb (first boiled then baked) with its exceptional rice and nut pilav within

Chilling after dinner with some tea

Our chef and hostess, Makbule Hanim

A contrast in styles between niece and aunt

En familie at Casa Alp

Mehmet heard about special tea brought in (under questionable legality) from Iraq and Syria and Nedim Bey happened to have some and presented it to Mehmet as a parting present

Take aways - this region is not much visited by tourists, either Turkish or foreign.  We expected a dry, fairly flat region.  Instead we found a varied landscape with terrific mountains and rock formations and green valleys full of crops, fruit trees and even olive trees.  At no time did we feel unsafe (the area is the center of the historic Kurdish unrest and now has the Syrian situation close at hand) and the people were all welcoming and helpful.  The sights are diverse and interesting and our only regret was the lack of time to see everything properly.  The Alp family were extremely hospitable, serving as tour guides and hosts.  We are anxious to return to this region of Turkey to enjoy its splendors in more depth.

Our nice hotel in Batman for nights one and three of the journey

View from our room at the Hotel Izgi Turhan which also featured a nice garden in the rear

View of the main street in Batman outside the hotel

Mehmet befriends a disabled man outside the hotel (well, Mehmet befriends everyone)

Batman has a very new and efficient airport with good service to Ankara and Istanbul.  Heading out on Anadolu Jet

View of this verdant land from the sky - au revoir to Southeastern Turkey!

The travelers at Urfa - Ali, Orhan, Randy, Yunus, Alice, Mehmet, Justin and Nedim Bey.  You could not ask for a better set of companions nor a more interesting and fun three days!