ERDOBA KONAKLARI Mardin

Suund Mardini peale, mille lähedal asub Deyrul Zaferan, süüria ortodoksi klooster, m&#305;da külastas läbi raskuste ka William Dalrymple 90ndate keskpaigas. Tema omakorda kõndis 7. sajandi munga John Moschose jälgedes.<br>Jõuan eksimatult kohale, tasub kõhutunnet edaspidigi usaldada. Siin oli kunagi süüria patriarhaadi pesitsuskoht, enne kui nad ära Damaskusesse kolisid. Esimesena ehitasid sellele künkale templi p ...

Leaving Diyarbakir was easy as the town is not invit&#305;ng to stay longer. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was plentiful and we started well fed.<br><br>Mardin sits on the top of hill overlooking the mesopotamian plains to Syria. Its a very nice colorful city which is very clean and full of old and modern style houses that f&#305;t together. There is a huge citadelle overlooking the city but access is not publ&#305;c. NATO has installed ...

Mardin is an ancient town (established around 7 century BC) south of Diyarbakir, almost to the Syrian border. Its setting is beautiful, on the slope of a hill overlooking the sun baked, vast Mesopotamian plain, all the way to Syria. It has a big bazaar where you can find several shops that are specialized in making and repairing saddles for ...

... coffee on the terrace and nosey in the shop.<br><br>Onto Diyarbekir - the second longest wall in the world, after the Wall of China. The wall is 5km long and surrounds the city - 12 metres high and 4 metres thick. The local name for Diyarbekir is Amet, which means Country of the Sun. <br><br>We pass so many fields full of wheat, they have 2 harvests a year soon to be 4! More ...

... Galip: 15; has a meticulous hair cut and wears maroon shoes that are much bigger than his feet; his father is a partner at a barber shop, but he doesn't work there as an apprentice; instead, he has chosen to become a tour guide; says that there are way too many barbers in Mardin; when he grows up, he would like to be a military officer; he is contented with Mardin; has a single sibling; only ...

... an unusual amount of men wearing violet pusis to cover their heads. At Harran, the locals no longer use the behive houses. They are used as storage space or for touristic purposes. One of these 150-year-old structures was actually replaced by a concrete building. When I asked my local guide Cemal what the government's take was on the replacement of the historical houses his response was succinct: "It's election season ...

I had a decent night of sleep even though the 2 older Iranian guys woke me up at 3 am. Because they were fasting, they cooked a meal in our room and ate before the sun came up. It didn't bother me as they were doing this because of their religious beliefs. I could also see that they tried their best to keep quiet unlike the guys on our bus the previous night. I walked to the bus terminal and jumped on a bus at 8 am. There were only 4 people on the whole bus ...

... bottles of local wine during and after dinner. The wine wasn't anything to write home about (although I guess we sort of just did), but the quiet evening on the roof terrace just listening to the quiet couldn't have been undone by even the worst bottle. While we were there a lady of the family read the grounds of our Turkish coffee for us. (A common way to predict your future here ...

Mardin. Well, I think it is a little over rated. I don't really have anything to say about it. I just wasn't engaged. So, though written from Mardin, this entry is more about &#350;anl&#305;urfa.<br><br>The last of the previous blog entries left off as I was on my way from Gaziantep, (or Antep) Turkey east to &#350;anl&#305;urfa (or Urfa), Turkey. And Urfa did present a different world, a different Turkey. One that I rather liked.<br> <br ...