We left Mardin right after breakfast because we had a several hour drive, and only one night in Şanlıurfa. On this day, we drove close along the Syrian border. The closest town we drove through was Kızıltepe, which was under 10 miles from the border.
Chicken roadblock along the way...
Driving through small towns.
Our first stop for the day was to visit the ancient site of Göbeklitepe, which means “potbelly hill,” and is located about 30 mins from Şanlıurfa. This site is believed to be dated between 11,000 and 9,500 BC, and to be one of the first settlements containing signs of religion in all of human civilization. It has been debated that in this period of time, whether farming caused people to settle down or vice versa, and this site apparently played a big role in this debate. Because it was built on a rocky mountaintop, far from known sources of water and shows no signs of agriculture, it is believed to be evidence of people settling first, then agriculture following, and is said to be the ‘world’s first temple’ and a place where people gathered for worship.
Entrance to the site..it says Göbeklitepe tent palace!
We looked at some exhibits in the welcome center, then hopped on a bus to see the ruins. It was an isolated site amidst surrounding hills, and it was a cloudy and drizzly day.
Approaching the site. I see why they called it the tent palace. A giant tent was protecting the excavated site.
This is a map of the site, which consists of different circular structures and pillars. The site was first discovered in 1963 and excavations began in 1995. To date, it is estimated that only 5% of the site has been excavated.
After returning to the welcome center, we got hot chocolate and snacks, then continued to Şanlıurfa, which was only about 30 minutes away. It was a rainy and dreary day, so we went straight to the hotel to check in, then out to explore. We stayed at the Narlı Ev, hotel which means ‘house with pomegranates hotel.’ It was an interesting hotel in the heart of town and very close to sites we wanted to see. The road to the hotel was very narrow and our car barely fit in the parking area (along the side of the road), so Nathan had to go with the hotel attendant to a nearby parking garage, that apparently wasn’t any better. View of the courtyard of the hotel.
Şanlıurfa, or Urfa for short, is a city where Turks, Kurds, and Arabs live together. It is believed to be the place where Abraham was born (Ur), and is an important pilgrimage site for Muslims and Jews, though we did not observe any signs of Judaism here. Şanlıurfa has been a center for Islam for many years, and it used to have a small Assyrian and Armenian Christian population. After being conquered by the Ottoman Empire, Urfa became part of Aleppo province. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, many Christians were either killed in the Armenian and the Assyrian genocides or fled to Aleppo. Urfa is also considered a holy place for Armenians because the Armenian alphabet was invented here.
Our first order of business was lunch, but I had heard you have to be very careful eating here because apparently many places do not take good precautions with their meat, or perhaps we are eating something other than what we thought, so we went by a hotel recommendation. The hotel attendant also told us we have to be careful, and sent us to the Konak, which means ‘guest’ restaurant. When we arrived, they already knew who we were, and the waiter was told to bring us upstairs to their special room. We ordered kebab and a local soupy meat dish that was really good, and the waiters watched us almost the entire time while we were eating. It was kind of weird.
We finished the meal with baklava, and were each brought 4 pieces!
Next we explored, then wanted to visit the grand mosque, sacred carps at the Balıklıgöl. Being here reminded us of being back in the Middle East, with the busyness, sounds, and smells. It felt like a mix between Cairo and Riyadh, as it also had a very conservative feel to it. We stopped at some shops along the way and found this clothing shop so Nathan could buy some sweatpants. This man was very friendly and curious about us, since we stood out a lot here. Once he learned we were American, he asked questions about our country and told us all about how he was an engineer, but due to the pandemic he lost his job and now he runs this clothing stand with his uncle. I had a nice conversation with him, and hope we left a good impression with him about Americans.
Then we found the grand mosque. It was not quite as grand as others we visited on this trip, but still very interesting to see.
Alongside the mosque was an old graveyard that the kids were curious about. Some other people were inside, so we went in to look around.
They had some very interesting headstones...
And a LOT of cats!
Next we wandered through some indoor and out markets we found while walking along the streets.
This turned out to be a carpet market. We were wanting to buy a carpet on this trip, but surprisingly we had a very hard time finding carpet markets or stores in the other cities we visited.
There was no lack of carpets here. Each stall was lined from floor to ceiling with colorful rugs, and we ended up buying a small one as a reminder of our time here. As usual, the shopkeepers were very friendly and curious about us when they learned we were American, and enjoyed engaging with the kids.
More market areas.
Our last stop of the day was the Balıklıgöl, also known as the ‘Pools of Abraham’.
In Judaism and Islam, it is believe that this pool this is the location where Nirmod threw Abraham into the fire because Nimrod was was angry about Abraham’s rejection of his worship of idols. Nimrod told Abraham if there is a real God, he will save Abraham. Abraham was saved and is said the flames turned into water, and today it is believed the massive carps that swim in that pool are sacred. This is the entrance to the site.
Inside was a large park, we didn’t realized how big it would be inside the grounds.
There were little fish swimming in these streams, but we still needed to find the famous pool.
We thought this was it initially, but it wasn’t. There were many cute tea gardens around the pond, but we were warned not to eat there.
We found the entrance to the sacred pool!
This was a busy site!
Look at all the carps swimming in the pool. People feed them, took pictures alongside them, and they even had some shops where you could dress up and pose for photos with the carp...it was interesting.
We walked to the other side and through the gardens.
Evening call to prayer.
Our hotel was pretty much adjacent to this large park, and it was a quick walk back. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant next to ours, then went to bed. We were greeted with a very loud call to prayer the next morning. It sounded felt like it was right next to us and reminded us of our time in Kuwait, where we had 3 mosques within a few blocks and it was always very loud at the call to prayer time. Şanlıurfa was an interesting place to visit, but we were happy to get on our way the next morning before sunrise. 
Our last stop on this trip was the city of Adana. It is the fourth largest city in Turkey, located on the Seyhan River, and is near the Mediterranean Sea. This area is considered one of the earliest places of Christianity, with Tarsus very close by, and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas of the world. During the Ottoman times, Adana was a center of trade and had a diverse population of Assyrians, Greeks, Circassian, Jews, and Alawites Muslims, until the Adana massacre and Armenian genocide wiped out the Christian community in the early 1900s. Today, Adana is a prosperous city known for trade, hosts private companies, and it is especially known for its agriculture. Adana has a very tropical climate and the parks and surrounding areas were lined with orange trees. This is the view from our hotel, which was on the river. Throughout the trip, we stayed mostly smaller local hotels, so it was a welcome change to stay in a Sheraton, and to have the western amenities at the end of our trip:).
We traveled a lot the past week and were ready for a slower day, so instead of exploring the downtown part of the city, we walked across the river and let the kids play in the large park, and we visited the famous Sabancı mosque, that is featured in most pictures of Adana. This is the Adana clock tower, down the street from our hotel.
Pedestrian bridge to cross the river.
It was not warm, but it was a lot warmer than where we had been the past week and it was a welcomed change in temperature!
View of the park and mosque from the bridge
The park had lots of open green space, several ponds with fountains, lots of orange trees and oranges on the ground to throw, and cotton candy vendors, which the kids enjoyed.
Playing catch with oranges and making our way to the mosque.
The Sabancı Central Mosque is the second largest mosque in Turkey, and is similar in architecture and design to the Selimiye Mosque in Erdine. One special feature about this mosque is that it as six minarets, and the only other mosque in Turkey with six minarets is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) in Istanbul. This mosque took close to 10 years to build and it opened in 1998. It was massive inside.
The next morning we left after breakfast and only had about a 4.5 hour drive back to Ankara. This was such an interesting and fun trip for our family. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit the places we did, see many interesting sites, interact with the local community, and explore this beautiful country. If you have the chance to visit Turkey, definitely do! We are here until summer 2023 and would love to see you:).
