After leaving Diyarbakır, we headed south to the city of Mardin. We wanted to get there early to see as much of the city as possible because we were only staying for one night, so we had breakfast and hit the road. Along the way, there were a couple of military checkpoints and every km or so these military observation towers. The roads were wide open and it was an easy and the shortest drive of our trip, just a little over an hour.
We arrived in Mardin mid morning. It’s a town on top of a plateau near the Tigris River and Syrian border, with great views over the planes into Syria. Mardin is a unique place in Turkey, where Kurds, Muslims, and Assyrians live in harmony, and one of the few places in Turkey where Assyrians, who are Aramaic speaking Christians, live. Prior to World War I, Assyrians were a large ethnic minority living in Mardin and a couple other cities within the the Ottoman Empire, but after the Assyrian Genocide that took place in 1915 many survivors fled to Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and even more left over the next few decades due to conflicts between the PKK and Turkish government. Today, it is said that only about 25,000 Assyrians live in Turkey, and about 20,000 of them are in Istanbul. There it is, on top of the hill.
Entering the city. Mardin has mostly very narrow pedestrian-only streets, and people still uses carts and mules to carry their items around the town. This was the main road cars drove on.
We missed our hotel the first time going down the one way road, so it took another 20 minutes to circle back around the small windy streets to find it the second time. It was a good thing we arrived early in the morning because this was one of the only streets that you could drive on, and being New Years Eve, the street got a lot busier as the day went on. We stayed at the Gazi Konağı boutique hotel, which is an old stone-built mansion, and had beautiful traditional architecture.
The view from our room looking across into Mesopotamia. It was an incredible sight.
We also looked into the city and the castle, we had such a great view.
After getting settled, we looked at the map to determine which sites we wanted to see in the city. Outside of the city, there are also a couple of monasteries, but we did not have time to visit them since we were only there for one night. We set out and our first stop was a local military supply store that we saw on the drive in. The kids got new military face masks and notebooks. It was a neat store full of Turkish and Kurdish military paraphernalia.
The next important stop was lunch and just as every other place we ate on this trip, the food was delicious. We ordered kebap and chicken and they brought out several sides dishes for us to try.
The old part of the city, which is where we stayed, is under the protection of UNESCO, so it does not allow new construction. We were amazed with how old and well-preserved the city was. It is said Mardin is the third most well-preserved city behind Jerusalem and Venice. The kids had fun talking to this parrot...who spoke Turkish!
Next we visited the Zinciriye, which is an old madrasa/Islamic religious school, that dates back to 1385 during the reign of Artuqid sultan Al-Zahir Majd al-Din ‘Isa, and is still in use today. The school grounds also contained a mosque, mausoleum, and multiple courtyards, and a great view of the city
Walking up the steps, you could hear the sounds of kids playing outside, it must have been recess when we arrived.
We enjoyed looking around the grounds and the kids explored the courtyard and kicked a soccer ball around with some kids before school went back into session.
View from the school.
Next, we visited the Mardin Archeological Museum, that opened in 2000. The building it was located in was an old Syriac Catholic building that was constructed in 1895.
Eliza wanted to stay outside with the dog and was kind of tired from walking around, so we took turns going inside.
It was a small, but impressive museum with old mosaics from the Roman period, lots of old pottery, and artifacts from multiple civilizations.
Some of the first forms of money used for trade.
Old statues. I don’t remember what their significance was.
After leaving the museum, we decided to walk up and down the side streets off the main road, which lead to other shops and markets. It was still kind of early in the day, so not many places were open yet.
We wondered for a while trying to find the Grand Mosque, which was supposedly up one of the side streets, but we never found it.
This was a neat sign in the sidewalk. It says ‘life is short, birds are flying’
The main square in town. The castle is on the top of the plateau, but apparently has been closed for years for renovation.
Wandering the side roads again...
This time we found what we were looking for, the Forty Martyrs Church. This is a Syriac Orthodox Church that dates back from the mid 6th century, and in 1293 it became a Syriac Patriarchal Church, and was expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries. The church is still operating and can be attend for services, which would have been interesting to experience.
But church was not in session, so the kids burned off some energy in the courtyard while we took turns going inside.
We could not take photographs inside this church, but it was beautiful
Neat inscriptions near the side of the entrance door.
After leaving the church, we wandered down more side streets and places started opening. This street was so cute with the plants, tables, and chairs.
We even found a Merdin Monroe store, which sold soap and other Marilyn Monroe items.
Turkey is fully of stray dogs, but this place had a a lot of cute cats.
We next stumbled upon a local market. It was busy and they sold all kinds of things....
The usual fruits and veggies,
Fish...
Meat, to include animal heads, and many other internal body parts displayed on slabs or in liquid in large tubs...
And of course clothes and shoes. Towns like this do not have malls, so people shop for all their needs at the markets.
We wandered around more alleys and found a really cute art/handicrafts store.
The shop owner was really nice and she had lots of hand made scarves, paintings, and figurines on display. One thing that caught my eye, was a photo of what looked like a mix between a snake and a lady. Meet Shahmaran, a mythical creature that is half woman and half snake. It is a folklore in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and is also popular amongst the Kurds. In Farsi, it means ‘King of the snakes.’ In town, you will see this picture everywhere, in many establishments. The lady told me it was sort of like the Turkish Evil Eye, providing protection and good luck.
The myth goes that this mythical creature first encountered a man name Camasb, who got stuck in a cave after trying to steal honey with a few friends. His friends leave him alone in the cave and he decides to explore, when he found a chamber with a beautiful garden with many snakes and Shahraman living together in harmony. They fall in love and live in the cave together, and Sahmaran teaches him about medicine and medicinal herbs. Camasb gets lonely and eventually leaves to go above ground, but promises to never share the secret of her living there. Many years pass an the king of Tarsus becomes ill and they discover his treatment requires Shahmaran flesh. To save the king, Camasb tells people where she lives, and Shamaran says, ‘blanch me in a dish, give my extract to the vizer, and feed her flesh to the sultan.’ The king eats her flesh and lives, the vizer drinks the extract and dies. Camasb drinks the water of Shamaran and becomes a doctor, by gaining all of her wisdom. And so the story goes. It’s a neat folklore that is well and alive in this town!
Our last stop before heading back to the hotel for Eliza to finally nap, was to the post office. Only the bottom section is the post office and the rest is used as a small hotel. So many old buildings and interesting architecture, it was fascinating.
While Eliza napped, the boys stayed at the hotel, and I went back out to roam. Mardin is famous for it’s fine silver jewelry and I wanted to look at some shops. I went to a few shops, then came across a really friendly shop owner who ended up being Assyrian, and we ended up talking for a while about what life was like for him and his family and he had a lot of questions about America. I am so thankful to be able to communicate with people here, and have learned so much about the culture and people. I ended up buying some pretty necklaces and earrings, but didn’t get a picture of them before he wrapped them up.
I picked up a bottle of Assyrian wine and made it back to the hotel in time to watch sunset with Nathan and the kids. It was really chilly, but the view was well worth it.
After dark, we headed out for dinner to a restaurant down the street. Everything apparently was full because of New Years Eve, but if you eat at 6pm, you can get a table with no problem :)
Our food was amazing. This was an Assyrian restaurant, and they had a few lamb dishes as their featured dish. The kids got kebap and chicken, and we all left with full bellies.
We walked the streets a little longer, then headed back to the hotel.
I thought this was funny...it says welcome to Mardin!
Our hotel. You can’t tell from the outside, but it had so much character inside.
View of the city from our balcony.
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise.
At a delicious Turkish breakfast, then hit the road.
We loved our time in Mardin! We were surprised yet again with this unique, artsy city, a refreshing atmosphere, and more great food. Next stop is to one of the oldest sites in civilization, Göbeklitepe, the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, Şanlıurfa, and Adana.
