Month: December 2021

Along the coast

We finally reached the Mediterranean coast and got some sunshine too. We discovered a tunnel the Romans had built to detour a river and “Moses” tree, before we visited Antakya. The Vespasianus Titus Tunnel was built in the 1st century AD for the city of Seleucia Pieria, the port of Antioch (modern Antakya). The construction …

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Zeugma Mosaics

A rainy day was perfect to visit the museum in Gaziantep, showcasing the incredible mosaics of the ancient town of Zeugma. It was founded in the early 3rd century BC as the city of Seleucia by Seleucus I Nicator, a successor to Alexander the Great, on the site where he had had the first bridge …

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Euphrates

The sun was shining and we were on the way to Halfeti, a town at the river Euphrates, semi-submerged in a reservoir, from where we wanted to take a boat and go on a little cruise. The Birecik Dam, one of the 21 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) of Turkey, is located on …

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10 thousand years ago ….

We had heard so much about the site of Göbekli Tepe, that we were very excited, we had the chance to visit it finally. Just outside of the town of Sanliurfa lies a hill, where archeologists unearthed large circular structures supported by massive stone pillars. Most incredible is the period during which these pillars were …

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The amazing Nemrut Dagi

We were on the way to Mount Nemrut, one of the highest peaks in the east of the Taurus Mountains with 2100 metres. Directly on the top lies the royal tomb of Antiochus I (69–34 B.C.). We were looking forward to this sight, as we had seen so many photos on Instagram. Already from a …

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Diyarbakir

Diyarbakır is located on a basalt plateau on the right bank of the Tigris surrounded by a high and mainly intact 5 km long city wall. Of course today the city with 1,7 million Kurds spills out and most of the modern town lies outside this wall. We managed to find a good parking for …

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Mardin

Old Mardin lies beautifully on the slope of a rocky hill just 20 km north of the Syrian border. Most buildings are made of the beige coloured limestone rock which has been mined for centuries in quarries around the area. As the old town is under UNESCO World Heritage protection, no new constructions are allowed. …

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Tur Abdin

We went to explore the small villages of Tur Abdin – the “Mountain of the Servants of God”, with its many monasteries but we also came past Roman Anastasiopolis. The region is very dry, as any water quickly disappears into the lime stone and the vegetation is sparse. From Mydiat we had quickly reached the …

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Stop @ Midyat

After making our way back from old Hasankeyf, we reached the region of Tur Abdin at the Syrian border with nearly 70 Syriac Orthodox monasteries, the earliest surviving Christian buildings dating from the 6th century. We first came past the monastery of Mor Jakup and then reached the town of Midyat. The monastery founded by …

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