Sianlurfa (Urfa) and Harran

Completely fresh and fruity I get out of my bed and when I come outside the sun shines very bright and it is even busier in the streets than this morning when I arrived. I decide to walk to the touristic sights and try to figure out how to get there by foot. I think it’s best to see the biggest sight today and then take it easy afterwords and enjoy. Golbasi is located at the end of the street that runs to the south and must be about 1.5 kilometers away.

On the street I see many old gray bearded males with typical Arabic clothes and women in total black robes make their way through the crowd. These are no longer the modern Turks I have seen elsewhere in the country but more conservative Arab and Kurdish men and women. Legend has it that Abraham (who is an important prophet for the Muslims) stayed here in the city to chase pagan Gods when the local Assyrian king Nimrod intervened and put Abraham at the stake. God would then have turned the fire into water and the burning coals in fish. Abraham would then fly through the air from the fort and land on a bed of roses. Knowing this, you come here on a site that symbolically represents this legend - there are two exactly rectangular rectangular water basins or ponds built with the most fattened carp I have ever seen. You can not touch them because otherwise the chances are that you will quickly become blind.  

If you want to touch a fish anyway you better take place at one of the many (outdoor) restaurants here that sell grilled fish. In addition to the two bins of water, a large rose garden has been laid out, next to a medressa and another mosque. The citadel is located on the hill. I first walk along the boulevard (if you like) which is part of the Halilur Rahman Camii mosque - the place where Abraham ended up after his lift. Made of light sandstone with domes and arches you feel the different atmosphere that hangs here. Not surprisingly, I read the story that this was just one of the Byzantine churches and built in the 13th century.

Between the terraces where tea is mainly served, I walk to the beginning of the path leading to the citadel - it is hot and I read that there are only a few columns to see. The fortress you see now would have been built by Turks, but below it lies the foundations of previously built fortresses – built by the Byzantine and the Crusaders - everyone has been here and built a fortress on top of the other. The founder of the city, the Biblical king "Nimrod" would have deposited the first stones here.

Edessa / Urfa - history: 

I decide to walk to the Dergah complex which is just a stone's throw away. Many mosques have been built here and signs point me to the famous cave where Abraham would be born. I walk past the great Ottoman mosque Mevlid-i Halil Camii where I almost have to fight to get past the groups of pilgrims who almost swoon, walk past in a trance.

Luckily I took my sarong with me and I put it around my waist to pull over my shorts. I come to a beautifully decorated courtyard where you can wash your hands and feet (for moslims) and then a cave with bars in front of it. Of course a queue of people and I have to wait quietly for my turn to take a look at the dark cave. I am the only (Western) tourist. Patriarch Abraham would have lived here for the first seven years of his life in fear of his life.

King Nemrud had seen in a vision that someone would be born who would cast him off the throne and for that reason all newly born were killed. It is, as I have experienced before, a strange sensation strengthened by the people walking around here. It is wonderful to walk around here - pilgrims sit in the park to lunch, the terraces are full and of course the atmosphere is good and the weather is very nice. You can not count the number of minarets here as well as the domes and arches. I find an internet cafe and do some shopping near the bazaar that I keep for tomorrow to visit. 

I’ve read this morning that the Byzantine emperor Theodosius was responsible for  destroying the temple in the 4th century BC. here so I don’t know idea what is still standing here. I look at some ruins and arches and then walk to the beehive looking houses that stand behind the ruins. Children come running and ask pens, money and gifts.

Women walk past in small groups, veiled and very shy, I assume not a lot of Western tourists make it up to here. One is waving and laughing while the others are scaring laughter. I walk past some houses where a number of peppers hang to dry and everything is built here of stone and dried manure. The famous beehive houses are nowadays often used as a storage shed or stable.

This form of architecture dates back to the 3rd century BC. and would have been invented because of the lack of wood here and the presence of stones from the ruins. The houses would be cool in the summer and retain some heat in the winter. Here a man asks if I do not want to come in for a look - of course he wants to have money. I turn down the offer and hope to be able to go somewhere for free. Here is an old wooden cart with a horse in front of it - the women poke on the cart with a stick of dried shit and laugh at it. A container is so full that the garbage has fallen out and around it and children are calling from afar to this Western stranger. 

Harran was traditionally a center of Mesopotamian (now Iraq) culture, at the important trade crossroads of the road from Damascus to, among others, the city of Tire. After the treaty between Suppiluliuma I and Shattiwaza, Harran was laid ashore by a Hittite army under Piyashshili during the conquest of Hanilgalbat. Despite the remote position of the city, it played an important role in the time of the New Babylonian empire. In 53 BC. Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives, a member of the Roman triumvirate and rival of Julius Caesar, succumbed here in a failed attempt to subjugate the Parthians in the Battle of Carrhae, as the Romans called Harar.  

Later on I take the invitation of a pregnant lady to look into her house. First I come into her own little house where some yellowed pictures hang on the wall and I take place on a couch of clay where on top some rugs are put. I have read that people here have traditionally come through farming and smuggling and are quietly waiting for what they will offer me. Then she beckons me to come and see the beehive. Here, too, there are some cows, but I only have an eye for the architecture of this building.

I can take a picture of her in the beehive but she wants some money for it as expected. I agree, but only because no one else sees it - before you know it, a horde of children is running after you. I thank the madam, put some coins in her hand and wave to her son, who is looking at me and my clothes like I’m coming from Mars. Finally I take a look at the "Aleppo" gate that still looks good and parts of the once 4 kilometer long city wall. There would also have been more than 150 towers built here - really a pity that there is so little left.

Standing at the bus stop to go back, an old tractor passes overloaded by local youngsters. A young boy starts to scream at me and I wave back - they love it and it is a shame they go the "other" way otherwise I would have climbed. On the way I see the sign to the cave of Job - legend says that the devil wanted to teach the devoted and prosperous Job a lesson and to take all the wealth, his health and his family to see if he would betray his faith.

He didn’t and Job retired to the cave that you can now visit. After seven years of waiting for God, God would give back his health and stuff in the form of a water source that he "drilled" by stamping his heel into the ground. The source would now be a pilgrimage site where many believers come to fetch their "holy" water. I decide to leave it and go back to Sianlurfa. 

Back in town I decide to go back to the hostel first to take a cold shower. I read some more in bed before I go back to the bazaar in the city. This one seems to have been built in the time of Suleyman the Great and there is (still) one that reminds you of old bygone times. You can buy sheepskins, copper kettles, pigeons, clothes and handmade shoes here and I decide to buy some new clothes.

A little later I arrive at a very small square where tea is made for everyone sitting there with a golden tray on a gold chain - a group of men are sitting behind their sewing machine, neatly arranged in rows. Nearby is also an old caravanserai that would have sold silk and a multitude of mosques. I skip the old houses that would stand a little further and prepare for the next adventure tomorrow.