Cruising down the Euphrates from Halfeti. My good friend and former boss, Elisabeth, decided (FINALLY!) to visit me. While she has lived in Turkey for many, many years, she had never been to the south of Turkey. My impending departure from Turkey finally pushed her to fly south and spend four days touring the region over the long weekend of the Youth and Sports holiday (18-21 May, 2011).
The four days took us to the following places:
Day 1: A quick drive through an Afghan Village close to Antioch, the Mosaic Museum in Antioch, Vakıflıköy,a village of Armenian people who grow organic fruit for the European market, the Tunnel of Vespasius close to the ancient harbour on the Mediterranean, close to Syria.
Day 2: Gaziantep. We visited the brand new and officially unopened Zeugma Museum, toured the old town, and stayed in a boutique hotel in the shadow of the castle.
Day 3: Leaving Antep, we drove to Birecik, to cruise down the Euphrates River. Passing pistachio and olive groves, we finally boarded a boat at Halfeti to enjoy a wonderful cruise on the lengendary river. After a light lunch, we drove all the way to Mount Nimrod, burial ground of the Commagene royalty, with spectacular views at sunset. We were lulled to sleep by a gushing mountain Spring and other less memorable sounds.
Day 4: At Elisabeth's urging, we took a ferry across the dammed waters, and headed south to Urfa. We were sorely tempted to stop in Mardin, but we had to make a choice: Mardin, or Urfa an Harran. We picked up a young lad heading to Urfa. As the fates allowed, we took him right home to his village which happened to be a spitting distance from Göbeklitepe, and ancient and important ritual site. After drinking tea in the family compound, we headed off to Urfa (home to the cave of Abraham, the prophet) to see the famous holy fish, and join the bustling crowds of pilgrims. Then, it was onwards to the cave of the Prophet Job, and the village of Harran with its distinctive traditional houses.
Thus ended a rather eventful weekend of traveling and sightseeing.
The pictures in this blog are only backups. Elisabeth took pics most of the time, so I do not have a visual record of the entire visit. (I do have pics from previous visits.)
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