Mardin is the centre of tourist activities in the south-east of Turkey near the Syrian border and, while I had wondered why I hadn’t been able to find accommodation except at pretty high prices, it hadn’t occurred to me that I was booking on a hoilday weekend.
Monday is Ataturk Youth and Sports Day in Turkey meaning that everyone from Istanbul has come to Mardin for a holiday, Since we were planning three days in one place, enjoying the honey-coloured buildings and Kurdish atmosphere, we hadn’t bargained for the enormous parties of tourists in town, blocking the narrow streets:
Nor had we anticipated the wild scenes in the town square with multiple photos being taken of said parties behind the town sign (see the opening picture) and girls wearing coined headscarves bought on the street:
The square was full of interest if people taking selfies is your kind of thing. I liked the rather jaunty parrot owner and the various ways in which everyone tried to keep the sun off their heads (or wore scarves for other reasons):
Every restaurant was fully booked and playing live music. We tried to get into one that looked very empty to us and was playing lovely music but that was apparently also all booked.
So we ended up having the best of all possible meals thanks to a kind waitress who told us where to go: a kebab on a little street away from the madness, cooked over smoking coals and served to us with ayran (a yoghurt drink) by a charming little eight-year-old girl with developing English.
Thanks once more to the charm and graciousness of the people we meet who go way out of their way to be helpful, what had been a disaster turned into a delight.
Tomorrow, we brave the crowds and try to see some of the sights of Mardin but our three nights are definitely reduced to two!
Birdman is FAB, as is the headgear. Very colourful!
Yes, indeed! We go tomorrow to Batman which I fear won’t be nearly as exciting..
Oh dear hope you aren’t feeling too overwhelmed by the crowds and don’t have to resort to having kebabs for dinner every night you are there. I noticed with interest that although hijabs are worn by many, there also many women who don’t.
Well, we ate kebabs again tonight and they were delicious. It feels like the majority of tourists in Mardin are women, often in quite big groups. The hijab wearing is fascinating – most women are modestly dressed with heads covered. Given how hot it is, wearing that extra layer over trousers and T-shirts is hard to fathom. But the groups of young women will often include ones who dress western style. Everyone, however, takes endless selfies and pictures of each other – all a bit wearing..
Very intrepid! You’re really getting into it all! Those parrots on the hat must have been quite heavy…
I’m not sure the parrots are actually on his hat – the picture may be a bit misleading. He ( parrot man) wasn’t doing a lot of business sadly..