Postcards from abroad
We began our journey further east into the ancient plateau of Tur Abdin, heartland of the Syriac Christian Church but home now to a dwindling number of Christians. For those who really want to know, the Syriac Church resulted from a split from the Council of Chalcedon in the sixth century - it was apparently… Continue reading Mesopotamia: from the ancient to the modern via the Tigris
Today it was at least 30 degrees so we waited until the evening to come out and walk up to the top of the town where it was blessedly quiet and without tourists. Although the place is absolutely mobbed with tourists, just underneath the surface, there is a very charming place. As we left for… Continue reading An evening walk and some music in Mardin
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… Continue reading Mardin – a bonkers place to come on a public holiday!
Diyarbakir is renowned for its medival walls of black basalt, first started by the Romans in AD 297 and then rebuilt with the usual toings and froings by the Byzantines and the Arabs. They stretch about 6 km around the old city which is full of mosques and churches. The city is known for its… Continue reading Diyarbakir – Kurdish Turkey’s heartland
Forgive the double-posting, but today has been particularly exciting and each of the places we’ve visited deserve their own entry. Several hours drive away from Gobekli Tepe (the previous entry) lies another stupendous UNESCO site - this one at the top of a remote mountain. The temple and tomb of King Antiochus I Epiphanes (64-38… Continue reading Nemrut Dagi – or the site of the very big heads!