A Southeastern Anatolia route that starts with the cuisine of Gaziantep and continues to Şanlıurfa, home of Göbeklitepe and Balıklıgöl, to Adıyaman and Mount Nemrut, to Mardin with its stone houses and to Diyarbakır with its city walls.
Best time: March–May and October–November. Summers are very hot; plan sightseeing for mornings and evenings.
Göbekli Tepe — A Neolithic cult centre near the village of Örencik in the Haliliye district, dated to about 9600–9500 BC and the oldest known…
Karahantepe — A Neolithic settlement 46 km from the city centre, contemporary with Göbekli Tepe; it is known for its 250 standing stones and…
Balıklıgöl — Made up of two lakes known for their sacred fish, where the Prophet Abraham is believed to have been thrown into the fire. Its…
Şanlıurfa Castle — The castle rising above the city was built in the Osroene period; its present walls were built by the Abbasids in AD 814. Today…
Halfeti — A district on the banks of the Euphrates, known for its old settlement drowned under the waters of the Birecik Dam; 80 per cent…
Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum — In its present modern building since 2015, the museum has one of the largest indoor exhibition halls in Türkiye and a 4.5-km…
Mount Nemrut — On a 2,150-metre summit at Kâhta, the tomb-sanctuary built by Antiochus I of Commagene in 62 BC, with its giant tumulus of…
Arsameia (Old Castle) — On the east bank of the Kâhta Stream, 63 km from Adıyaman, Arsameia was one of the important centres of the Commagene royal…
Kâhta Castle (New Castle) — Rising on the rocky hill opposite Arsameia, the castle was taken from the Byzantines by the Seljuks in 1085 and changed hands…
Cendere Bridge — Built over the Cendere Stream in the name of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), his wife and his sons, the bridge is…
Karakuş Tumulus — This monumental tomb on Gösterge Hill, 12 km north of Kâhta, was built for Isias, the mother of King Mithridates II, and for the…
Sesönk Tumulus — Standing on a high rock at Besni, this tumulus, about 2,060 years old, is a Commagene monumental tomb similar to Karakuş…
Local food
🌶️ Adıyaman Etsiz Çiğ Köfte (meat-free raw köfte) 🫓 Hıtap (filled griddle pastry) 🥞 Şillik (buttered syrup dessert) 🍇 Besni Üzümü Pestili (Besni grape fruit leather)
Local products to buy
Adıyaman Besni Üzümü (Adıyaman Besni grapes)Adıyaman Etsiz Çiğ Köfte (Adıyaman meat-free raw köfte)Tütün (tobacco)
Mardin Stone Houses — Historic houses with courtyards and arches, built of soft limestone Mardin stone, descending step by step from the foot of the…
Kasımiye Madrasa — A madrasa begun in the Artuqid period and completed at the end of the 15th century under the Aq Qoyunlu Sultan Kasım ibn…
Zinciriye (Sultan İsa) Madrasa — A madrasa built at the end of the 14th century by the Artuqid Sultan Melik Necmeddin İsa and one of the best-known buildings of…
Mardin Grand Mosque — A mosque built in the Artuqid period, whose ribbed dome is an example of Mardin architecture; its present minaret was built in…
Deyrulzafaran Monastery — A Syriac Orthodox monastery built in the 5th century, 3 km east of Mardin; for a long time it served as the seat of the…
Mor Gabriel Monastery — Founded in 397 on the Tur Abdin plateau near the village of Güngören in Midyat, this is the oldest surviving and still active…
Local food
🍖 Mardin Kaburga Dolması (lamb ribs stuffed with rice) 🫓 Mardin Sembusek (minced-meat pastry) 🥘 Mardin Kibe (stuffed bulgur dumpling) 🧆 Mardin İkbebet (bulgur kofte) 🍲 Mardin Alluciye (plum stew) 🥮 Mardin Kiliçesi
Local products to buy
Midyat Telkârisi (Midyat silver filigree)Mardin Taşı (Mardin stone)Kızıltepe Kırmızı Mercimeği (Kızıltepe red lentils)Derik Halhalı Zeytinyağı (Derik Halhalı olive oil)
Diyarbakır City Walls — Black basalt walls made up of the Inner Castle and the Outer Castle; the Dağ Kapı (Harput Gate), Urfa Kapı, Mardin Kapı and Yeni…
Hevsel Gardens — About 700 hectares of farmland between the walls and the Tigris; with more than 180 bird species, it is the largest bird…
Diyarbakır Grand Mosque — A mosque formed in 639 when the city's largest church was converted into a mosque and repaired in 1091 under Malik-Shah; it is…
Ten-Eyed Bridge (Tigris Bridge) — A ten-arched basalt bridge over the Tigris, 3 km south of Mardin Kapı, built in 1065 in the Marwanid period according to its…
Hasan Paşa Caravanserai — Opposite the Grand Mosque, a caravanserai with black-and-white stone banding, built in 1572–1575 by Governor Hasan Paşa, son of…
Four-Legged Minaret (Şeyh Mutahhar Mosque) — The minaret of the mosque built in 1500 by the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Kasım Bey, rising on four monolithic stone columns; it is the…
Local food
🍢 Diyarbakır Ciğer Kebabı (lamb liver kebab) 🍖 Kaburga Dolması (stuffed lamb ribs) 🧆 Diyarbakır İçli Köftesi (stuffed bulgur dumplings) 🍲 Meftune (garlic and sumac vegetables) 🍯 Diyarbakır Burma Kadayıfı (twisted kadayıf) 🥣 Lebeni (yoghurt soup)
