After breakfast, we drive to Mardin, where religions and languages meet; a combination of many different cultures and beliefs, from Syriac to Arab, fascinates its visitors with its stonework and urban texture. In Old Mardin, which is a protected urban area and under protection, we will first start our tour from Kasimiye Madrasa. While the small pool in the courtyard of the madrasah adds coolness to the building, you will be enchanted once again when you listen to the narration of the fountain called Selsebil from our guide. After lunch, we start our walk towards the Ulu Mosque.
After our walk through the narrow stone streets through the bazaars, we listen to the narration of the minaret of the Great Mosque, also known as Cami Kebir, which is Mardin's Great Mosque, which will be read like a poem. Afterward, we see the narrow streets where the municipal cleaning works are done by donkeys, and we continue our walk by passing under the Abbaras that connect the streets like a tunnel under the historical houses. We take a short rest break and free time to see the Sehidiye madrasa, to have our tired teas and coffees against the Mesopotamian Plain, and then we go to Deyr-ul Zafaran Monastery.
While visiting the Deyrul Zafaran Monastery, which has been the center of the Patriarchate of the Assyrians for more than 1000 years, we leave Mardin after visiting the 4000-year-old Sun temple (Sin temple), the Hospital, the Church, and the Baptistery. Continuing our journey through Sanliurfa, we reach Gobekli Tepe ruins, thanks to farmer Safak Yildiz, who brought a stone block he found while plowing his field with a plow to the Urfa museum in 1986. Gobeklitepe, which has the first man-made megalithic structures known in the world with its 12 thousand-year history and is the center of attention of all people who are interested in science, history, and archeology, has been included in the World Cultural Heritage List by UNESCO in 2019.
We are visiting Gobekli Tepe, which is a ruined place that was exhibited on the ground as a result of 25 years of excavations, but 20% of which was exhibited, which is still discussed by various circles, and for what purpose the buildings were built-in. Then we move to the center of Urfa to settle in our Hotel.
Accommodation in our Hotel Tonight is bed and breakfast, and dinner at the Hotel is not included in the tour fee. We join the queue night, which is an indispensable part of Şanlıurfa, with dinner with our guests. On Sira night, we eat our mixed kebabs, drink our Mirra, taste the later dessert and raw meatballs, and continue the fun at full speed with local music and games.