In my last trip to Turkey, my family and I visited the Mesopotamian area starting from Mardin, Deyrul-Zafran, Nuseybin, Hasankeyf, and Dara. It was one of the best journeys we did in a long time. Every city had its own culture, touch, and environment. We stayed at Mardin for 3 nights but went out for the other nearby cities for a whole day then return to Mardin at night. The cities I mentioned in the beginning were near Mardin so spending a half a day was enough to discover them. Not to mention, locals were so hostile and kind which made the experience even better. Also, a special thanks to our guide for that trip who shared their knowledge and information about the area and for giving us from their time to make sure we enjoy our trip (which we did).

Mardin

The time we went to Mardin was freezing cold. The temperature was definitely minus 0 and I couldn’t leave the hotel without wearing gloves, warmers, and a cozy coat. That’s what I dislike about cold weather. Anyway, that didn’t ruin my willingness to explore and have fun!

First, my family and I stayed at a traditional Mardin hotel. It was an old palace turned to a hotel. So, I cannot describe how amazing of a feeling it was. It made me live in the same rooms that the old locals lived in. It was antique. The rooms, décor, architecture, patterns, and details were old.

The last day we stayed in Mardin, we changed our hotel to another traditional hotel. It had another aura to it. The only problem we faced was the lack of an elevator. So my family and I had to take the stairs to the third or fourth floor carrying our bags. Other than that, our experience was breathtaking.

Deyrul-Zafran

Another historic stop. My family and I visited Mor Gabriel in DeyrulZafran. It was a Syriac Monastry which had a long history to it.

Mentioning Syriac, did you know about the Syrian coffee. What? Is there such a coffee? Yes, there is. I first heard about it when I was in Mardin but didn’t try it because the waiter in the coffee shop explained that it was more bitter than the normal coffee. However, when we visited DeyrulZafran, we tried it for the first time. It was bitter indeed but loved the taste! I absolutely have no problem trying different tastes of coffee.

Nuseybin

We stopped briefly in Nuseybin where we visited Zain Ul Abidin’s Camii and Tubra (his tomb), and Mor Yacub which was nearby.

HasanKeyf

HasanKeyf is old ‘cave’ city where houses of locals were made of caves. Luckily, my family and I visited that city for a year from now it’ll be flooded and perhaps all of those caves would be lost.

Since we love coffee, we visited a small coffee house designed in a real cave house. What was special was that their coffee had a blend of honey, walnuts, milk, and coffee. It was delicious and tasted so different from the traditional Turkish coffee.

I posted a short video overlooking HasanKeyf city on Youtube. You can watch it to have a better idea and to see how the city looks in reality.

Dara

Another beautiful city with beautiful citizens. We were invited for lunch in a locals’ house and the meal was so delicious! They were so welcoming and did everything amazingly. And as with other cities, Dara has an important cite named ‘The Ancient City of Dara’. It was a cite full of tombs and ancient houses.

 

Source: https://hometurkey.com/en/attractions/deyrulzafaran-monastery-mardin