Friday 18th December - Sanliurfa to Gaziantep

It finally stopped raining this morning and after tidying the Land Rover and revisiting our cheap bakery we left Sanliurfa for Harran, about 50km to the south close to the Syrian border.  Harran is meant to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the world, settled 5000 years ago and famous for its beehive houses

(as well as crumbling city walls, remains of an 8th century mosque and 11th century castle).

To cut a long story short we were both disappointed with the place, which seemed little more than a muddy, rubbish filled wasteland encircled by piles of rubble, and whilst the restored beehive houses for the tourists were interesting, the other homes weren’t so well cared for.

We also fell into the trap of accepting help from a “student” on the back of a motorbike, who flagged us down as we entered the village and offered to direct us to the restored houses and show us around.  He said that “money is no problem”, but that wasn’t the case and he wasn’t happy with what we offered him for our “tour” and cup of tea/water. He wanted three times the amount we were prepared to offer, but we weren’t about to pay more so he left in a huff.  Most of the people we have met in Turkey have been fantastic, so it’s disappointing (and wearing) when you encounter those who see you as a cash cow.

We had intended to stay a couple of days in Harran to look around the other nearby ancient sites, to take some time to sort out a few things in the Land Rover (check out the water filter, clean the fridge, repack for the border crossing) and plan our time in Syria, but after actually seeing the place we changed our mind and made a swift exit to drive to Gaziantep. 

Our faith in Turkish generosity and hospitality was restored when we pulled into a petrol station in order to use the facilities and to change drivers.  Even though it was clear we weren’t after fuel, the attendants directed us to a parking spot and promptly jet washed the Land Rover for free (to be fair it needed it), produced tea and invited us to sit by their fire.  We could only stay for 10 minutes as time was getting on and it would be dark by the time we arrived in Gaziantep, but even though they had no English and we had no Turkish we chatted and laughed together.

After a couple of circles of the city centre (Anne would probably say this was mostly due to my inability to follow directions, but that would, of course, be grossly unfair) we found our chosen hotel in Gaziantep and settled in for a couple of days as we won’t head for the Syrian border (65km to the south near Kilis) until Monday.  Fingers crossed we’ll get our visas, but we’ve heard it may take several hours for a decision; must remember to keep a good book handy.