We walked to the prophet Abraham's cave, where he was born and spent the first 7 years of his life. Apparently King Nimrod feared he would eventually be usurped by one who was newly born had all babies in the region killed. This was not very rewarding, and a little uncomfortable for us as it is an active place of worship for Muslims, so there were many many people jammed into this tiny space as we both felt (separately as men and women have different viewing rooms) very out of place. You don't actually enter the cave, but a tiny room with a window into the greenly lit cave. The little room has a tiny door that essentially forces you to bow as you enter, and some of the men will back away through the door as they leave, apparently so as not to show their backside to the prophet Abraham's birthplace.
We climbed the stairs to the Kale (citadel, or castle) in the burning sun. There is a fantastic view of Urfa at the top, but only two huge columns remain of the citadel interior. Everything else is buried under centuries of silt and ancient rubble. Once again we are struck that so much of Turkey's history is still hidden beneath tonnes of dirt!
We decide to catch a dolmus to Harran, an ancient madrasa - the University of the ancient world. We were able to check out the mosque only from behind a fence, due to archaeological excavations, but I have to respect this. So little of Turkey actually gets excavated that when they finally get to it I think it is a big deal.
There are some traditional 'bee-hive' houses that are still maintained for tourists, although modern life has the locals in the usual square houses. These bee-hive shaped houses are built in rows, with each little bee-hive having a door to the next chamber. The conical tops allow warm air to escape through a hole right at the peak so despite the beating sun outside it is cool and refreshing inside.
Harran also has a big citadel, and it looks like they're preparing an excavation project here too as they have just erected a fence to keep the goats out, but thankfully we're able to go in there and explore.
We walked to the prophet Abraham's cave, where he was born and spent the first 7 years of his life. Apparently King Nimrod feared he would eventually be usurped by one who was newly born had all babies in the region killed. This was not very rewarding, and a little uncomfortable for us as it is an active place of worship for Muslims, so there were many many people jammed into this tiny space as we both felt (separately as men and women have different viewing rooms) very out of place. You don't actually enter the cave, but a tiny room with a window into the greenly lit cave. The little room has a tiny door that essentially forces you to bow as you enter, and some of the men will back away through the door as they leave, apparently so as not to show their backside to the prophet Abraham's birthplace.
We climbed the stairs to the Kale (citadel, or castle) in the burning sun. There is a fantastic view of Urfa at the top, but only two huge columns remain of the citadel interior. Everything else is buried under centuries of silt and ancient rubble. Once again we are struck that so much of Turkey's history is still hidden beneath tonnes of dirt!
We decide to catch a dolmus to Harran, an ancient madrasa - the University of the ancient world. We were able to check out the mosque only from behind a fence, due to archaeological excavations, but I have to respect this. So little of Turkey actually gets excavated that when they finally get to it I think it is a big deal.
There are some traditional 'bee-hive' houses that are still maintained for tourists, although modern life has the locals in the usual square houses. These bee-hive shaped houses are built in rows, with each little bee-hive having a door to the next chamber. The conical tops allow warm air to escape through a hole right at the peak so despite the beating sun outside it is cool and refreshing inside.
Harran also has a big citadel, and it looks like they're preparing an excavation project here too as they have just erected a fence to keep the goats out, but thankfully we're able to go in there and explore.
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